LOL When you thanked me about the door, I noticed there was no shadow and had to change it. Yes, I'm a little, okay a lot, OCD.
We bought our doors at the store so I never read reviews. We've had ours on for eight years with no sagging what soever.

I would recommend mahogany even if you're going to paint. Whatever you do, no pine. (unless reclaimed antique heart pine). Mahogany is the most dimensionally-stable material out there, so it won't swell in humid weather.
I built my kitchen screen door with clear fir, and it has several coats of oil-based poly on it, so moisture has no place to get in. It has been perfect for 6 years. Full mortise and tenon framing for strength.
We had a really bad experience with white pine screen doors (can't recall the manuf.) where we had four callbacks to keep planing them down; they must have swelled 1/2" over the first year.

Sombreuil, I wish I could afford mahogany, but this screen door has already crept up way beyond what I was hoping to pay. I look at photos of mahogany screen doors and they are too beautiful to paint, but I'm not sure a stained door is the right look for my gray and white house.

Other than when it rains, and right now in California we're in the middle of a drought, we generally don't have high humidity.

What about painting fir? Cedar? I wouldn't get pine.

There is also a new screen material called Pet Mesh. I put it in all of my screens now when they have to go in for repair. I learned about it when I saw a boxer really going at it, directly ON the screen, wanting to get inside, and there was NO damage, nor did the screen pop out. But, if it does pop out, you just push it back in. Since i rent my house and am a dog sitter as well, toddlers and dogs routinely were tearing the screens, so one by one, as I took them in to be repaired, I had the pet mesh put in. No further problems.

Tibbrix, definitely pet mesh. I have it on my sliders and a couple of my windows. It's the only way to go with cats.

A painted screen door would be really cute! My BIL has a light gray house with a pale yellow door. I'm getting bored with all the aqua doors that keep getting suggested here.

We plan to have a factory finish on our regular door. I think it's baked on just like cabinets. So could you get a factory finish on a screen door and not have to ever paint it again?

I like the one justgotabme photoshopped! very nice!

not hard to paint a screen door, but a pain to maintain one perhaps... sanding and repainting, etc... I have wood, painted rocking chairs that are a real pain to maintain... the one that receives little sun is less work, but the one that gets sun exposure needs maintenance regularly...

is your current screen door painted wood?

I saw a house on our walk today with a full glass storm door and a front door with a small curved glass window just like yours and thought of you :)

Gotta run, be back in a bit with comments.

Do you have a Habitat Restore or something similar nearby? My best friend just bought beautiful French doors there. I would also look at architectural salvage.

Rio, yes, there's a Habitat Restore nearby and thanks for reminding me to look there.

May, I think painting the screen door a different color would be very cute. Aqua isn't my color and esp. not with gray. A sunny gold-yellow might be fun. I cannot believe I'm talking color.

Busy, my current screen door is painted wood of some sort, probably the cheapest wood on the planet. It's been sitting there for about 20 years and it looks it. At a distance it's semi-cute, but up close it's rather embarrassing. I don't care for the raised panels.

Okay, this is sloppy Photoshopping as far as the selection edges are concerned, but I think I figured out how to maintain the shadow (Darken). These aren't real paint colors, just stuff I mixed on the fly in the color palette. Also this isn't my actual door, rather something justgotabeme suggested. Do you think a color is possible for the screen door? Other color directions? Stick with white?

For that intensity of color, I only like the red door. Maybe the orange.

Linelle, what's sloppy about it? How did you get the thin muntins done? Wow. I'm impressed.

I think a purple door would look great with her gray siding and white trim. But, deep? Light? Medium? Linelle, can you do a few mockups in different purples/lavenders/lilac?

i would stick with white for a painted screen door....

Me, too, love the red!
Of course, I'd also like a dark teal or even purple, or, darker blue. I'm really into Gentleman's Grey these days after seeing it on the Southern Living cover. Note: It's darker in real life.

I was thinking a soft yellow that would work with your oakleaf hydrangea, which is kind of a cottage garden plant. I don't think of hot colors with that. This yellow looks nice with light gray and white, and I think it would suit a wood screen door. But maybe the gray and brick colored walkway needs to be considered and blue would be a good choice.

Thanks for all the replies about possible colors!!!

Tibbrix, I slopped plenty of "paint" on the screen around the muntins, but zooming out it doesn't look too bad. I used masking mode (not sure what it's called) in Photoshop CS3, an older version, but still worthy. After making the examples above, I saved the file but forgot to save the mask as a layer, so I'll need to create one all over again. Grrrrrrrr.

I just took some stabs at colors, thinking I'd want a warm pop and since it's a relatively small area, the color needed to be a little assertive. Maybe I went too far?

I like purples a lot, have them in my yard. I find they need creamy yellows and gold as a foil.

Mayflowers, while I love red, I'm not sure I like it here. I think I'd want to go deeper. I also know that red can be a B, especially in the sun. I was one of a team that painted the mahogany doors on our church red. They face west and the sun wreaks havoc on them. As you can see, this door will get plenty of western sun. Once red is lightened or bleached, it's no longer red, at least not a good red. Ordinarily I don't like orange, but I think I prefer it of the mockups I did.

I think you're right about a softer yellow. Getting something photo-realistic AND finding the right color might be beyond my grasp here. By doing the Darken color mode in PS, I think I affected the color.

Nosoccer, I just don't think I can do blue. I don't like it paired with gray. It feels chilly to me and and don't care for the colors together. Teal is different, perhaps.

As for the walkway, well, I wasn't considering it at all and I'd rather not. :) I picked it 4 years ago and all I cared about was it had some gray and a little variety. If I have to leave that in the mix, then white seems to be the path of least resistance.

Oh, but look at the blue sky in your picture :)

Or a turquoise?

Nosoccer, it's the SKY!!! The sky gets to be blue. It's the best use of blue I can think of. But, just in a flat photo, without reference to object, I don't like the color next to my gray house. I wouldn't paint anything that color. But the sky gets away with it.

Next time I'm in the area, I'll take a photo of a gray house with blue trim that's nearby. Every time I see it I shudder.

Oooh, nosoccer, you slipped some in while I wasn't paying attention. Those are much nicer blues to sit next to gray.

So, I spent way too much time recreating a mask in Photoshop because I stupidly didn't save my last efforts. I did a purple-ish one. Too old lady?

Hehe. When I heard purple, I thought of the eccentric old lady with the purple door that every town has.

I wasn't crazy about the red or orange either, so I had to hold my nose when I typed that. They were the lesser of the evils.

May, I don't know that I've ever had that thought when seeing a purple door, not that there are that many where I live. I think it depends on the house and other factors. It could look very cool, maybe a bit deeper and more plummy than the above.

We have two screened doors, one on the back porch and one on the pantry. We went with standard wooden ones and it was $35 for one and $40 for the other. The one from Lowe's on the back porch is made of pine but is made very sturdy and I would recommend it. It is made similar to the "Old Fashioned" one from vintagedoors. Our other one in the same T bar pattern on the pantry is not quite as well made but is holding up well. It was trimmed down from 28" to fit a 26-1/2" frame so that I wouldn't have to order custom. I think if it wasn't trimmed down, it would be just as tough as the other door. Also, when I was shopping for screen doors, every flea market and antique store in in my area had at least one. But to save money, you could buy the $35 door from Lowes, paint it, and change out the screen to be cat proof. Also, for the color just use a few shades darker version of whatever color your siding is. Just another opinion.

jdez, thanks. It sounds like the ones from Lowe's are great for you. Since this is for my front door, really the public face of my house, I want it to be pretty substantial.

As luck would have it, today I found two local shops that have the door below. It was a fortuitous phone call leading to a referral and then a third connection. For once it happened totally offline and just done with legwork. It's more $$ than Lowe's, but considerably less than vintagedoors. Plus, flat panels!!! It's really nice to talk to people in person. BTW, I received a nice email + quote from vintagedoors. They seem really squared away.

Maybe I should just stick with white. Although the purple would go with my gray hair. :p

I'm not a fan of purple, not sure why, but I love the door in purple. It would look great if you added either some purple pots or flowers too.

I'm returning to my senses and will go with my trim color. Too many choices for me.

I really like the purple, although I'd go with a more subtle and sophisticated purple; not so grape-y. Also very nice and a bit more staid would be a gray/blue, i.e.: BM Van Courtlandl frankly a color you can never go wrong with, IMO.

And this would be beautiful, BM Frozen in Time

Linelle, "I'm returning to my senses and will go with my trim color. Too many choices for me."
I got a chuckle out of this. LOL We all need to do that now and then when wanting to move outside our comfort zone or just plain choosing something for our home.

May_flowers, I may be old, but I'm really not that eccentric. In fact, the older I get, the more conventional I become. Although one nice thing about getting older is you can just go eff them if they can't take a joke, KWIM? I'm retired so I can't get fired. My house is paid for so they can't evict me. I don't have a boyfriend so he can't dump me. Although, the idea of offering solace to your DH when you sadly depart is something I'd like to consider. We could even dance to the oldies. In the meantime, make sure he stays in good condition.

Tibbrix, I cannot do blue. It's out of the question. A sophisticated and non-squirrel-y plum would be politely considered. :)

I'm glad I tried color, even though only virtual. Too many changes at once. I can paint it another color some other time.

Oh, meant to say that I love the door you picked. Great choice.

Thanks Tib, it means a lot coming from you. Sometimes the planets are in perfect alignment.

One of the neat things I discovered in my door(s) quest. Usually at GW we're talking about stuff that's inside a house, so we have to search photos or ask folks here. Stuff like exteriors and landscaping can be a very individual thing depending on the area and market. But every house has an entry door and many also have screen doors. I just drive or walk around neighborhoods and see so many possibilities. And they're real. And you can ask the person in the front yard where they got their door and what color they used. Sometimes the answer is in your own backyard.

nice choice in screen door-- are you sticking with your current front door? if it ain't broken, why fix it.... altho one with more glass would let in more light...

Busybee, thanks! I'm getting a new 2/3 or 3/4 lite door. This all started because I wanted another window on that wall. It's not a bad idea but more complicated and more costly to achieve. I love the light when my front door is open and the light streams in through the screen door. I'm very sad when the weather's too cold for an open door. So I'm getting a new door that will also be a window.

oh, good! it will make such a big difference!!

I also love light and have a full glass or screen storm door and then a door with half glass. And I am a big fan of purple, my doors and shutters are painted this BM Gentle Violet, my storm/screen doors are black. My house color is BM Silver Lining.

pamghatten, that's a luscious color, and not too eccentric old lady. :) Would love to see a photo of the front of your house.

I agree that's a good purple. I could see that on your house. I like it more than red.

May, it is a good purple. All things being equal I prefer a good red over a good purple. But...next to gray, purple/magenta/raspberry totally rock.

Just got a ballpark quote for installing two doors and let's just say the cost of the door pales in comparison, and I haven't even gotten locksets yet. Unless aliens abduct and reprogram me, I'm going with my soft white trim color on both doors. Two new doors are enough excitement for me. Once the shock and awe wear off, I will consider a statement color.

Funny, I was going to mention raspberry yesterday but you said you were concerned about red fading.

Linelle,here is my cat trying to back out of our sliding/screen door...he's a few bricks short of a chimney!

robo - that's funny. Does he do that often?

I only like "royal" purple! LOL! That is the color of royalty, you know! Here's my house. I also have that heavier pet screen in the screen door closet to my SUV, that's why it looks dark. To keep both the dogs & cats in the house! I also painted my barn purple ... a little extreme, but I love it.

purple

Robo, that's hilarious. And how did the screen hold up?

Not sold on a purple door in my future.

I now look at every front door of every house I pass, which means I drive down some neighborhood streets like a little old lady who wears nothing but purple. :) The older neighborhoods with the cute cottages and bungalows are just a treasure trove of fantastic doors.

I want black hardware. Is that so wrong?

Well, I picked a nice grey for my fish scales on the top of my house, and when I came back (NEVER LEAVE when the contractor is painting), it was a nice light purple.
The whole neighborhood was in uproar. No talk of eccentric old lady but rather more along the lines of psychedelic den. By now it has faded to grey. Goes well with the red door.

I used to live in Santa Maria CA where there was The Purple Lady, whose home, furniture, car, clothes, hair, and everything else was purple. But she decorated her home and paired her clothing together in every shade of purple. It was a hot mess.

Light purple fish scales would go well with the crocheted thingies the Guild ladies sell at the Christmas bazaar at my church. I take it you left them alone and they became the right shade?

There is a woman in my area who only dresses in purple. She's a bit on the large size so that means a ton of purple. I believe she was at one time the chief of the fire department in her small community.

Yes, indeed I did leave it alone because it was very precarious for the painter to reach the top fish scales --- plus I figured I spend more time inside the house than approaching and seeing the purple scales. Note: Don't pick paint from a paint chip.