Tibb, thanks. It's always been my first choice, but I'm not immune to overthinking things.

If you don't want to "overemphasize" the garage door, then the only option is # 1.

The other options really highlight the doors with the window pattern and make the doors prominent, which you said you didn't want.

chispa, I like the trim around the windows painted to match the rest of the trim. Not painted at all was just an alternative to consider (too thin, too thick, or none at all). I'm not troubled by my garage in front since it's the norm where I live. I didn't realize it wasn't the greatest thing until coming to GW. But I do understand that a big white iceberg of a door is more emphasis than I was after. I like the windows trimmed in a contrasting color and wanted to throw in no trim as a possibility.

I don't think I like #3 at all.

Hmmm, you did ask for our thoughts on three options ... I just gave my opinion and what I would choose if it was my door/house. Looks like #2 is the choice for you.

We bought a house with a front facing garage too and it doesn't bother me either. Also very common here in Los Angeles, although we did change out the very cheap garage doors for custom wood stained ones (that matched the wood front door) and the new garage doors really improved the curb appeal of the house.

Chispa, I didn't mean to diminish your opinion and I did post a no-contrasting-trim option. I guess I meant that since I can't make my garage door less obvious, maybe I can improve its looks. Custom stained wood doors sound divine, although my west-facing door would take a beating.

As a side note, I'm still adjusting to the fact that I can walk into my garage in the daytime and not have to turn on the light. It doesn't even look like the inside of my garage anymore.

I would think about painting the whole door 2-3 shades lighter than the siding. Otherwise I'd pick #1.

#2

#2

Linelle, agree that having some natural light in the garage is a big plus. Good part is that "it's only paint", so you can always change/adjust the color of the garage window trim if the final look isn't exactly as you imagined.

#2 as well. It matches in with a lot of the other trim.

Thanks all for your input. I means a lot to me. I'm probably going to do #2. Chispa, how many times have I heard folks say, "it's only paint," and yet, it's something I needed to hear. It's easily redoable, since it would only involve trim.

Jane, adding a third element is more than my poor brain can handle. :) I'm already dizzy from trying to pick the perfect gray. I may repaint the same color it's been for 16 years but I'd like to just tweak it a bit.

Have you considered BM Nantucket Gray? A gray-green-greige that looks great with white trim. We used it when we repainted our first house in Boston, many years ago, but I still love that color for a house exterior.

Chispa, Nantucket Gray is beautiful, but is probably a tad green and might be a bit too similar to the house across the street, not that they'd care. I don't mind a hint of green (as opposed to blue or mauve) in gray, but I want it to read gray. I'm considering SW Requisite Gray, but I'm not in love with it. Is loving the color of my house too much to ask?!!

I so do not enjoy trying to zero in on the right shade of paint.

How about BM Briarwood (more gray-taupe)?

Agree, you have to love your house color. Nothing worse than pulling up to your house every single day, for many years, and not loving the color.

We just painted our house SW Mindful Gray and have gotten so many compliments. We painted our kennel a darker shade from the same strip called Dovetail. Both are very pretty grays. Trim is SW Snowbound.

#2 looks great!

Annette, care to post a photo of your house? Or a portion? I have a Mindful Gray sample and I can't remember why I took it out of the running. I painted a bunch of large swatches on an obscure portion of siding and it might be due to the shady northern exposure, but nothing looks good. When I got to that point, I stopped and took a breather. It's like, which dessert do I like the most after sampling so many that you feel kinda sick and nothing tastes good anymore.

So far I've been looking at SW and Kelly-Moore (very popular in California). I guess looking at some Benjamin Moore colors wouldn't kill me.

Looking at swatches against the whole looks different outdoors just as it does indoors. Take a sheet of poster board and cut it into 4-6-8 pieces -- or letter size sheets of cardstock and paint them with your samples. You can either ease them into hold along your trim edges or use some masking or painters tape on the back to help hold them in place. They you can look at the paint in a number of areas, especially front and center (where you will see it most) and be able to step back from it.

White garage doors don't bother me as much as they do some folks, especially when the trim is white. Painting the garage door, you run the risk of going too flat with so much grey. I would err on the side of a lighter tone if you do grey. And one other thing I would check before painting the door is that you like the look of the window trim getting cut off by the angled door trim on either side. I think that would bother me more than a white door. If you do paint the door, definitely do the #2 option so you don't wind up with a squinty eyes look.

Regardless of the paint color on the garage door, I think you need a little TLC to the landscaping and possibly adding some house numbers and lighting to make the front of the house more inviting. Remove the trellis with nothing growing on it -- if you want a trellis there it should be tall and narrow, not flared beyond the garage wall. Trim or replace the existing bushes and add some color. Looks like you have a touch of purple or blue low to the ground. That's a start, but you can use more. If it were mme, I would do those things first and then decide if I wanted to paint the door.

Lascatx, thanks for your input. I had a gray garage door less than a week ago and I liked it, so I'm not too worried about it going too flat.

Maybe you missed it in my OP, but I plan on having the angles of the garage opening squared off. Because of scheduling, it looks like the house (and garage door) will be painted before the opening adjustment. Then we'll touch up the paint.

I'm taking one thing at a time. I would like to update and add some new house lighting and numbers. After my house gets painted and the door opening squared off.

As for landscaping, well, I didn't really intend to have that conversation right here and now. Trying to keep it simple and focused on the garage door. It's October and lots of stuff is winding down and getting unkempt. I'll deal with it all as I get to it. Next spring I'm gonna work with my yard person on changing up a few things. I like my drought-tolerant yard.

Almost forgot, I have large foam core samples. I like 4 or 5 of them so I thought I was ready to see how they looked on the siding. Not as much, it seems. I'm just letting it marinate for now.

In the spirit of exploring all options, there's the one Lascatx suggested, leaving the door white. It's alarmingly white now, esp. due to the bright color and glossy finish.

4. Door and window trim color of house trim. My house has a larger vertical front over the garage door.

Here's a quick pic. Sorry I'm a horrible photographer. The trim is snowbound and the shutters are black fox. The color on the left part of the pic is what it really looks like. We weren't quite done when I took this pic but hopefully you get the idea.

My garage doors and trim is white. I did add some hardware to give it a bit more to look at. I will take a pic when I go out.

update: Here are some quick pics of garage side. Like I said I'm horrible at taking pics. Bright early sun made a glare it looks like. Ignore all the trash, currently decluttering to list house.

Annette, thanks so much for the picks. Your house is lovely and the yellow front door looks great. For your garage and carriage doors, I think painting them the trim color was the right decision, particularly since they aren't boldly the first thing you see on the façade.

My vote would be for #1.

We recently had our master bedroom painted SW Requisite Gray. It's a nice, medium gray. I could see it working well outside.

My vote is for #1 but #4 is the most common in my area. Although, we have solid white doors with blue siding and the clipped corners. For the sake of change and to be different, I'd strongly consider option #1. The white trim on the door makes it appear busier.

done_again, thanks for sharing what you did. I hate to say it, but #4 is growing on me. The shock of a new white door has worn off. The fact that it's shiny and white-white will be less when it's painted. My nextdoor neighbor likes it. Not that I'd go with that, but it's funny how different opinions can be. I think if the door were to be all one color, I'd choose white over gray.

Also, I'm glad to hear you like Requisite Gray. At first I thought it looked a little dirty, but I think I like it.

I had missed (or forgot by the time I got there) that you plan to change the angles at the corners of the garage door (see it now), but I have to say the angles seem to go well with the roof line and trim along the eaves. Play with some pictures and make sure you like the balance when you open up the corners. That's a bigger issue than a coat of paint on a garage door.

I looked at the photos above again and noticed your #3 has the same angles -- and that's probably why they did the thinner window trim variation - to look less squeezed in there.

Your photo has a shadow on the door so it doesn't look blinding, but maybe softening the white color to one with a little grey and a more matte finish (maybe eggshell or satin) would do it.

And sorry if I'm pushing you ahead of schedule on landscaping. So many people don't seem to even consider it. So I'll leave you to your decisions and just encourage you not to rush anything you don't have to. Sleeping on it or even stepping back a few days usually results in a better decision for me.

Lascatx, I definitely plan a major refresh on the landscaping next spring. When I had my lawn taken out in 2011 I had a landscape designer suggest plants and I went with all of them. Since then I removed 3 enormous phormiums and this and that. There are a few other plants I don't care for, so it will be time to rework some stuff. I do favor purple/magenta, white, and pops of gold/yellow, esp. against a gray house. When the poppies bloom in March/April, it's happy time.

#3 now looks silly to me. Someone said it was like squinty eyes. I think the only way I could get away with not removing the angles of my garage opening would be to leave it all trim color. It doesn't look so cramped that way. I prefer the squared off door.

I am planning to redo my outside lights, once the painting is done, maybe adding a couple on either side of the garage door. Plus house numbers. It's funny, thinking to minimize the presence of my prominent garage, but it's kinda hard to do when it's so, you know, prominent. I can't exactly hide it, so why not make it look nice?