Well as for dated, this place was built in 1980 in the Spanish Mission style popular in California. It's a historical look, done with typical 1980's lack of attention to detail. For example the light fixtures are hideous and not at all "spanish mission". But I think trying to stay consistent with the intended style would look best - and "real" Spanish Mission homes have usually natural very heavy wood doors with or without iron grates, often ornate. Even window bars are common as a decorative element not for security. So I'm not really trying to update or modernize the place! Obviously this would look too grandiose for our modest townhouse, but this is the style the builders were going for. This one is more similar in scale and feel Maybe all black would work I was afraid it would look too stark. Here is a mockup of all black - of course there would be features visible and shadows/reflections etc so this is not a great mockup. Here are some pictures I took just now from back near the gate- early evening sun was glaring in making the lighting difficult for pictures since I only know how to point and shoot, LOL! But it really illustrates how the door disappears as is. here is the same pic with the door black and green - it's hard to photoshop the correct green because it looks different in all lights. I just cloned the color from the trim. It's basically a forest green with blue undertones. You can see the other plants in the urns a bit better from this angle. Of course the plants are all brand new and will grow much bigger and fuller. I am looking for some wall mounted planters for the open spaces, too.

It is always a better choice to use solid wood for an exterior door...in your case there are no exterior wood features so painting the door would be the most practical solution for a veneer door...it would be tough to pick a decorative color for the door in this situation...so matching the white trim or picking a color from the stone colors would flow best...

> @joseph_corlett Depends upon what part of the country you're in also. Do you get hurricanes? West Coast -- no hurricanes. Just forest fires. > @User. You're going to need an engineered curtain wall assembly to do that justice. We probably won't do any curtains at all. Our backyard when it's finished will be totally private. > @lkbum_gw I'd aslo reccomend contacting a local glass company, one that does commercial installations. Google "commercial glass" for your area. Ooo. That is an idea. I will do that! > @palimpsest One way I am thinking of getting a more open look back is to reduce the number of divisions I am giving that some thought too. Ours isn't too bad from a divisions perspective, but even fewer would be even better. > @dan1888 Thank you so much for linking me to specific product lines. That is REALLY helpful. I will definitely thoroughly look through all of them this week. > @Shasta We considered replacing the sliding glass doors but were able to repair them by replacing the rollers and adjusting them so we just replaced the glass in them too. Who did the repair on your sliding glass doors? Was it the same people who replaced the glass, or are there companies who specialize in sliding door repair? If so, what is that specialty called? Because that would definitely be of GREAT interest. If someone could make these glide smoothly and quit leaking, that would solve everything.

Quite honestly, I would put on a darker brown roof (solid, not any other colors in it), and keep the color scheme you have. There is nothing short of completely rebuilding it, that will give it a modern appearance. Its beautiful just as it is. It also fits in with your neighborhood. A modern look would stick out like a sore thumb. White and black, or white and red, etc are all colors that look good on your type of house, but, I prefer the colors you have, over white.