Looks like you may be in a tropical region. I think the brown will work with your roof, but I would just go a couple of shades darker than the siding with your trims. Dark colors there are making for a boxy look. I don't get the idea of a fenced grass area. Go for something more tropical and pretty.

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Eadie Mid Century Beach House · More Info

I think black trim and the orange door can work but white with wood accents would look great

Agree that trim would be better a lighter shade than dark brown. That color seems to push house towards street. The orange door isn’t working for me - if you’re set on orange, maybe a deeper shade, not so ”glaring”? I agree too with @decoenthusiaste about fenced grass front yard. I would choose low maintenance plants appropriate for your locale & which would create a much softer & more inviting entry.

Sorry orange and brown are not IMO a good choice for the house . Get a new MCM garage door and front door both with glass and if you must frosted. Lanscaping is where you get the big bang for your buck and this is a fave of mine to use for inspiration. The garage door and the front door in the pic are also good.

Are you replacing original diamond divided lite windows with vinyl?!? If so, I just died a little inside.

Sorry Patricia, but orange and brown are completely authentic colors - there are two Lautners in my neighborhood, and one is orange, dark brown and mustard-y beige - sounds awful, but it‘s stunning. Frosted glass and metal garage doors are not mid century - they are often added to MCM houses to make them lean contemporary, but they definitely weren’t used in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

And OP’s door is likely original to the home - it’s the same as I have on my

1952 MCM home. I support the idea of painting it a cool color vs replacing.

OP - your house appears to be more of a midcentury bungalow/cottage vs the modern/contemporary style. Unless you have a huge budget and absolutely loathe those original elements, I’d lean into those more earthy neutral tones (sort of toned down from your original post) - grey-greens, whites, etc.

All good input, thank you. I’ll address some questions and comments.

1. This house is backed up to a canyon. There is no backyard, just a deck. I have a little one and want an area for him to play. A fenced grass area in the front is very common in the area. With a hardscape along the front of the fence.

2. I am working with what we have. I definitely don’t want to replace the front door. And I’d prefer to put the money that would be spent on a new garage door into something else.

3. I am trying to stick with more warm neutrals. I do think they go well with the roof color which is what I’m working with. I don’t have to have an orange door, but have a red one in my current place and wanted something a tad bit different. I’ll look for a more toned down color. Bright colored doors are also popular in the area.

4. It does sound like most prefer a lighter trim versus the darker. The trim is where I’m having the hardest time deciding what to do.

While I like the blue with lime green door in Patricia's post, I think that's a modern interpretation of MCM. Modern interpretations are a way to make an old style fresh, so there isn't anything wrong with that, but that doesn't sound like what you're looking for. The orange door with a brown body is more historically accurate. I am old enough to have lived as a child in a house built in the mid-'60's that had that color palette. The orange should be not quite so bright. My father was a MCM fanatic until his death last year. Brown, orange and gold all the way. :-)

I think white vinyl windows will ruin the effect. Can you get them in brown, or at least something not blindingly white?

Thank you Kandre.

Sounds like I’m on the right track. If I had a grey/black roof I wouldn’t feel like I have to stick with the browns and neutrals, although I like them.

I feel the roof limits the colors I should use.

I’ll lighten up the trim and find a more muted orange doors.

What about something like Audubon russet for the door?

Good recommendation Nancy!

I've made some modifications. Not sure if they're in the right or wrong direction.

- Trim is lighter

- Went with a darker body

- Muted orange door

Yes!

Those metal and glass garage doors only look good in photos I think. In practice, you see shadows of what is inside - especially in the evenings with an inner light on. Looks terribly messy.

Im sorry but what about this house is MCM aside from the year it was built? that just makes it a mid century. this house looks more like a traditional 1950's. https://www.thoughtco.com/guide-to-mid-century-homes-177108

MCM homes do not often have white windows. They have a dark frame like bronze, brown or dark gray

Here is an MCM house with white window frames that work but the windows are very large.

or

@RL Relocation LLC as mentioned in my original post there are many MCM events in the interior. So I want to move some of that to the exterior with point choices.

@celerygirl I like the first option you’ve presented. Thank you!

One person's "too matchy-matchy" is another's well done analagous color scheme. Nothing wrong with analogous, I think the fact that brown and orange is a decidedly retro combo (matches my Autumn Leaf china LOL) keeps it interesting. I do like Celery's #1 (very light but still brown) but #2 veers too far into the contemporary stark white thing

I appreciate the input @debbie! I agree #2 is too white and contemporary for me also.

A few options I just sketched up with a little fence in the front as well.

Browns and beiges are devlishly difficult to do well. And even harder for us who are interpreting these colours on our screens.

On my screen your roof is not at all orange-brown. I took a shot of it your roof, enlarged it and this is what I see. A pinkish brown that is pretty close to the rosy brown shown below it. The darker colours are a burgundy brown or wine brown. The blue beside it is the complementary colour to pinkish brown - opposite on the colour wheel.

On my screen and to my eye, this looks better than an orange door. Even the bit of orange on the pavement at the bottom of your picture seems to clash with the roof.

The blue could be lighter or darker or less saturated, but stay in the same general level of blueness vs going more green-blue or more purple-blue.

https://www.color-name.com/rosy-brown.color

https://www.farrow-ball.com/en-us/colour-by-nature/deep-reddish-brown

You could do worse than get a professional colour consultant on this.

Whatever you choose, I'd paint some big sample boards and look at it in different lights before you pick up the paint brush.

I do really like @partim suggested color for door

@partim Thank you for your analysis and throughts. The roof is more of a red brown. Like you mentioned some wine brown colors.

I am hoping to go a little darker. I'm trying to stay away from brighter white colors on the body, although I do think they're beautiful.

I could always settle for a red door. I think a deep maroon color looks good. Any thoughts appreciated. I was hoping to have the front door be a little more "fun" and inviting. The darker red door makes the entry seem dark, to me. And I felt an orange door may brighten it up a bit. Bright and more fun colors are popular in the area.

Oh, and the bricks in the front will be coming out.

To me that beige looks far too yellow. Don't end up with a yellow house and a pink roof.

Don't do what I did.

In the mid 1980's we moved into a house with a gold carpet, pretty bright. We chose a warm beige colour at the paint store and painted the master bedroom that evening, in a poor light, while our 2 toddlers were asleep. Woke up to a pink bedroom. No other way to describe it. The warm beige contrasted sharply and extremely unattractively with the gold carpet - the colours fought each other mightily. Beware.

That's why I think you may be better off with a white house. Because the pink-beige that "goes" with your red-brown roof may not be a colour that you like.

@partim thank you for the heads up! Possibly back to the drawing board!

Is it possible you might have some shingles lying around that you could look at close up (or get a sample if its still manufactured) and compare paint samples with. You can then see more clearly exact colors (usually multiple different colors) are and can more accurately zero in on some sample colors (still want to test them on large 4 x 4 panels you can move around to different parts of the house). I know this may sound way OCD, but I found it very helpful when choosing colors once. And once I went at it the other way around, chose shingle to go with some vintage mint green siding. The shingle was called weathered wood and reads as a gray brown, but had some grains of mint green in it and not coincidentally it proved to be the best choice. Agree that with such subtle color variations, photos may not be the most accurate. I fer instance am not seeing the yellow above poster refers to but thats not to say it doesnt exist.