Each week on Wednesday, Your Decorating Hotline showcases a reader – their question, their project, or their input.  This week our reader is in the midst of building a new house (how exciting!) and wrote with a question about exterior color.  

Color for Exterior Doors?

“Hello Ladies
I have enjoyed the blog very much lately….it seems like every time I reach a stage in my house, you guys do an entry that pertains to me. I have a question that I don’t think you’ve covered because it deals with my home’s exterior…
 
I fell in love with Spice siding and then the stone but never gave any thought to door color. There are 4 exterior doors plus the garage door and they need something. There will eventually be a wide trim (in the same wicker color as the corners/soffit etc) around the front and garage doors. Any suggestions?
 
Thanks in advance.  Joanne”

Solution

Your Decorating Hotline previously wrote about exterior door colors in “Painted Front Doors Say ‘Welcome’.”  Doors, especially front doors, impact the feel of a house – welcoming or deterring guests.

Although Joanne initially forgot to consider exterior door colors in her scheme, the color solution is found in the other colors she has already selected.  I love the Spice color siding she selected – it is warm, works well with the stone and adds interest to the house.  The front door color needs to work well and stand up to the strong Spice color. 

I emailed Joanne to confirm the roof color - it is a brownish-grey – a nice selection with the Spice and the stone.  My recommendation is to paint the front door the same color as the roof – perhaps even taking it a step or two darker.  This will tie the roof color into the house color, presenting a unified look, and provide a dark, dramatic front door. 

The front door is surrounded by stone and the dark color will help it stand out from the light and textured stone accent.  My guess is the other 3 exterior doors are not surrounded by stone – it’s more likely that they are surrounded by Spice painted siding.  For that reason I suggest Joanne paint the other doors the wicker color she selected for the house trim.  The Spice siding and dark doors are both stong and could look a bit too much like Halloween side by side.  The wicker trim color will help break up the Spice and add lightness to the larger expanse of siding.

My personal preference for the garage door is to paint it the wicker color also, although the same dark color used on the front door would work also on the garage door.  I prefer having the front door uniquely stand out to guests and I like the lighter feel the wicker would provide on the large expanse of the garage door.

Hope this helps with your decision Joanne.  Send us photos of the final results!

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