Help With Choosing Paint Colors for Your Front Door

Coordinate with Landscaping or Interior

• Choose a color that coordinates with the main colors in your landscaping, advises interior designer Lisa M. Smith. Look at the flower or shrub colors most prominent from the curb and select a color that matches or blends with them. As an alternative, Smith recommends selecting a hue that ties in with your interior color palette, making your front door a preview of what lies inside.

Make a Statement

• If you’re an adventurous or bold individual, show your personality to visitors and neighbors with an unusual front-door color, such as pumpkin or plum. A lively, glossy red can reflect your outgoing personality. If you’re more of an introvert, you can still spice things up a bit. Instead of choosing a basic gray, select one with a hint of lavender.

Convey a Feeling

• A warm, glowing yellow with a “baked-in-the-sun look” can give your door an unexpected feel that’s not too bold, advises designer Matthew Patrick Smyth on the "House Beautiful" website. Light and medium shades of green can evoke feelings of nature. If you live near the water, a blue can convey a coastal feel, while dark-blue green offers a Caribbean accent.

Connect to your Surroundings

• Using a color popular in your portion of the country can give your home a traditional feel. For example, designer Phoebe Howard on the "House Beautiful" website calls dark green “a traditional Southern color.” Navy blues and berry shades are popular on New England doors, according to Sherwin Williams.

Complementary Colors

• No matter which path you take to select a paint color for your front door, you’ll want to make sure it doesn’t clash with the color of your siding or brick. If you’re unsure of which colors “go” together, purchase a color wheel. These devices display primary colors, secondary colors and mixtures of the two side-by-side. Colors positioned directly across from each other on the wheel are considered complementary. Shades adjacent to each other on the color wheel can also work well together.