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With the easing of covid restrictions, we can start to look forward to welcoming friends and family back into our homes. Now’s the time to give your front door a lick of paint to freshen up. But what colour to pick?
Here are a few tips to help you make the best impression when your guests cross your threshold.
Popular
Red has been a favourite colour choice for front doors for years. Rich, vibrant, sophisticated, it’s easy to see why people choose red to make their home stand out. You could go with a classic deep red like Dulux’s High Gloss Vermillion, a rich deep shade like Little Green’s Baked Cherry or an earthy orange-red like Colourtend’s Ruby Vermillion.
Neutral
Whites, black, or grey are neutrals that will never go out of fashion. If you are selling your home or planning to change its exterior, neutral hues will be a flexible choice. Colourtrend does a great range of neutrals in their weather collection. Staining your wooden door instead of painting it will highlight its natural grain. Murtaghs are the main area stockist of Sikkens Cuprinol, Colourtrend, Woodcoat and Sadolins wood care products.
On-trend
Green is one of the fastest-growing paint colours. Over the last few years, we have seen a rise in the popularity of soft greens like sage and seafoam, moving into muted olive greens or blue-grey greens like those from Designer Guild’s Sea Tone palette.
Stand out
The colour of your front door is one of the quickest ways to make your house stand out, making a statement that not only compliments your home but also expresses your personal style. Your front door can be an opportunity to experiment with bold colour. Brights like pink, orange, or purple make a big statement and put a smile on your face every time you get home and see the colour you love. What colours do you like? Love a colour but don’t want to paint an entire room in it? Painting your front door a stand out shade is a smaller commitment than painting a whole room. If you love purple but nervous about it, go for a darker hue like Little Green’s Purpleheart or Farrow and Ball’s Imperial Purple, a rich deep purple from their new “Colour by Nature” range created in collaboration with the Natural History Museum, London.
Colour psychology
Some colours just make us feel good, and others give off an air of sophistication or fun. You can play on this when picking out the colour for your front door. How do you want your guests to feel with they arrive at your home? For a cheerful look, try painting your door in a bright shade of yellow. Yellow conveys happiness and warmth and fun, making your home seem inviting. You could pick a golden warm yellow like Colourtend’s Georgian Gold, a bright yellow like Dulux’s Cornfield or Little Green’s Mister David; all would look great with a grey or white exterior and look amazing on Georgian homes. On the other hand, if you want to feel calm and rested, softer shades of green or blue will help you exhale on getting home.
Your home as inspiration
Still stumped for what colour to choose, then look to your home and its surrounding for inspiration. Consider your house’s structure; if it’s built from stone or brick, you will want your door colour to complement the tones of these materials. Blue and green doors look great on red brick houses, as blue and green are opposite on the colour wheel to the orange and red tones of the brick, making them complementary colours. Greens we love with red brick are Dulux’s Winter Holly and Paint & Paper Library’s Hunter Dunn. If you go for blue, navy is a timeless colour, or you could try some other blues, aqua, peacock or how about Colourtend’s beautiful bright sky blue Saltee, created to work in harmony with the Irish landscape.
If your home is a period property, you may want to stick to historic colours that fit in with the era of your home. In general neutral or deeper colours like black or navy pair well with more traditional homes. If your home is a modern architectural statement, stick to black or contemporary shades like deep grey, teal or aubergine to make the structure of your home stand out. If your home is relatively neutral, then it’s an excellent opportunity to go with a colour that will give it some personality.
You can also look at your surrounding environment for inspiration, living by the sea? A blue door could look fabulous, picking up on the coastal vibes. If you are a keen gardener, a rich deep green or natural tones of blue and brown will complement a beautifully landscaped garden.
The right paint
To paint your front door properly, you need to choose the right paint. As your front door is exposed to the elements, it is essential to use paint formulated for exterior use. Choose a paint that guarantees weather and UV resistance to protect against wind, rain and sun. If you are painting a metal door, look for paint with built-in rust protection. Before you paint on your chosen colour, make sure to prepare your door and use a specialist, solvent-based exterior primer (check in store for a suitable option).
Check the quality of your door before selecting the paint finish; Satin or Eggshell’s finishes provide a slight shine, reflecting a small amount of light and helping to hide imperfections on a surface. Gloss paint will give an easy-to-clean high shine finish, but it reflects a lot of light that will work well on perfectly smooth surfaces but show imperfections on an older or damaged door.
When picking a shade, consider how much light your door gets; more sun means the colour will appear lighter; if it’s in the shade, the colour will appear darker. Test your colour and check it at different times of day to get an idea of how it will turn out.
Murtaghs paint for front doors
Visit our store to explore our complete paint range suitable for your door. If you need advice, our experienced team are here to help you. If you’d like to talk to our paint colour consultant, Vivienne is available Mon to Fri, 10 am – 4 pm, contact us to make an appointment with her in-store.
