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How to choose a colour for your front door

Yellow signifies happiness whilst an orange front door suggests a playful side. Red is a strong, vibrant colour but blue front doors tend to be a rare choice. A black front door suits more or less every home and a white front door is a safe choice too. Choosing the colour of your front door is harder than you think. With many colour choices, how can we make the ‘right’ choice?

Factors to consider when choosing the colour of your front door

Aside from your own likes and dislikes of colours, you’ll need to consider other factors too.

1. The material your house is built from

In the UK, most houses are built from stone or brick. Modern properties can be built from a range of materials leading to different exterior colours and finishes. Essentially, the colour of the outside of your home impacts which colour of front door works best.

For example, if your home is a neutral coloured stone, you have more or less the whole spectrum of coloured front doors to choose from. Matching a front door colour to red brickwork can be a little trickier, however. 

Understanding the colour wheel in design is, says interior designer @SophieRobinsons, the first step in getting the right colour palette in your home and the exterior too. 

2. The architectural style of your home

The age of your home could also help you out in choosing the right colour for your front door. Georgian, Victorian and 1930s semi-detached properties and terraces are all very different with respect to their architecture. During certain periods, certain colours were used because, in the main, technology hadn’t invented different pigments. 

Victorian houses suit darker colours and shades such as glossy black or a deep, forest green. Tudor style houses are better suited to softer, pastel shades. Red brick country cottages also tended to have lighter colour window frames and front doors. 

3. The surrounding landscape

If you live on a busy urban street, the surrounding landscape colour palette will be very different from a home in a green, leafy suburb. Choosing the right colour for your front door is important for a number of reasons, one of which is to improve the kerb appeal of your property. In terms of the local environment and the colours it offers, use them to either make your property stand out or to help your property settle into the landscape. 

4. The colour of your existing windows and doors

A new front door, especially a secure, modern and double-glazed front door, gives your home an instant facelift. But what you don’t want is for it to stand out for all the wrong reasons. 

The default colour for double glazed window frames tends to be white, perfect for matching with any colour front door. But when you have coloured frames, it narrows the choice of a coloured front door. In this case, use colour swatches to see what works and what doesn’t.

A personal choice

Having said all this, choosing the colour for your front door is a personal choice so what colour front door would you choose?