Back in Black: The Front Door Color That Just Works

If I could go back in time to over a year ago when I started mocking up colors for my front door, I would have told myself to just try painting the colors on the actual door! It was so much faster for me to paint the front door three times than just thinking about it for a year!

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I think the reason I sat on it for so long is that there is this extra barrier of getting approval through the HOA. And not only that, but we also have to get our neighbors' approval as well. It can feel a little embarrassing to ask, "Can I paint my front door this color?" Our neighbors are like, "We don't care, you're good." But..I wanted to paint our front door again and again and again to see what color looks right (and who wants to keep asking!).

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The color I landed on was a smokey blue called De Nimes by Farrow and Ball, and I was so excited about it. It looked so good from the entryway with the door open. Then when I shut it, it just did not look right. Totally the wrong vibe. It took away from the trim color that we loved so much. Chris felt the same way right off the bat. Usually Chris will save his opinion for when he feels really strongly about something — he generally asks what I think first. When he saw the front door, he said, "I don't like it, it looks bad." I actually loved that, because neither of us liked it — it's not just me!

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We didn't have another color approved, but we did have the trim color approved. So we thought, why don't we just try the Cromwell Gray by Benjamin Moore? It would be cohesive with the exterior windows and the outline of the house. The paint was still wet, and I already knew no, this is not it. It just made nothing feel special. I think there is a world where it could have worked, but it was just...fine? Yes, we have our side door in the trim color, and I'm going to do our other secondary door in the same trim color. I love the color so much on the side of the house, but on the front of the house, it wasn't doing it for me. The front door needed something different.

And so, it might seem like out of defeat I painted the front door back to black. I think I was craving a refresh when in reality, the door was kind of dull-looking after years of weather and sun. And all it needed was a shiny, semi-gloss coat of Tricorn Black by Sherwin Williams. I also spray-painted our planters a bronze color, and that was a game-changer for me. That completed the refresh I was looking for.

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Often when something is expensive, you don't want to degrade that thing by painting it. In reality, if you're not working with what you have, it's going to be more money to replace those things. Once I spray-painted the planters, they looked more expensive! The whole facade just looks so rich.

I asked Chris if he sees us ever replacing the front door, and he said, "100%." Someday in the future, I can picture an arched door that extends up to where the window is above. I see it in a really deep mahogany color. Would it have glass windows? As much as I would love more lighting in my entry, it does scare me to have a window in my front door. It would be startling to walk through and see someone on your front stoop for a delivery or something!

I do love how painting a front door is a low-cost, high-impact sort of project. It really only takes a quart of paint, a roller, a brush, and a bit of elbow grease (get our tool list). Just goes to show that even refreshing your current paint can do wonders!