What does your front door say about you?
Making a good first impression is seldom more important than when you are trying to sell your home. The real estate industry calls that curb appeal—the attractiveness of your house to potential buyers. There are a number of ways to improve your home’s appeal with landscaping, installing exterior decorations and paint. Putting a fresh coat of paint on your front door is a simple and quick way to improves a house’s appearance and can to do wonders for your home’s first impression. But choosing the perfect color for your front door can be quite a challenge. Going to paint store without an idea for the look you want to create is an exercise in too many choices, these days. Tradition and color meanings can help guide your choice for the color of your front door based on the impression you want to give.
A popular and classic front door color is red. A red door is a symbol of welcome in an old early American tradition and in Feng Shui. In Biblical times a red door was believed to provide protection. Church doors were traditionally painted red to signify that once you passed through you were on holy ground. In Scotland painting your door red means the house is mortgage free. Red comes in many hues from brownish-red to shades with more blue.
In Chinese philosophy a blue door represents abundance and the hues can go from blue green to indigo. Dark blue doors can create a feeling of peace and calm as people enter the space. A sense of trustworthiness, stability and loyalty can also be invoked with a pleasing shade of blue.
Green is another popular choice for front door and may work best on homes that face east and southeast. Shades range from an emerald green to deep evergreen. Green might be good choice for the environmentally aware as it represents growth and life in some cultures. In the United State green is often associated with prosperity because of the association the color has with money.
A less popular choice but equally steeped in tradition and meaning is a purple front door. The color purple is associated with royalty and can symbolize that residents of the home are rich in quality of life and health. The color also shows a willingness to take risks and be open-minded. Purple shades can be deep and rich or pale; both can bring a sense of tranquility to the front of a house. Certain shade of purple may be a good choice for Victorian homes which often had a tradition of being painted with bright hues.
Using the traditional meanings of color can point you in the right direction but with the great variety of shades to choose finding the best for hue your front door can still be tricky. (It is important to note that communities with home owner associations often have an approved color list and may require the shutters match the front door. Be sure to check with your local association before making your choice.)
To take some to the guessing out, I like the Sherwin Williams’ Color Visualizer . The Visualizer gives an indication of what a color will look like on a house. The free online program allows you to choose from a number of exterior scenes or to up load a photo of your own home. Try on colors by dropping and dragging a color to the door. It is fun and easy way to see how the color looks and coordinates with the existing colors on the house.
Also, many paint retailers offer samples. Applying the color to a portion of the door will allow you see how a color actually looks on your home and in a variety of times of day and different lights. Samples usually cost a few dollars but can save money and time, over choosing the wrong shade.
Whatever color you choose make certain that it fits the style of your home and door in addition to your personal tastes that way you get the most curb appeal from your time and effort. After all you never get a second chance to make a good first impression.
