Your front door can say a lot about you.  It can project a sense of vibrancy, cheer and friendly welcome. Or it can create a sense of class and sophistication. It can lend your home a certain mystique and an air of intrigue. Your front door says “welcome” to visitors and residents alike. But while your door’s ironmongery and glazing play a part in crafting its aesthetic, you mustn’t overlook the importance of door colour in your external decor. 

Colours are great communicators. They’re essentially visual shortcuts to certain parts of the brain, which is why they can have such a powerful impact on our mood and influence our impressions of a place, an object, a brand, or even a person. Colour theory has been around since the days of Sir Isaac Newton. And while there’s been surprisingly little study carried out on the relationship between colour and mood, the language of design pays close attention to the ways in which colours influence our thoughts. 

With that in mind, if your front door needs a new lease of life, its colour may be the perfect place to start. Let’s take a look at some popular door colours and what they might say about your home, so you can find the perfect front door colour to reinvigorate your home’s exterior design.  

Front Door Colours: Choosing Your Shade

A lot has been written about front door colours. Design blogs and paint manufacturers make all kinds of claims, stating that certain colours can make it easier to sell your property or even add value to your home. While personal preference should be the deciding factor when choosing your shade, there is a range of other factors to consider including the property’s age, location, and the colour of the brick or stone from which your home is made. 

Here, we’ll take a look at some of the most popular front door colours and why you may want to choose them. 

Black

Black is classic, sophisticated and timelessly elegant. From little black cocktail dresses to black tuxedos, it’s the colour we associate with class and prestige. As well as having connotations of class and sophistication, black can also symbolise strength and security. After all, the UK head of state lives behind a black door. Perhaps it’s for these reasons that a black front door can purportedly add up to £1,000 to the value of your home. 

However, a classic black front door can also be quite cold and potentially forbidding. Especially if you live somewhere with a chilly or grey climate. 

Grey

Like black, grey is an understated and classic colour. However, it’s recommended that dark grey doors be paired with a bright white door frame. This creates a pleasant juxtaposition and ensures that your exterior looks elegant rather than dour. It’s also recommended that grey front doors be flanked by plants or shrubs to add a touch of vibrancy and enhance the contrast of your exterior. Grey is often better suited to modern, urban environments or period properties than homes in the country. 

Red

Rich, vibrant and eminently versatile, red is a very popular door colour. Typically used for period properties, this strong colour can show personality and confidence, drawing the eye to the property and projecting a sense of pride in your home. Although some consider red to be an aggressive colour. 

According to research by SellHouseFast, a red door can even add up to £1,800 to the value of your home. 

White

Pure and simple, a crisp white can add brilliance to your home’s exterior. It can reflect sunlight and add elegance and cheer to your home’s aesthetic. Alternatively, an off-white with a hint of grey can add a cosy touch to the exterior of a country house. The caveat, of course, is that white doors can be dulled by road dust and grime. As such, they are not recommended for homes on busy main roads (unless you’re happy to clean yours regularly). 

White doors are also one of the best ways to add value to your home, too. It’s estimated that a white door can add around £3,400 to the value of your property. 

Brown

Many homeowners prefer natural or earthy hues in their home decor. But when it comes to your front door colour, brown is generally not advisable. Although it has connotations of safety and reliability, brown is one of the least desirable front door colours. It can even reduce your property’s value by as much as £700. 

If you’re looking for an earthy colour for your front door, it may be more beneficial to let the natural wood speak for itself with a pleasing coat of varnish or wood stain. 

Dark blue

Dark blue carries a certain sense of prestige, with undertones of integrity and steadfastness. The phrase true blue springs to mind. So it comes as no surprise that it’s one of the most desirable colours for a front door. The right shades of blue can even increase your home’s value by up to £4,000. If you’re looking to add value, a dark blue door is the way to go.

Light blue

Light blue can be a calming colour with connotations of freshness and invigoration. While often considered less classic than darker shades, a light blue can be a fresh and serene colour that’s great for seaside or rural properties. 

There are various lighter shades to choose from, like sky blue and duck egg blue. each one will create a very different look.

Dark green

One of the great things about green is its versatility. One can opt for bright cheerful shades of vibrant green if one wants to draw the eye. Or they can opt for darker and more muted colours to add a sense of class and prestige to the property. 

Dark greens are warmly reassuring, like the leaves of healthy houseplants or majestic trees. It’s welcoming, yet neutral making it a popular choice for all kinds of properties. A green door can even add around £500 to the value of your home. 

Lime green

If you’re feeling brave, choosing a bright colour like lime green could really make your entrance pop. This shade pairs well with a grey exterior and can look especially at home in coastal areas.

Yellow

While not for the faint-hearted, bright yellow doors are the next big thing for those who want to make a bold statement with their exterior decor. 

With the bold colour of sunshine and daffodils, there’s an inherent sense of cheer that a yellow door brings to your exterior. It’s a youthful and exuberant colour that portrays confidence and pride in your home. And in these increasingly dour and gloomy times, a yellow door can create a cheerful entrance with a sense of perpetual sunshine, vibrancy and optimism. 

Purple

Another unorthodox choice, a purple front door can say a lot about its occupants, depending on the shade. Darker, richer shades can lend your home a regal air, while brighter and more vibrant shades can convey a sense of youthful fun and playfulness.

Orange

If you’re looking for an extreme colour that hints at your warm and joyful personality, orange is a great choice for your front door. It’s a positive and optimistic colour that draws the eye and lifts the spirit. While it’s certainly not for everyone, an orange front door can lend tangible energy to your exterior decor. This colour choice will certainly make your door stand out! 

Pink

While pink certainly isn’t for everyone, it’s an increasingly popular choice in trendy youthful areas where residents want to communicate a sense of playfulness and optimism. Flamingo pinks are especially popular in charmingly bohemian areas like London’s Notting Hill. Pink is a vibrant colour that conveys confidence to the point of fearlessness, as well as communicating a sense of hope.

The Best Door Colour for Your Existing Colour Scheme

Of course, your front door doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It is part of an exterior colour scheme that’s dictated by the materials from which your home is constructed, the nearby greenery, other properties in the same area, and even the pervading weather conditions in your area. 

As such, when choosing the best colour front door, it’s important to consider how the colour of your new front door suits the existing colour scheme of your exterior. Using a colour wheel can be a great way to find the right match.

Here are some points to keep in mind:

• Urban townhouses built using red bricks, white houses and grey stone benefit from strong and simple colours like blacks, greys, reds and dark blues
• Country houses of yellow stone such as those in the Cotswolds or Peak District may benefit from cooler, brighter colours like duck egg blues or greens
• Blues and whites add a maritime feel to coastal properties, although a rich turquoise, bright yellow or even pink may be at home here
• White or cream stucco exteriors afford the most latitude when choosing a door colour. Blacks and austere dark blues can work as well as bright turquoise and even yellow
• Keep your colours simple with older period properties. Dark blues and greens lend the doors of such homes a certain prestige. It’s not for nothing that these are the colours of the most expensive properties on the Monopoly board

How to Change Your Front Door Colour

If you want to change the colour of your front door, you have two options. You can either repaint your door yourself, or you can replace it. 

Painting front doors can be an affordable and easy solution. Just make sure that the wood is properly prepared. Don’t attempt to paint over your existing coat. Instead, sand the wood down with 120 grit sandpaper, making sure to sand in the direction of the grain. Remove all dust with a cloth dampened with white spirit. Once the wood is bare again, you may need to use a primer depending on what type of paint you use. This ensures consistent colour and finish across your door. Check out our detailed guide on how to paint your front door for more information.

Alternatively, you may want to choose from our huge selection of external doors. We carry a huge range of primed and unfinished doors for you to paint in whatever colour you choose. 

And with a great selection of styles and materials, you’re sure to find the perfect fit for your property.