Awww Baby Come Home To Me (I)
Street Appeal ~ Street Appeal ~ Street Appeal
We have all heard these words. More than once!
Imagine that you are coming home from a tropical vacation. You are fondly thinking of the sparkling blue waters, the brilliant sunshine, the luxurious beaches and ah the greenery, the lushniss of it all. You approach your home and you see your front door and suddenly you realize that your home looks pretty drab after all the bright tropical colours. You start to wonder what you can do about that. You feel you need to ‘spruce up’ the look of your house. But where to start?
I have found over many years in interior design that painting the front door is an excellent and a budget friendly way to do just that. Whether the facade of your home is stone, brick, clapboard, siding or wood, a fresh lick of paint will instantly lift the appearance of your home.
Unfortunately, living in a townhouse or other type of controlled environment will not allow that type of freedom. However, if you own your own home, be it a single dwelling or duplex, there are all sorts of ways to improve the street appeal of your home.
Today I will only talk about giving that front door a fresh coat of paint. Replacement of the front door or other ways to achieve great street appeal I will leave for another post. In my professional life I have often been asked to select exterior paint colours for a variety of homes. My favourite part was finding that perfect colour for the front door. Here are my tips for selecting the right colour and the right type of paint.
Colour Selection
When selecting a paint colour for your front door there are a few of things to consider:
~ The architecture of the house
~ Your personal style
~ The harmony between the exterior house colours
Ahhh, so pretty!
The architecture of the house is an important criteria for choosing the right colour. For instance, a charming cottage style home or a country house can easily show a bright, warm and happy colour, such as a deep clear red, sunflower yellow or even a daring orange. A contemporary home on the other hand needs to have a sophisticated, chic door colour or a jewel tone such as wine red, emerald green or a deep rich blue. Even a multilayered grey tone, particularly the charcoal/medium greys or blacks work really well for contemporary homes.
The colour of your choice will also depend on your personal style. You may want the door to stand out from the other features of the house and show it as a focal point, emphasizing its architectural details or if those are lacking, bringing out any architectural details surrounding the door. Bright, happy colours against a neutral background (like white, cream or grey) will be a welcoming, inviting sign to your guests. These colours complement and enhance a neutral exterior. They can be exuberant, vivid jewel tones.
Pick a colour you absolutely love. You will want to drive or walk up to your house, see your front door and smile. You want the colour to lift you up. You want to swoon over the choice you made! You want to feel good to come home after a long day at work, or after a few days away.
Some homeowners will be uncomfortable with such an noticeable element at the front of their house. They may be reluctant to make a statement. Their style gravitates more to neutral or more sophisticated colours. In such a case the navy blue families, or the forest green to medium grey colours, may well be much better choices.
List of numbers and names of above paint colours
Row One - BM 2143-70 Simply White, BM 283 Cally Lily, BM 2067-60 Windmill Wings
Row Two - BM CC-810 Hudson Bay, BM 2040-10 Rainforest Foliage, BM 2128-10 Black Beauty
It is important to ensure a flow of colours from the outside to the inside. Does the chosen colour coordinate with the colours of the inside of the house? And, in particular the entry way or foyer. Do the exterior door colour and the interior wall colours complement one another? Nothing as jarring as a sophisticated front door only to step into a fuchia pink foyer. Or a gorgeous high gloss black door opening up to an orange entry. Well, maybe in October........wink, wink!
My next article we'll go into types of paint, my favourite front door paint colours and how to paint your door properly so you can enjoy it for a long time.
What does your front door look like? Let me know how you feel about a lovely painted front door.
