How to choose a front door colour

Think about your favourite front doors. Perhaps a sunny yellow one at a friend's house makes you feel especially welcome at a cottage-style home. Or, that bright red front door on a neighbour's house lends trend-forward detail to an updated ranch. Whatever the case, a well-chosen front door colour makes an immediate impact, complementing a home's style and improving curb appeal. If it's time for you to take a second look at the shade of your entrance, then read on for help selecting the best colours for front doors.

Understand a Few Colour Basics

Color isn't as simple as picking a favourite shade or a lighter hue: There's logic and a bit of science to colour selection. But if the selection confuses you, a good place to start when choosing the best colour for your front door is the colour wheel.

A colour wheel is a great way for you to easily mix various colours that happen to go together on their own. General colour schemes based on the colour wheel include monochromatic (several shades of a single colour); analogous (colours found side by side on the colour wheel); contrast (three colours spaced evenly apart on the colour wheel); and complementary (two hues opposite each other on the colour wheel).

Pay Attention to Your Home's Style and Personality

Although there are certain "rules" when it comes to mixing and matching colours, there are also cues that come from your home's style and its colours. For example, a pastel hue might look out of place with the ornamentation on an English Tudor style house. Depending on its paint palette, a glossy black front door might not work when paired with a centuries-old Victorian home, while a Mediterranean-influenced design might feel perfectly in tune with a bright turquoise-colour door.

All of this is to say: Your home is also a good guide for what works and what doesn't when it comes to choosing front door colours. Take into account the materials, colors inherent in those materials, style, and surrounding landscape, among other factors.

Use Your Front Door for Impact

Finally, when choosing the best colours for front doors, remember that your front door can be a tool that you can use to your advantage. Visitors use it for wayfinding. The colour can help accent tones in the exterior or provide the finishing flourish to a design palette. The impact might be subtle or it might be more direct; it might also be formal or playful.

Color can also generate emotion. A brighter hue can offer energy to the front door, while a more subdued one plays up a traditional feel. A darker hue is more sombre, a lighter one tends to be playful.

This article originally appeared on www.bhg.com