About a month ago, I asked for your help deciding what color to paint my front door. I was really stumped! Thanks to all of you for your input! We collected over 400 responses! Best.Readers.Ever!
Here’s what you all suggested…
Red was clearly the winner with 52% of the vote and I agree that red would look fabulous on this house… if someone else owned it. For me, it’s just too typical. I’m not the type that has to be different just for the sake of being different, but I do want my house to reflect me inside and out, and I just wasn’t feeling the red.
So after staring at my house and this picture for what seemed like an eternity, I made my decision…
Tips for How to Paint Your Front Door
1. Clean the door well and let it dry (clearly this picture was pre-cleaning). Doors get really dingy and you want your paint on the door, not the dirt!
2. Tape your hardware Some people might suggest that taping is for a bad painter, but for me, I paid a pretty penny for this hardware and I don’t want to be scraping paint off. Put your painter’s pride aside and tape that baby nice and tightly!
3. Use Steel wool on any imperfections. Have any old drips or sticky spots? Steel wool will take care of that and make it nice and smooth. I had used some Zots on my door and had some sticky residue… not anymore!
4. Choose an Exterior Paint that you LOVE!
Drumroll please……
Introducing…
Valspar’s Allen & Roth: Spritz of Lime!
I love it because it keeps me wondering… Yellow or Green? Depends on the light and that’s perfect with me. Gives me two colors to love!
I really am happy. I was a tad nervous… well, after the ombre door fiasco, who wouldn’t be! But, it in the end she’s a real beauty!
I’m not showing you the whole front of the house because there’s some major landscaping DIY going on and you’ll have to wait and see!
I will show you my To Do list…
-House Numbers (finished and tutorial for adding numbers to a metal door coming this week)
-Must find the perfect rug
-Make planters
So, be honest… what do you think? Would you have gone with Red or is Spritz of Lime workin’ for ya?
What color is your front door?
LOOOOOOOOOVE the color, it’s fun and unexpected!!
Love it!! much better than red! I agree with you, red is too typical… Can’t wait to see the whole front of the house to see how it looks!!!
What have you done with the ombre from the inside… did you paint the other side yellow too? white? just curioussss….
It looks wonderful and inviting. My house is Tuscan gold and I am thinking deep teal- it’s scary but you give me courage.
Oh that sounds awesome! I love gold and deep teal together!! You need to send us a picture when you do it!!
Monica
Awesome Exterior Painting work and great color combination for our all like door House in other then looking so beautiful amazing work.
Exterior Painting
Love it!! I painted my door last summer and everyone kept recommending red and I just couldn’t do it! I have a brick house and a red door just seemed too expected! I went with an aqua blue and I LOVE it! Your door looks fabulous and I love the numbers too!
The color is very pretty. I would like to know if a quart was enough? and if you did the inside as well. Can’t wait to see it all.
Hey Tiffany!
Yes, the quart was MORE than enough. We did two solid coats and I have about 3/4 of the can left still. Looks like I’m going to have to paint something else Spritz of Lime!! 🙂 I did paint the inside, but not that color. I’ll post about that next week because I added a fabulous rug in the foyer too!
Monica
What did you do with the edges of the door? Paint them the yellow/green or the inside door color? I don’t know where to stop with a paint color for my front door.
I’d recommend removing the hardware – it makes the painting job easier since you don’t have to go around handles/locks and removing/replacing hardware is quite easy to do. Love the color!
Hey Heather!
Yes, I was originally going to remove it, but for the life of me it was being a real pain. I was going to have to wait for the hubs to take it off and he wasn’t thrilled with the idea of possibly putting it back together and it not working as smoothly etc… I guess the tape was our compromise 🙂
Thanks for reading and commenting!
Monica
Michelle- did you put anything over the paint to protect the finish/reduce wear on either door you painted?
Thanks!
I like the yellow…green. 🙂 I wouldn’t have went with the red because I agree that it’s just not “me”. I actually just painted our new front door purple. A very purty purple. 🙂 The only problem is the new door is sitting in the laundry room and not actually gracing the front of my house yet so I can’t tell people “It’s the house with the purple door” yet. 😉
Red is typical but the color you chose is very trendy….I would have loved to have seen a reddish orange but as handy as you are with that paint brush this may not be the only color we see on your door! I love the way the door looks up close on your porch.
That’s a good color for your house. Different, but not too out there.
I’m about to paint my metal front door, and try to make it look like wood.
Wish me luck.
Can’t wait to see the landscaping.
I love it!! I think it’s perfect and different. Can’t wait to see what sort of planters you do. I need something next to my doors but we only have a window on one side so it’s frustrating to try and balance it.
I Love It!!! I am a Red Door lover, but this is such a fun color without being obnoxious. Great choice–and love the numbers too….
Spritz of Lime totally rocks my socks! You’re right, red is too predictable!
I LOVE the lime! I am doing robins egg blue on my front door… just waiting on the ok from the HOA :(. We have red brick so I wanted something that would pop in the sea of red. I hope I get that apporval before it gets too hot outside!
So fun Kelli! We used to have a HOA and I hated waiting for approval. Now that we live in the woods, I can do whatever I want 🙂 But, I don’t have anyone nearby to borrow eggs etc from. I do miss that!
Send us a pic when it’s done!
Monica
Absolutely love your choice of Spritz of Lime… it would have actually been my choice. That or the blue!! Love it! Love you guys. Have seen you on Nate. You guys are really great!!
I would love to see a pic of the whole house now with your new fancy color. I live in a traditional B and W colonial with a red door (wah! wah!) Red’s been done!
I originally voted “red”, but seeing the door with your house (inside and out), I’m glad you went with “spritz of lime”! It does seem to reflect more of your style (from what I’ve seen on the blog), and it look great with the other exterior colors.
What did you use to paint the door with (sprayer, paint brush, roller)? I’m going to be painting our soon and hope to get as nice a finish as you did! Thanks in advance!
I really, really love it!! Red is predictable.. but that awesome 2’fer color is ahhmazing!! Nice call!! 🙂
Yay! for Spritz of Lime!!!!!!!
Super cool! On my phone, it looks yellow, on my computer, it looks green! Awesome!!!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE YOUR FRONT DOOR!!! My two favorite doors in our neighborhood are lime green and pumpkin orange….and the orange one is mine. (there are really three orange doors in our area now, but, they are far enough away that it’s not a trend.) So glad you didn’t go with red.
Wow! What a bold colour choice! It makes such a statement!
I know exactly what this colour looks like because it is my favourite Valspar paint swatch and has been turned into several non-paint paint chip projects in the past!
How could you not smile walking up to a house with this for a front door?
Visiting from your feature on IC today – the two projects are a match made in heaven!
Oh my goodness! I have to tell you that great minds think alike. I wrote a post trying to figure out what color to paint my front door and despite the reader’s choice (red), I chose almost the same color as you! I love how it looks on your house and hope mine looks as good (when I get around to painting all 3 doors ;-(.
Brittany
I realize that this is an old post… but if you still check it, have you had any trouble with bees? I think a yellow front door would look fabulous on our new house, but my husband thinks it will attract bees. Anyways, yours looks fabulous!
Hey Michelle!
I never even thought of bees, but no we haven’t had any issues. I do plant a ton of flowers around my yard, so maybe those are more appealing than my door? I’d say go for it! You can always repaint if they become an issue! Good luck!
Don’t paint the edges!! I did that once, when I painted my front door Black. It takes forever to dry, ( u cant leave your front door opened over night), and then when you do close it, it isn’t really dry, & the door sticks, then it peels/scrapes off. For about the first week, after it was painted, I thought the door was painted shut. Total disaster!! Leave it white or whatever color it is now. Learned my lesson!!!
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Love it! I am trying to decide what to paint ours. The brick is orange, traditional Georgian style, but kind of a deep porch. It’s black now, but doesn’t show up well. Thinking a gold or teal. What do you think?
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i love red but this looks awesome! My door is red, but I’m thinking maybe a change….
I love it! We just bought a house with a dark blue door and I want to paint it a buttery yellow. I had a read door for many years, with red shutters and it got old fast.