Front and Center Color: When to Paint Your Door Black
Black may make a front doorway elegant and dramatic. It works well with every other color, which makes it extremely versatile. In addition, it can throw a challenge your own way. If you do not have enough contrasting colors as a background, black may hide the entrance or make it seem overly dark — not really great to your home’s curb appeal. Listed below are examples of black front doors completed beautifully right, along with sample palettes of complementary outdoor colors.
More: 5 Bright Palettes for Bold Front Doors
Dijeau Poage Construction
1. Black Door With Light, Warm Exterior
This is a terrific example of how to add a black doorway on a more traditional-style house. The siding, trim and garage door are painted in light, soft, warmish hues that contrast well with the bold splash of black to front doorway. The stunning architecture is permitted to take center stage. (You do not require vibrant colors to get attention here.) This is a tasteful palette for a tasteful home.
Jennifer Ott Design
Example palette: Get a similar look with (clockwise from top left,all from Glidden): Onyx Black GLN62, White On White GLC26, Wood Smoke GLN40, and Crisp Linen White GLC13.
WA Design Architects
2. Black Door With Beautiful, Bold Exterior
The black garage doors on this house are stunning against the hot, gold-hued rock and deep, rich reddish siding. Nothing is unwelcoming about this palette.
Jennifer Ott Design
Example palette: Get a similar look with (clockwise from top left,all from Martha Stewart Living): Weathervane MSL196, Whetsone Gray MSL258, and Barn MSL026.
FGY Architects
3. Black Door With Dark, Neutral Exterior
In case you are thinking about a dark front door onto a house that is painted a dark hue, you may want to paint the doorway trim white, or another mild neutral. This also helps the door pop out from the background color of the house, creating your entrance more obvious and welcoming.
Jennifer Ott Design
Example palette: Get a similar look with (clockwise from top left,all from Mythic Paint): Big Ben 135-6, Covered in Darkness 132-1, and Blooming Berry 157-4.
Jacob Lilley Architects
4. Black Door With Shades of Another Color
This pair of black-painted garage doors provides an eye-catching contrast to the milder house color. The darker accent color on the gables helps balance out the large chunks of black at floor level. You can create this pulling ombré impact with almost any color, like colors of blue, black, yellow or any neutral hue.
Jennifer Ott Design
Example palette: Get a similar look with (clockwise from top left,all from Dunn Edwards): Black Engine DE6350, Whisper DEW340, Sea Turtle DEA170, and Tinted Mint DES540.
Pankow Construction – Design/Remodeling – PHX, AZ
5. Black Door With Light, Cool Exterior
Here’s a good illustration of a black doorway paired with a more neutral sage green onto the house. This hot exterior color palette produces a nice background for the landscaping.
Jennifer Ott Design
Example palette: A black doorway and white or light-colored trim look fantastic from a soft sage background. Here are some great sage greens to test: Comfort Gray SW6205 (siding A) from Sherwin-Williams, Aganthus Green 472 (siding B) from Benjamin Moore, and Steel City D63-3 (siding C) from Olympic Paint.
Architect, Michael Knowles
6. Black Door With Red Brick
Don’t feel limited in your selection of exterior colors simply because you need to work with red brick. A black front door pairs extremely well with reddish brick, particularly if there are pieces of black at the brick. In reality, a great tip for picking out a siding color that complements your stone or brick would be to pull a color you like from the brick/stone.
This handsome house features a fascinating palette of black and a steely blue-green along with the red brick. The blue and red brick are complementary (opposite each other on the color wheel), so they offer maximum contrast from one another, each intensifying another. A palette.
Jennifer Ott Design
Example palette: If you are working with reddish brick siding, try painting your front door black and then choosing a gray-blue or blue-green color for the remainder of the house, such as Heather Gray 2139-49 (siding A), Intrigue 1580 (siding B), or Galapagos Green 475 (Siding C), from Benjamin Moore.
Carla Aston | Interior Designer
7. Black Door With Classic Yellow
Yellow is a happy, welcoming hue — no wonder it’s such a favorite house color. Give it a dash of elegance and drama with a black doorway and contrasting dark and light accents.
Jennifer Ott Design
Example palette: Get a similar look with (clockwise from top left,all from Sherwin-Williams): Greenblack SW6994, Alabaster SW7008, Roycroft Bronze Green SW2846, and Classical Yellow SW2865.
Dyna Contracting
8. Black Door With Medium Gray
There appears to be no letting up on grey as a favorite neutral color. With this house, it anchors a clean, modern and super-sophisticated palette.
Jennifer Ott Design
Example palette: Black, white and gray comprise a modern classic exterior color scheme. You can use any shade of grey you like; shown here is a warmer tone (siding A) versus a milder blue-gray (siding B). Clockwise from top left(all from Kelly-Moore Paints): Kitty Kitty KM3792-5, Calcium KM3769-1, Dolphin Dance KM3788-1, and Sterling Water KM3780-2.
Cary Bernstein Architect
When You Want Just a bit of Black
If you like the look of a black-hued front doorway but are concerned about the entrance of your house appearing overly dark, consider installing a “full light” glass doorway (with one big panel of glass). This restricts the black to the narrow framework only.
Castro Design Studio
When You Wish to Pull It All Together
like I said at the introduction, black goes with everything. In case you have a house clad in a few different materials that you would never wish to paint, like on this charming multi-gabled bungalow, black can be a fantastic alternative for your door and trimming. A white or vibrantly hued front doorway may contrast too much or appear too occupied against the surrounding brick, siding and stone. The black front door completes the look well.
Have a shameful doorway? Share a photograph below!
More: 5 Bright Palettes for Bold Front Doors
The Case for Black Interior Doors