Bungalow with red door, John Gidding Design Inc.
Gone are the days of the power red tie, and the 1980s are a distant memory. As for red front doors... "Don't call it a comeback; {they've} been here for years!"
Hopefully, LL Cool J will appreciate the poetic license. And, red front doors are as popular today as they have ever been.
San Francisco Victorian by Ken Fulk
They can, however, create a bit of a color conundrum. Red front doors must be well executed or they become "expected"....a likely color choice.
Beautiful home but... the color choices are predictable!
Don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting hot pink for the door in the photo above. I just think that a little color fine-tuning might be in order to update the scene.
So... consider the following front porch scenario: White house, red brick foundation, concrete porch slab, light charcoal roofing, and white porch railings. Oh, did I mention, the front door is going to be red? Smoked paprika to be exact....
Paprika
Think think think.....
First, a personal bias:
Front porches ARE a Southern staple and grounding element for many homes.
They welcome you, and they set the mood for the
homestead. Therefore, it must be amazing….
understated, functional, non-haphazard, and… amazing. Did I say that before?????
For intance, the HGTV "Dream House" in California a couple of years ago was lovely... but definitely NOT Southern. That entrance and attached porch were, quite honestly, a beautiful bore! Give me some plants, a couple of chairs, a few lanterns, and a more substantial light fixture and we'd be cooking.
We want something more like this.....
At this point, the only thing that is established is the
color of the front door. Paprika! Got to start somewhere... what about the floor?
The good news, red goes with just about everything.
But, the color of the roof and the red brick need to be considered. Slate grey or camel brown would be my first suggestions.
Paint swatches, RalphLauren.com
Me thinks that someone is going to need to find a roofing shingle or climb a ladder to check out the exact color of that roof. The tone of the floor color should be slightly darker than that of the roof but without distracting from the brick. One trick is to look at the color of the mortar around the brick and then go 2 to 3 shades darker for the porch floor. For instance, the black porch floor color in this next photo is just too dramatic. It looks like someone tried to hit the "underline" feature while painting their house.
I'm also a believer in the John Gidding school-of-thought... the foundation of a home should be one of the darkest colors in order to visually ground the residence. That green door'd thing looks like it could take flight. I like the ideas... just not the execution.
Ok... back to the task at hand. "Red-esque" door, slate or dark chamois for the floor... Color for the chairs and accessories?
White???
Photo from Coastal Living
Unfortunately, white against white doesn't POP. What about brown or natural wood???
Ok, I just ain't feeling the brown. So, what about black and white????? I think that this might just work. Ignore the stone and imagine that it is brick...... We might just have a winning plan.
At least, the idea of the red door has been settled! The rest may take a few paint swatches.
