How to Go Bold With a Red Front Door
A red front door straddles the line between trendy and traditional better than any other color choice. Anyone looking to boost the curb appeal of their home should consider a red front door because it always invites admiration. Red doors also complement a wide variety of exterior home color palettes.
Why Use a Red Front Door?
Red is an attention-grabbing color that can work to your advantage in exterior home design. It elevates a lackluster color scheme, making it feel more intentional and stimulating. Red front doors are imbued with more meaning and symbolism than other colors. It is a popular color in feng shui design as it signifies good luck and welcome and wealth and prosperity. In many cultures, red front doors are seen as a way to protect your home from evil spirits.
Red front doors work well with houses of contrasting styles and characters. Contemporary and modern houses utilize red doors to add an eye-catching element to an otherwise neutral palette. Many traditional-style homes like colonial, craftsman, and Victorian use red front doors to complement the overall design.
While red front doors are popular with a wide range of people, they are not ideal for everyone. Bright and bold colors like red can often fade more quickly when exposed to harsh sunlight. This will mean repainting the door more often and a higher level of maintenance than many people desire.
Choosing a Red Shade for Your Front Door
Red is a broad color category that encompasses diverse shades including burgundy, maroon, cherry, cinnamon, terracotta, rust, and crimson. Consider the following ideas when deciding which red shade will accentuate your door best.
- Architectural Style of Your Home – Red front doors complement a wide range of homes with diverse architectural styles, but the style of the home should be a factor in determining which red color you use. For example, a bright cherry red will look fitting on a contemporary home. This red shade is also fitting on some traditional homes but many classic home styles work well with deeper red colors like burgundy.
- Surrounding Colors – Consider the colors on your home’s exterior and in the landscape and surrounding buildings to determine an ideal red for your front door. Deep and earthy reds will work well with warm-toned siding and trim. Cooler and brighter reds will complement homes with blue and gray exteriors.
- Mood You Want to Evoke – The red shade you choose will affect the overall mood of your home’s exterior. Brighter and more saturated red colors support an atmosphere that is warm and welcoming. Darker and more subdued red shades help create a more sophisticated and elegant impression.
Best Shades of Red Front Door Paint
There is a gorgeous range of red front door paint available. Remember to test any color outside before you invest the time and money into painting it on your front door.
Heritage Red (HC- 181) from Benjamin Moore
Heritage Red is a striking shade of vibrant red. This is a red from Benjamin Moore’s historic collection. This is the ideal color if you want a classic red front door that is neither too bright nor too dark. This color has an LRV of 10.
Sun Dried Tomato (7585) from Sherwin Williams
Sun Dried Tomato is a rich and deep shade of red that is almost a burgundy. It has brown and black undertones which give the color an aged look. It has an LRV of 4.5, so there is not much light reflected in this shade.
Incarnadine (No. 248) from Farrow & Ball
Farrow & Ball label Incarnadine as a crimson. This means that this red inclines slightly toward purple, though it changes drastically according to light exposure. This red color gives doors a classic look without being too bold or brash. It has an LRV of 11.
Caliente (AF-290) from Benjamin Moore
Caliente is a rich and dark ruby that leans slightly cool. This is a highly saturated color. It is a jewel tone with some dark shading to keep it from appearing bright. It has an LRV of 9.
Chinese Red (0057) from Sherwin Williams
Chinese Red is a deep shade of red with an orange tint, creating a rich persimmon. This shade has enough color to stand up well to bright sunlight, but it may look more orange or red according to the direction of your sunlight exposure. It has an LRV of 12 making it the lightest red on this list.
Dinner Party (AF-300) from Benjamin Moore
Dinner Party is a bold shade of red with complex undertones of black and purple. These give this color a burgundy hue. Dinner Party has an LRV of 8, so there is not much light reflected in this color.
Homes with Red Front Doors
Red is a surprisingly versatile front door color and creates a memorable and distinctive look for a home’s exterior.
Red Door to Create Contrast
A red door is a marvelous way to create contrast in your home’s exterior color scheme. Whether you have a dark exterior color scheme or a light one, red can create just enough variation within the design to heighten its visual appeal.
Monochrome Palette with a Red Door
Monochrome exterior color palettes are effective to increase the visual perception of space. Monochromatic color palettes can work on houses with both traditional and contemporary styles. These are most common with neutral colors but can look striking with a saturated color like red.
Modern Red Front Door
This brilliant fire-engine red door is set like a jewel in the center of this contemporary home’s exterior. This door color is the ideal way to catch the eye of all passers-by.
Red Front Door with Wood House
The red door blends seamlessly with the warm color and texture of the natural wood plank siding. Rather than overwhelm the home, the red door and window trim allow the home to stand out from its natural background.