According to the Huffington Post, Apartment Therapy, and about a million home design articles, the foyer is where your home makes its first impression.
Well, they’re all wrong: the real first impression is made outside, by your door! Your door shows your house to the world, welcomes your guests in, and then enhances your interior once they’re inside. A good door works well at every stage: complementing your home’s overall look from afar, looking great up close, and working with your interior decor inside.
Here’s how to find a door that does it all:
- Complementing Overall Outdoor Look
From a distance, the most important aspect of your door is its color. Your door needs to compliment the overall palette of the house, and since most houses these days still have white siding, a white door will work just great. White has a nice clean look of the house, keeping your overall look elegant and understated. With brick or stone walls or siding, bolder colors look better. Bright red brick pairs well with darker greens, and purple-shaded brick pops around a door painted a dusky blue. If you really like how houses look in Dublin, you can even take a bold step and go for a teal or sky blue door! Stone is meant to accent bright details, and looks incredible around a door painted a bright primary color. There’s a reason English farmhouses have traditionally gone in for the bright reds and blues! - Complementing Up-Close Decor
Up-close, color matters less, but texture, symmetry, and glass elements matter a lot more. The big rule here is to make your door seem inviting up-close, and to communicate your general design sensibility: modern, American classic, or European classic. If your home is modern, you need a lot of glass or shaded glass in the door, paired with modern elements like slate tiles and minimalist siding. This lets visitors know they’re coming in for a chic party. If you have a classic American style, it’s all about the glass. The top of your door should be a window that matches nearby exterior windows, in style and shape. With a European style, elegance and surprise is more important than symmetry. Unusual brushed metal features look fantastic, especially with flower beds, as does stained glass. - Complementing Indoor Decor
The interior of your door does not have to match your walls; in fact, it’s better to have some contrast. Your door is a focal point, and should stand out. If your walls are of a neutral color, your door should be bold and colorful.But we prefer the opposite- a white or beige door in a boldly-colored entryway. This keeps the door as a focal point, but also creates a warm environment to welcome guests.Design-wise, the interior of doors need design and visual interest. A well-designed door uses recognizable shapes and patterns, but gives them a surprising twist. This helps bring character to your room and supports other elements of visual interest decor.
Finding a door for all three roles is hard, but worth it! With modern manufacturing techniques, custom doors come in enough styles and colors to suit all your needs. Take a look through our door catalog to see how many options can work for your home.
