Color Crazy

August 26, 2008 12:33 PM

What color should I paint my porch if I want to keep a fire engine red door?

I know there might be a myriad of options, but we're stumped. It's a small A-frame white house with clean white banisters along a cement front porch with steps that spill into the front yard...ie pretty standard. The door is red and we'd like to keep it that way. I've scraped the paint, sanded holes, and primed some spots. I've noticed that previous owners of the place painted it dark green, gray, and aquamarine before, but we want to move into the warm color schemes. My girlfriend picked out a terra cotta exterior porch enamel that ended up looking like Halloween when we started to put it down. Now we're rethinking it altogether. Suggestions?

posted by pranalaxmi to Home & Garden (18 answers total)

You know, maybe it's my Yankee roots, but I think a white house with a red door and maybe some black trim is timeless and always looks good. Especially with a garden. It'll look especially nice and inviting at night with the blinds open and some warm lighting inside the house.
posted by lunasol at 12:39 PM on August 26, 2008

Um, meaning: keep the porch the same white as the rest of the house.
posted by lunasol at 12:39 PM on August 26, 2008

Seconding white for the porch. As another Yankee alternative, maybe a weathered Cape Cod grey? Though I typically see that in a stain rather than a paint, but a paint might work if necessary.
posted by platinum at 12:55 PM on August 26, 2008

Do you want the door to be the main focus? It so, then the doorstep should be neutral so it doesn't compete with the red door. I'm thinking a taupe or warm gray in a medium-to-dark shade might be nice. Ralph Lauren paints have some really nice tan and taupe shades - I would head to Lowe's or Home Depot and pick up some of their swatches.

If you want another bright color to complement the red, I could see a mustard or tangerine shade working well. Even then, you might want it slightly paler than the door so they aren't too bright together.

Do you have a photo? It's so hard to choose colors without seeing where they're going.
posted by boomchicka at 12:57 PM on August 26, 2008

You have options -
Match the window trim.
Match the roof.
Paint the porch white and paint the banisters to match the window trim.
posted by 26.2 at 1:06 PM on August 26, 2008

Do you mean what color should the cement front porch and steps be, or what color should the bannisters be that sit on the cement front porch?
posted by mmf at 1:12 PM on August 26, 2008

I always liked a red-brown combo, dunno if it works well on a house but I like it in my clothes.
posted by BrnP84 at 1:20 PM on August 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

Somewhere around a pale-ish sky blue/powder blue/periwinkle, at least for the cement porch and underneath the porch roof. Might look nice with a white banister.
posted by carter at 1:23 PM on August 26, 2008

I have periwinkle because it matches my shed AND the flowers in my front garden (lavender, salvia and russian sage). Do you have a colour scheme for your front garden flowers? I agree we need a photo.
posted by saucysault at 1:37 PM on August 26, 2008

Look at these ideas
posted by watercarrier at 1:50 PM on August 26, 2008

I like a grayish sage green with deep red.
posted by theora55 at 2:17 PM on August 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

There´s a house up the street with a red door, white trim, and main color the same as the New Mexico sky on a cooler summer day(your sky may vary). It looks fantastic, but the light here is different than it is in some places.

Look around at other houses where you live and copy something that looks good. Different weather and light conditions in different areas have a huge effect on how colors look, and many color combinations that fit right in with the predominant styles in some areas make a house look out of place elsewhere.
posted by yohko at 2:49 PM on August 26, 2008

Here's a virtual paint site where you can try out various combination.
posted by watercarrier at 3:35 PM on August 26, 2008

rich warm grey
posted by muscat at 3:49 PM on August 26, 2008

Creamy beige looks good, as does gray or charcoal.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 3:53 PM on August 26, 2008

I second Creamy Beige. I have a bright red door, with a beige porch and love it.
posted by QueerAngel28 at 6:25 PM on August 26, 2008

our porch is a dark royal/navy blue, white banisters, red door. It's pretty subtle, and nice together.
posted by Medieval Maven at 7:01 PM on August 26, 2008

Oh, c'mon. Surely the OP could have come up with white on his own? If it's a dark red, how about pale olive green or avocado? Granted, I'm in New Orleans - we like colorful houses. But, with small houses, you can really add color without it being too scary. (My tiny shotgun house is periwinkle with dark wine-purple doors and if I painted the porch, I would totally go lime green. My neighbor's tiny house is tangerine with a teal door.) Also, down here we paint the porch ceilings sky blue to keep the spiders away. (Doesn't seem like it should work, but there are no spiderwebs on my porch ceiling. Also, it makes the porch feel cooler and open.)
posted by artychoke at 1:04 PM on August 27, 2008