The Overlooked Paint Color That’ll Spruce Up Your Front Door

Whether it’s wood or fiberglass, double or single, windowed or solid, rectangular or arched, a front door is a great opportunity to allow for an inviting entry into your space. And while changing up the color of your front door can be a relatively quick and simple project, choosing that color can be difficult. Experts anticipate that the classic shades of red and blue will become less popular in the next year, while lilac is a top-searched pick that you may start seeing pop up around the neighborhood. 

But there is one color that remains often ignored and passed up for something different.

“Yellow — from bright, to rich mustard, to daisy-colored,” is one color that home stager Molly Marino considers to be the most overlooked for a front door. Lemon-yellow doors have been seeing a spike in online searches over the past year — but many homeowners still shy away from the hue. 

“Folks are afraid of yellow,” Marino says. “They think it’s for children’s rooms, or that it makes too much of a statement. But to me, the right yellow says, ‘Welcome, happiness can be found here.’” The home stager herself swapped out burgundy and gray doors at her own home in lieu of a brighter yellow. 

According to Marino, yellow is a versatile color that can evoke different emotions, places in history, and style senses depending on where on the spectrum the shade falls. In feng shui, it can represent sunlight, earthy elements, and groundedness. A brighter lemon yellow may send a message of joy and brightness, while a midcentury-inspired mustard can feel earthy and energizing. 

“There are muted shades of deeper yellow that evoke nature, corn and wheat fields, to more bold yellows that have a pop art flair,” Marino says “There’s generally a yellow for every design style.”

No matter which style your home falls into or which shade you pick, yellow is always a welcoming and inviting color for the front door. “It sends a statement that the homeowner isn’t afraid to make a bold design choice,” Marino says. 

But don’t go running out to the paint store quite yet. Whenever you’re making a color change for your home, it’s a good idea to do some research. There are many different paint colors in the yellow spectrum, and it can be hard to whittle down which one is perfect for your home. Pick up some paint pamphlets and get a few samples to see how the color changes throughout the day and in changing light.

As for colors to stay away from, Marino says that the most important thing is to consider the rest of your home. “I’m seeing way too many turquoise and robin’s egg blue doors, which often work for mid-century style, but look out of place on colonials and farmhouse designs,” she says. “Burgundy and dark red doors also scream ‘dated’ to me.”