You may be limited as to what colors you can paint the door by the manufacturer's warranty. Apparently, a dark red will void the warranty of some fiberglass doors, particularly if there is a storm door over it. The dark color absorbs a lot of heat through the glass of the stormdoor and there is a greenhouse effect, and the heat buildup can damage the door. I am not sure about which specific colors, other than red with void a warranty.

Let's see:

-Deep red (Benjamin Moore (BM) Cottage Red)

-Wedgewood Gray (BM HC-146)

-Woodlawn Blue (BM (HC-147)

-Great Barrington Green (BM HC-122)

-Greenfield Pumpkin (BM HC-40)

-Hawthorne Yellow (BM BC-4)

Just to name a few!! I do really like the white door -- and the trick to using ANY color on the front door is to spread the color around the landscape too (like the gorgeous white tree!) Perhaps IF you do use a color for your new front door - you might consider adding flowers in that color (or close) around your front gardens too!

Hope this helps! :)

Jan

alicepalace,
I just saw a house painted the same color as yours this week while on vacation. It had all white window trim, doors, and a white railing on the porch. It looked great. The white trim looked so clean and fresh next to the dark color. Could you paint around your windows with the white? The colors could be in the landscaping.

I vote for a gold/yellow. Second choice would be a wedgewood blue.

I agree with "teacats" on the Woodlawn Blue or Wedgewood Gray; have used both Benjamin Moores; Woodlawn Blue is on my front door which is also fiberglass and I think the manfuacturer's warranty is void within 1 yr. after purchase if the door IS NOT painted within this time frame

BM's 'Cottage Red' is one my very favorite reds for exteriors and it is what came to my mind, immediately!
I think 'teacats' is right with that being first on her list!! :o)

Janice

What is that fabulous white flowering tree on the left side of the picture??

Sorry - I can't help you with the door.... I'd probably leave it white...

Well, let's see. I have a brown house but not Oreo brown (BTW yours isn't as dark as Oreos either!) and I have white trim. My shutters are black, not white like yours and my front door is.......

Benjamin Moore Cottage Red. What makes is work is the white trim around the door and you have plenty - it'll look great.

{{!gwi}}

dlm2000, what a beautiful door!!! I love it on your house but would have to really think about it on my not-quite-oreo-colored house. :-)

Our door does get a lot of sun and we do keep a storm/screen door on there so I can let the sun in during winter and let the breezes (sans bugs) in during summer. In winter it COOKS behind the storm door, which I discovered our first year here because the wreath I hung turned completely brown (but smelled FANTASTIC). We'll have to check on that warranty issue.

amac, the tree is a Kousa dogwood and its flowers were absolutely over the top the year I took that picture. This past year it was lame compared to this pic.

I will also look into the Wedgewood Grey and Woodlawn Blue, I think. Not sure I would be into yellow, but the pumpkin idea is intriguing.

Thanks, folks! Can't wait to look into this.

i like the white but the red might work too, your brown is a little darker than the photo..so the red might have to be a different shade..it is a lovely home

alice,

I tried out dlm's colors on your house to give you an idea...
{{!gwi}}">
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How about a burnt orange, instead of pumpkin.

My first thought would be to change the shutters to a medium olive green, and the door in a rust/deep copper color.

But if the shutters are staying white, think about a rich teal.

Teal
{{!gwi}}">
Rust/Burnt Orange
{{!gwi}}">
Olive (shutters are too big!)
{{!gwi}}">

If you're looking for something really low maintenance, stain the door rather than paint.

A question: If we have the door open a lot and thus can see the outside paint job, should its color fit with the interior decor? That could prove problematic -- there's nothing at all orange/rust/teal in our house (except downstairs, where this door's color wouldn't matter).

dekr8, thanks for the visuals! I don't think we will paint the shutters anytime soon, so I think we'll have to work with the white, but I had been thinking about doing something else with them and it's really helpful to see what that might look like.

Amy, I can't believe you have the exact door we've chosen. I've known for a long time that we had similar tastes in decorating but this is just too funny! By the way, I completely covet your entryway with the pillars and such. Here I am stuck in a split level. Aughhhhhhhh!

Hi Alice....I had to laugh, too! I knew I would find something interesting in a thread from you...just didn't figure it would be another two-minds decorating issue. :-)

As for the front entry, I will say that yours is gen-u-wine, while mines smacks of faux, IMO. Don't know if it makes you feel any better, but I'd give my eye teeth for those trees. I am in a new house in a new development (first ever in my life....I never would have guessed my path would bring me here) and the place feels nekkid to me. I am having analysis paralysis WRT trees.

As for the door working with the interior, I would just want to avoid a jarring contrast. You want the front door to kind of give a hint as to what's to come. Your interior colors are lively and I think a fun color on the door seems appropriate. I like the teal idea.

Oh, one more thing....is there a color scheme for the gardens? I was obsessive (when not) about the colors of the plantings for that red door...no pastels out front. Ick! You should consider whatever bloom colors you've got going on as you ponder door color. (Sorry....I probably just made things worse, didn't I?!)

This came up in another post awhile back...brown house, what color trim. As then, I have to say I love the look of Martha Stewart's brown shingle house( she may have sold it?). It had a soft shade of aqua trim, not unlike Tiffany blue, if I remember correctly. Believe the house was called Lily Pond, and is in The Hamptons. I tried, but cannot find a picture. Anyway, that is a favorite look on brown houses for me. I like your house! What is that gorgeous tree? Chinese Fringe? Probably something that I can't have here in So. Ca.:>( Be sure and post after pics.!

Well, I ran the idea of teal past DH and he had a very strong negative reaction. And I will admit, I'm not very partial to that particular color. So ... I guess I will be following up on other leads! :-)

Alice, your house is exactly like mine, except mine is taupe with white trim and brown roof. I wish our Ben Moore store was open right now, because I'd run right over and get a sample of that Cottage Red. It looks great on your house in the mockups.

Can't go wrong with the 'Cottage Red'!

Just thought I'd keep that thought out there--go for it kaycee!

alicepalace-

I love your "oreo" color. Can you tell me what it is? I've been considering this color palate with a sagey green accent color. I've seen it on other homes (along with the teal and red) and it's my favorite.

Oreo brown goes great with "creme".

That's a very attractive house and I love the cozy chalet-feel of that roof pitch and the house color. I'd paint the door sagey green or a greyed blue if it were mine.

And can I just say that I find it very frustrating that door manufacturers--even of wood doors--these days say basically anything you do (having a storm door, using dark colors, not having a 3-foot overhang or porch) will violate the warranty? My last three houses were built in the 1930's and 40's and all still have their original doors, in perfect working order, and two of them had storm doors and one of them had zero overhang. Why can't they just make quality doors like that and quit with all the darn warnings?

Your house is precious.

I vote for Cottage Red (it's my favorite front door color).

And a little unsolicited note: the white shutters are really stark next to the oreo brown. I'd paint them (and the trim).