Your doors, both garage and entry, are prominent parts of your home’s first impression. Garage doors are large and prominent — they can make up almost a third of your house’s front-facing exterior. Meanwhile, your front door is a major focal point. It should be an inviting entryway into your home, compelling guests to come in. Your front and garage doors present a unique opportunity to personalize the look of your home and boost its curb appeal. When you’re planning an update, you might be concerned about having a matching front door and garage door.
It can be tricky to decide on the right combination of door designs, as you want to create a cohesive look for your home’s exterior. That might mean matching garage and entrance doors exactly. Or, you could choose to differentiate each door to best fit your overall look. You might prefer the same color and material for each, or highlight one over the other. Learn about choosing the right garage and entry doors for your home.
Overall Front Door & Garage Door Cohesion
Your Home’s Architectural Style
Check Out Our Other Garage Door Styling Tips
Call 336-830-8468 To Speak To An Expert
Should Your Front Door and Garage Door Match?
Your garage and entry doors should be cohesive. While they need not be identical, it would be jarring if they were at odds with each other. For that reason, it’s a good idea to update both at the same time. When purchasing new doors, think about color, material, paneling and accents.
Color Choices
Color is an essential consideration because it makes an impression before anything else. It’s the first thing people tend to notice. You might choose to be bold, but consider which parts of your home’s facade should be focal points. If you have beautiful, handcrafted stone siding, for instance, you may want to keep door colors understated to draw attention to the stone.
You’ll also want to think about color theory — some colors complement each other, while others will clash. You can use online tools to help you make color choices. Remember, each color evokes different emotional responses. Think about how you want your family and guests to feel as they approach your home. Do you want them to feel calm? Excited? Curious? Welcomed? Different colors will help you achieve these emotional responses.
Material and Accents
While color is a crucial factor, you’ll also have to think about material, accents and designs. Remember to consider your home’s existing style and architecture. What will fit best with your home’s other elements? You’ll have the chance to choose from a wide range of materials, including wood, steel, aluminum or layered options. You’ll also be able to customize window shape and placement, sectioning and various hardware components.
When making these choices, ensure everything goes well together. Visualize your home from different perspectives with your options in place. Learn more about choosing door colors, materials and accents.
How Do I Pick a Garage Door and Front Door Color?
When deciding on garage and entry door colors, consider several factors. Color makes a strong first impression. Since your doors are such prominent features, you’ll want to be careful about the colors you choose. Some factors to consider include:
- The fundamentals of color theory
- Overall cohesion
The Fundamentals of Color Theory
Break out the color wheel. When choosing colors for your doors, consider which shades work best together. You can use a color calculator tool to find ones that pair well. Choose a maximum of three different colors to avoid an overwhelming effect.
Understand that bright colors highlight and create openness, which may make your house look larger and more inviting. Meanwhile, dark colors evoke a sense of sophistication, substance and warmth. White is a popular choice, but it might be a good idea to go darker. It depends on your preferences and your home’s architectural style.
When choosing colors for garage door and front door combinations, also think about what feelings different colors inspire. Psychological studies suggest colors evoke specific emotions. What do you want your family and your guests to feel? Think about the sentiments these colors might prompt.
- Blue: We know the color blue to be calming and serene, but it can also feel icy or cold. A light teal door, paired with sandy-colored siding, might make your home feel “beachy.” A darker blue might give you a sense of peace to welcome you home.
- Red: Red is a popular choice for doors. It’s the most emotionally stimulating color of all — it can increase your heart rate and metabolism. Red makes you feel hungry, passionate, aggressive or excited.
- Black or charcoal: Black is mysterious, provocative and modern. You might be surprised to learn that black doors sometimes raise a home’s selling price.
- White: Common for doors, white highlights and expands space. It also makes us think of purity, cleanliness and freshness. These associations make it popular for family homes.
- Brown: An earthy brown tone can make us feel warm and secure. Brown is solid, dependable and familiar. Wood or wood-like doors create a down-to-earth effect.
Of course, possible garage door and front door color combinations are endless. Consider which colors will complement each other and the feelings those colors might evoke in your guests.
Overall Cohesion: Does Your Front Door Have to Match Your Garage Door?
While you may choose the same colors for the entry and garage door, you may also decide to set them apart from each other. Many home designers keep the garage door white or neutral, paired with a front door color that pops. For instance, you may choose to pair a statement-blue entry door with simple white garage doors.
Do you want garage doors and front doors that match? Or, do you want your front door to take center stage with a more exciting color? As long as the overall look is cohesive, your entry and garage doors need not match exactly. But consider them both as you make decisions.
Coordinating Garage and Entry Door Styles
Choosing a matching entry door and garage door is about more than color. Yes, the color might be the first thing you notice from a distance, but style, material and accents all play pivotal roles as well. You’ll want your doors to make sense as part of your home’s overall facade. Consider these elements when shopping for new doors:
- Your home’s architectural style
- The materials
- Accents and design elements
Your Home’s Architectural Style
It’s crucial to determine your home’s style, so you can make choices to complement it. Some materials and colors suit each style best, while others may seem out of place. For example, it would be jarring to pair a rustic garage door with sleek modern architecture. Here are some popular combinations.
- Craftsman: For a Craftsman-style home, you might opt for a simple wood-inspired steel door with a row of small windows. The color choice is often white, but you can choose whichever shade you prefer.
- Modern: Modern architecture tends to be sleek and symmetrical. Framed, aluminum panels create a sophisticated look.
- Mid-century: A mid-century modern look is all about clean, precise lines. If your home’s exterior is mid-century modern, you’ll want to keep it simple. A modern steel look might be just right.
- Rustic: Rustic design can mean many different things. A beautiful option would be a cherry-grain fiberglass front door with a matching wood garage door. You can complement both with wrought-iron accents and decorative glass.
The Materials
When shopping for new garage and entry doors, you’ll have to think about the materials. Various materials have different benefits. Some are better for insulation, which is something to remember if you live in a harsh climate. Other materials offer reliable stability with heavy use.
As exterior parts of your home, your doors need to be able to withstand the elements — wind, rain, snow, heat and cold. Choose materials that will provide superior durability, as well as charm and beauty. You’ll be able to choose from a wide range of material options, including these.
- Steel: Steel can withstand a lot — everything from humidity to high winds. It’s an excellent choice for durability. You can customize steel to fit any color scheme and design. Various styles of steel can look either vintage or modern, allowing for a lot of design flexibility. Steel allows for customization, so it can fit with several different architectural styles.
- Wood: Wood’s look is naturally beautiful and cozy. Wood evokes a specific rustic charm that no other material can match. It affords you more color choice than you might think — you can choose from natural oak, reddish mahogany, dark ebony or other shades of wood grain.
- Aluminum: Aluminum is popular for exterior home elements due to its strength and durability. Aluminum will never rust and can withstand extreme temperatures without faltering. You can customize aluminum to fit a classic, mid-century or more modern architecture.
- Layered: Many door options, especially garage doors, have multiple layers for better insulation and durability. For maximum strength, you may choose a five-layer constructed garage door. Layered doors last under the harshest conditions. If you live in an area often affected by natural disasters, consider a layered door.
When deciding on materials, think about a few different factors. For one, consider the climate. Do you need a door that will provide reliable insulation against the cold? Do you need a door that can hold up against strong winds? Also, think about how much you’ll use your doors. If a door needs to withstand heavy traffic, make sure it’s up to the task.
Though material durability is critical, there’s no need to compromise beauty for function. You can customize any door by selecting the right colors, designs and accents. Make sure the material you choose complements your home’s architecture.
The Accents and Design Elements
In addition to colors and materials, you’ll also have to make choices regarding accents and designs. These finishing touches will tie the look together. Accents and design elements include windows, sections or panels and various hardware pieces.
1. Windows
You may or may not choose to incorporate windows in your front and garage doors. There are many different glass options available, from the shape to the style. On a Craftsman-style home, you might opt for a classic sunset window panel design. For a more rustic farmhouse look, you could choose wrought-iron features.
If privacy is a concern, you might skip the windows altogether. Keep in mind, however, that windows improve natural lighting, which can decrease energy expenses. To promote privacy, you can select obscured or frosted windows.
2. Sections or Paneling
On some materials, you’ll be able to further customize your door by choosing between panel shapes and designs. You may have a choice between shorter or longer panels, vertical or horizontal panels or a flush, non-panel look.
When deciding between paneled sections, it’s a good idea to keep a sense of cohesion between your front door and garage door. For instance, it might be visually jarring to have long, horizontal panels on your garage door and short, square panels on your front door. Instead, try to keep them similar.
3. Hardware
You’ll also get to choose between various decorative hardware elements. Door hardware elements include lift handles, hinges, knockers, bolts, step plates and latches.
The right hardware ties the whole look together. It’s a good idea to have matching hardware elements for your front and garage doors, especially if they’re different colors. Doing so will promote a sense of cohesion. For example, if you choose black, wrought-iron handles for your garage, you’ll probably want to opt for similar black accents on your front door.
Try to keep these finishing touches simple — remember, less is often more. It may be tempting to include multiple knockers, plates, lifts and hinges, but try not to draw focus in too many different directions. Instead, choose one or two central elements to complete a stylized look.
Contact Marvin’s Garage Doors for Garage and Entry Doors Today
Whether your home is a charming ranch, a mysterious modern fortress or a cozy rustic sanctuary, your doors tie the look together. It’s impossible to achieve your desired curb appeal without considering your garage and entry doors.
While your front and garage doors need not be copy-pasted duplicates of one another, it’s a good idea to have cohesion between them. When deciding on a garage door, keep the front door in mind, and vice versa. Try to balance the colors, paneling and accents of each to complement each other.
Ultimately, you have the freedom to choose how to pair your garage door and front door. At Marvin’s Garage Doors, we offer dozens of door styles with customizable features, so you can find exactly what you need for your home. Boost your curb appeal with durable and beautiful doors from Clopay. To learn more about garage and entry door options, contact Marvin’s Garage Doors today.