Brick homes have never gone out of favor with buyers, but styles have changed over the years, and so have popular front door paint colors. As someone who has owned, renovated, and marketed real estate for many years, I’ve always been aware of how important first impressions are. The front door colors are very much the first impression one has of a home.
The front door paint colors for any home will clearly be influenced by the color of the exterior walls, whether they are painted or natural brick. Because brick usually has strong earthy tones, for the door to “pop,” it must be painted in a strongly contrasting color.
The best front door paint color for a brick home will depend on the color of the brickwork, the architectural style of the house also playing a role in the choice. For red brick homes, colors may be dark and contrasting, or you may choose warm colors like red or burgundy. Other shades of brick will work well with different color ranges – so let’s get into the detail.
Choosing Front Door Paint Colors For Brick Homes
The front door is more than a means of securing the entrance to your home. It’s a welcome sign, an invitation to enter, and a hint of what you can expect when you step through the doorway.
Front Door Paint Colours For Red Brick Homes
Red brick exteriors are classic and don’t date. You’ll find it used in Colonial and Tudor-style homes as well as in modern ranch-style houses, and it’s compatible with a surprisingly broad color palette.
Classic White
You can’t go wrong if you choose a classic white for your front door, and use it as well as window frames, gutters, porch railing and other trim.
Metal Gray And Black
Neutral colors include metal gray and black for the front door, and you can use it for the trim or combine it with white trim to mute its effect.
Brown And Tan
Brown and tan blend perfectly with red brick, particularly if it contains brown tones. It can provide an understated but serene look to your façade.
Blue
Blue combines beautifully with rich red brick, as it is a cool contrast to the warmth of the brick. If the red brick has the faded look (sometimes deliberately created with a white wash), then teal would be my choice of blue as it is slightly softer.
Green
Opposite red on the color wheel is green, and this is another favorite front door paint color for red brick homes. Hunters Green is a beautiful contrast, but you can use a mint green for a softer, more cottagey look.
Red
Red front doors are said to bring good luck and wealth to a house, and they certainly make a statement. Traditionally used in Colonial and Georgian homes, a classic red front door with white or cream trim is a very popular choice. Equally striking is burgundy, which may work better if there are darker tones contained in the brickwork.
Yellow
Yellow, particularly the warmer sunshine-y version, pairs very well with red brick and looks great on a cottagey or more rustic-style home.
Pumpkin Orange
Pumpkin Orange is a brave choice and not everyone’s favorite color, but if you have orange elements in your red brick, it can highlight those very effectively. Orange front doors can pair well with cream, gray, or even blue trim for a bold frontage to your home.
Front Door Paint Colors For Orange Brick Homes
Not all brick homes are built in the strong red color brick we’ve been discussing, so I’d like to look at front door paint colors that are better suited to orange brick exteriors.
Black Or Charcoal
Deep black or dark charcoal works very well with orange brick, which may have tones of red, yellow, or pink and can be confusing to coordinate colors with.
White
Warm, creamy white goes to the other extreme but will contrast beautifully with the orange tones of the brick.
Yellow
Sunshine yellow will bring out the warmth of the brickwork and provide a cheerful and welcoming entrance to the home.
Blue
Blue and purple are opposite orange on the color wheel, and both complement it well, making for a bold and eye-catching front door. Teal blue is a favorite in this color range.
Green
Sage green is another choice that looks perfect with orange brick, bringing a cool classical look to your façade.
Red
Deep red with brown undertones will bring out those two colors contained in your orange brickwork, particularly if it tends toward beige or pink.
Red brick comes in various shades, from faded pink to dark reddish brown, and orange brick may contain red, pink, brown, and gray. I’ve used red and orange as the two main brick colors, but this covers almost all the variants of unpainted brick, so to avoid confusion and repetition, I won’t break it down any further.
Other Factors Influencing Front Door Paint Colors
If you picture your perfect front door, it’s not just set into a brick wall – there’s a whole host of other things which play a part in creating the overall picture. When you’re deciding on a front door paint color, also look at whichever of these applies to your home:
Architectural style
Architectural style – if you have a classic colonial home, you may choose the traditional colors of blue, black, or Hunter’s green. Alternatively, you may decide to make a bold statement and ignore tradition – the choice is yours.
Roof Color
Roof color plays an important role in deciding the color of your front door – it’s vital to create a coordinated look that incorporates all the visible elements of the front of the house.
Minimal Color Palette
Because brick is such a definite color, avoid using more than two other colors for the trim. This includes garage doors, porch railings, pillars, architraves, and window frames.
Surrounding Material
Even the driveway needs to be incorporated into the overall picture – is it brick paved, asphalt, or concrete? If it’s gray, black, or red brick, it will impact the choice of color of the trim as well as the front door.
Neighborhood
I suggest you check out the neighborhood before making a final decision on the color of your front door. While it’s perfectly OK to be different, it’s also a good idea to coordinate the colors of your home with those of your neighbors.
If you’re in a development such as a security estate, there may even be regulations limiting the colors you are permitted to use.
Test Colors
Before you paint your front door, do a test area outside to ensure you’ll be happy with the final product. Colors on a chart may look very different when applied and can be much bolder when exposed to bright sunlight.
Conclusion
Brickwork, whether it’s red, orange, brown, or beige, is surprisingly easy to combine with the most amazing front door colors. We’ve suggested twenty of the best, but at the end of the day, it’s very much a personal decision.
If you prefer to play it safe, colors from the same pallet as the brickwork will provide a classic, traditional look to your front door. If you want to make a statement and make your home stand out from the others in the street, the colors on the opposite side of the color wheel will give you plenty of options. I hope I’ve helped you make that choice.
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