7 Tips from a Painting Contractor to Beautify Exterior Doors

Your front door and its surrounding decor serve as a microcosm of your home’s overall style and feel. This primary entry point is typically the first area people notice when passing by your property and the main gateway into your abode. For these reasons, the condition and presentation of your front door cannot be overlooked. So, whether you’re looking to boost your home’s curb appeal or simply refresh your exterior, updating your exterior doors is a great place to start.

That said, you might not know how to approach this project. If that’s the case, it’s worth bending the ear of an experienced exterior painting contractor -- Nash Painting, for instance, has painted plenty of doors and enhanced the outward appearance of countless homes and businesses as a result. With this experience under our belts, we can confidently deliver the following seven tips for beautifying exterior doors.

How to Beautify Your Doors

1. Flaunt Your Front Door’s Natural Beauty

If you’re fortunate enough to own a well-crafted wooden door, it’s worth taking advantage of this feature’s inherent beauty. Rather than concealing its natural color and texture with thick paint, why not refinish such a door with high-quality stain? Well-maintained, properly stained front doors have a broad appeal and suit just about any style of home. Additionally, while staining your door is typically more expensive than painting it, investing in this type of door refinishing can lengthen the lifespan of your wooden door.

2. Pick a Paint Color that Pops

Putting aside the many benefits of staining a door, coating your door with a fresh coat of paint is another way to amplify and/or adjust its aesthetic. If you do decide to paint rather than stain your door, you’ll be faced with a seemingly infinite array of color choices, which is both a blessing and a curse. Ultimately, the color you choose is a matter of personal preference. However, if you want your front door to make a statement, consider going with a color that’s striking and/or a bit unconventional. You probably shouldn’t paint your door hot pink or anything, but going with a bright red, bold yellow, rich green, brazen blue, etc., can enhance your home’s overall appearance and draw plenty of positive attention. Reliable professional home painting services may be able to help you pick the best color for your exterior doors.

3. Concentrate on Contrast

No matter which color(s) you choose for your doors, the key to making your exterior more visually dynamic is by creating contrast with nearby features. Before getting into specifics, remember that dark colors and light colors balance each other out. So, if your siding is a dark, smoky blue, for instance, you might go with a bright yellow door. Or, if your home’s siding is a light, muted yellow, you can create a powerful accent with a dark red door. Of course, there are many features to consider when creating contrast, not merely your siding -- your trim, decor, and front steps or porch can all inform your exterior home painting decisions when it comes to updating your doors.

4. Don’t Forget the Frame

On that note, the frame around your door requires just as much attention as the door itself. It doesn’t matter how much time and effort you put into refinishing your door if it’s trapped inside a frame that’s falling apart or stylistically out of sync. As you contemplate stain or paint color choices for your door, then, consider how the surrounding trim might affect the overall look, and whether the frame requires a fresh coat of paint for practical purposes as well (i.e. is the paint job peeling or chipping away?). Your residential painting services can help you make this call. If they suggest that your door frame does require a new coat of paint, pick a color and finish that will enhance your door’s fresh appearance and not detract from it.

5. Invest in Fresh Hardware

When it comes to beautifying your exterior doors, the stain or paint job isn’t everything. Take a look at your door’s existing hardware, such as its handle, lock, knocker, mail slot, etc. These features have aesthetic implications of their own and greatly affect your door’s overall style. If you’re planning on refinishing your door anyway, it might be practical to replace your hardware, since the old hardware will be removed during the refinishing process. Even if you like your current metallics, though, it’s worth asking these questions: Are they rusting and fading? Are they stylistically outdated? Will they match your door once it has been freshly coated with stain or paint? Upon close examination of these matters, you might realize that investing in brand new hardware that suits your door’s new look is the way to go. In any case, fresh hardware will beautify your exterior doors by virtue of being shiny and new.

6. Get Symmetrical

Our eyes are naturally drawn to symmetry -- this doesn’t mean that asymmetrical features aren’t beautiful or appealing in their own way. But if you’re looking to beautify your exterior doors, establishing stark symmetry makes a bold statement about your home as a whole. You can achieve a more symmetrical front entrance in a number of ways. You might install similar plants on either side of your door, hang a wreath in the upper center of your door, flank your door with evenly spaced light fixtures, and so on.

7. Follow the Trends

As individuals, we are each endowed with a unique aesthetic sensibility. This means that one person’s idea of a beautiful door might differ from another’s in particular ways. That said, some visual traits appeal to broad swaths of people, such as symmetry (which we just discussed) and certain colors (in the right context). If you want your exterior doors to appeal to the greatest number of people, then, look at the most current trends in your area. Experienced local painters can help you in this regard, as they will have a deep understanding of regional painting trends over the past several years. Following trends is especially important if you’re thinking about selling your home in the near future -- the broader your home’s appeal, the easier it will be to sell, and the more it will be worth on the market.

Make a More Beautiful Entrance

Your exterior doors might not say everything about your home, but they do create a strong first impression. By beautifying your doors, then, you enhance the appeal of your entire property. Whether you’re thinking about staining your doors, painting them, replacing their hardware, and/or repainting your trim, siding, and other features, the experts at Nash Painting will meet your needs and exceed your expectations. We’ve already helped countless homeowners and business owners in Nashville, Brentwood, and Franklin, TN enhance their properties inside and out. For more about us, our services, and our values, call us at 615- 829-6858 today!