How to Choose the Right Garage Door Color

Neutral Colors

A neutral color is usually the safest bet for your garage door regardless of architectural style. White is a popular choice and symbolizes purity, cleanliness and positivity. Avoid stark, pure white and go with different shades of creams and ivories instead.

To make a bold statement without overwhelming the color scheme, opt for a darker neutral color that complements the field color. For example, if your house is a light beige, consider a smoky gray like Sherwin-Williams Iron Ore for the garage door.

With those thoughts about color in mind, step back and take a look at your home. What color scheme do you envision best with your home’s three colors? What fits your personality without drawing too much attention to the garage door?

If you’re considering selling your home any time soon, most sellers pick the safer choice to appeal to a broader range of potential buyers.

Your Architecture and Neighborhood

You’ll want your garage door color to work in concert with the architecture of your home and the colors prominent throughout your neighborhood. Many garage door providers offer historically accurate colors so older homes can find the era-appropriate color that makes the look click. A newer or modern home can explore more contemporary and adventurous colors.

Here are some different home styles and color scheme combination ideas that enhance architectural beauty while preserving a home’s integrity:

• Cape cod — white house, white garage door and cobalt blue shutters.
• Colonial — yellow, brown or white house with white trim and neutral garage door.
• Greek revival — all white except charcoal-gray shutters and a vibrant maroon front door.
• Craftsman — natural mossy colors such as greens, grays and browns. A sage-green house, dark gray-green trim and a yellow-orange door would evoke the cozy fall colors expected in a craftsman bungalow. In this particular color scheme, the garage door would look lovely matching the color of the trim.
• Modern — calls for adventure. A robust neutral color like Sherwin-Williams Night Owl, white trim, a darker gray garage door and a lime-green front door will make a statement that’s a pleasure to take in.
• Victorian — the exception to the rule when it comes to color. Victorian homes often include ornamental accents and are traditionally more colorful. However, the colors still need to coordinate for a look that is stunning. Blue siding with burgundy trim and an ivory white porch and garage door is an example of a Victorian color scheme. Victorians loved deep rich colors like greens, reds and golds, and these colors work well to highlight exquisite woodwork.
• Brick — don’t go for extreme contrast. Choose creams instead of pure white or earthy, neutral colors for the garage door. Let the accent colors magnify the natural beauty of your brick home. Some charming accent color combos include: Yellow with cream, Sage green with taupe, Forest green with black, Cool green with cool gray, and Charcoal with light gray.
• Stone — pick at least two colors when your home is stone or brick. Save accent colors for the front door and shutters, and use a neutral color for the trim like ivory white against red brick or dark gray against stone. Paint the garage door neutral like the trim.

Another factor to consider when choosing your garage door color is that dark colors work best in the lower levels of your home’s exterior to anchor the house to the ground. Lighter colors work better on upper levels to draw the eye upward. This isn’t a hard-and-fast rule, but can be helpful to think about when searching for the right color.

You’ll also want to take a look around your neighborhood. If most of your neighbors have brown garage doors, your house might draw unwanted attention if you paint your garage door turquoise blue. The goal isn’t to blend in with your neighbors but to encourage harmony.

You’ll want to try to match the intensity of color to that of your neighbor’s home, not copy the color. For example, if the neighbor’s house on your right is white, and the house on the left is blue, painting your house gray would create balance and visual interest without screaming for attention. This is a great trick to keep in mind when choosing your garage door color.

You’ll also want to factor in where you live. For example, if you live near a beach and your neighbors’ homes are pastel colors, you can also use beachy sand and sea-inspired colors like Sherwin-Williams Avid Apricot or Gentle Aquamarine. However, a beachside color scheme would stand out if you live in Minnesota, for example, amongst houses that use warmer neutral colors like dark grays and brick reds.

Also, consider the weather. Intense sunlight can wash out colors, so bright and saturated colors will hold up better against the sun. Colder climates allow for more muted colors. Overall, it’s essential that you take cues from neighboring homes.

Your Existing Exterior Features

Take a look at your home’s existing exterior. What colors do you see? You’ll most likely notice driveways, shingles, tiles, stonework or pathways. The colors of these features are difficult to change, so you can work to complement them as you look at garage door colors. Do these features include warm or cool undertones? Complement cool blues and grays with warmer colors, and do the same with warmer khakis, beiges and other browns.

Consider your landscaping. Trees and flowering plants can work beautifully against your home’s exterior color. For example, picture the vividness of blue hydrangeas against a neutral backdrop. A light green exterior would blend in beautifully with a home surrounded by trees. In the desert, paint colors inspired by sun-kissed clay look amazing. Bright, intense colors illuminated by a southern coastal sun create striking scenery.

Look at the larger picture too. Are you surrounded by the expanse of a deep-blue sea or a reflective lake? Use the colors of the sky and sea like blues or creams in your color scheme. Do you live in the mountains? Earthy hues will look great.

The important question is — how do you want your home to unite with the local scenery? Let your home reflect the natural beauty of your surroundings and draw inspiration from the landscapes and plants.

You can also use the interior of your home to inspire color ideas for your exterior. For example, when you open your front door, what is the first thing you see? Is it a colorful rug or your favorite oil painting? You can take a color from the focal point of your foyer and bring it outdoors. Use the color to accent trim or the front door. This method will ultimately help you choose a garage door color that creates a flow between the outdoor and indoor spaces of your home.

Your Home’s Positioning

How is your home oriented to the street? If your home is set back from the road and surrounded by trees, a lighter, brighter tone might work better for the garage door. Conversely, a darker tone might create a black hole effect that makes your home seem lost in the shadows. If your home stands in a treeless area closer to the street, you can take advantage of darker tones.

In general, white will bring your home closer to the curb and make it look larger. Consider a soft ivory white like Sherwin-Williams Westhighland White or Shell White. Darker colors like Deep Forest Brown or Inkwell will set your home back.

Garage Door Material

Perhaps you don’t want to cover your wood garage door with a color but would rather bring out its natural appeal. If you want to enhance your wood garage door’s innate beauty, applying a stain might be the way to go.

Say you have a carriage house garage door, made of a gorgeous wood like cedar. You’ll want to use a clear stain to let the wood texture show through. A translucent stain won’t protect the door as much as paint, so it will need to be reapplied every two to three years. However, this type of stain can make a wood garage door shine.

A semi-transparent stain provides better protection against the elements than a clear stain because it contains some pigment. You can choose a colored stain to both enhance the beauty of the wood and harmonize with your home’s color scheme. Semi-transparent stains need to be reapplied every five to seven years.

Stains don’t require as much prep work as paint, and you won’t need a primer. The downside to using a stain over paint is you’ll have to reapply the stain more frequently. It’s worth buying a quality, brand-name stain to avoid a stain that easily chips or cracks.

Custom Color Garage Doors

If you’re ordering a new Clopay® door, consider customizing the color of your door using Clopay’s Color Blast® program. Color Blast offers most of the 1,500 colors in the current Sherwin-Williams color palette. Have another color in mind? Feel free to bring in the paint codes from other manufacturers such as Benjamin Moore, PPG/Porter, Valspart, Behr or RAL CURRENT. In addition, you can also match most solid paint colors using a color sample that you and your garage door dealer send in with your order. Color Blast is a two-part polyurethane paint specially designed for steel, aluminum and vinyl — a smart choice if you want durable, beautiful paint for your garage door – meant to last for years!

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