What Color Do You Paint Your Back Door?

The rear door is a sort of “also-ran” when it comes to decorative picks such as a particular paint color. But, if it leads to your garbage station or a magical backyard Eden with lush gardens and a sparkling pool, the rear door deserves a little love — and perhaps a brand new coat of paint. It may not bring about curb appeal, but a colorful back door may cheer you up when you are sitting around the rear patio as well as taking out the trash after dinner.

Match Point

Paint the rear door to coordinate with the exterior colors and trim of the house — pick up one existing color and use it for the door. A white clapboard house with charcoal trim and a black roof remains neat-looking with a door in charcoal or shiny black. A mint stucco cabin with a terra-cotta tile roof receives a terra-cotta painted door with forest-green trim. Your light iris painted woman with red trim and a light-blue rear porch appears pulled-together with a red or light-blue door.

One Big Garden

Combine back-door decor with the nature overtaking your backyard. Paint the door soft sage, pastel bluebell, gray thistle or heather. Reflect the deep green of the lily pads in the pond, or the creamy pink of the lotus blossoms. The rear door might be a bright extension of the pumpkin patch in autumn or the brilliant blue of cornflowers. If you are feeling artistic, paint the door like old copper that is likely to verdigris, with streaks of metallic and powdery color. If you’re a trick — or not so secret — hippie, then capture a rainbow on the rear door, then paint every one of the patio seats in a different rainbow color.

Hip and Sexy

Paint a party vibe on the rear door with a dip of vibrant color that electrifies the backyard. Chartreuse is surprising and invigorating. Sexy purple pink is jazzy and Caribbean. Grape — not aubergine and not imperial purple but pure reddish grape — is as joyous as a punchbowl and exotic as orchids. You don’t need that blast of color to come out of nowhere, so make your decision depending on the more sober colors of the house and yard. Try a brilliant teal door for a gray house with white trim; warm pink for your yellow house with blue shutters; tangerine against a cream-colored house with slate or charcoal blue trim; chartreuse against stained wood shingles and red trim.

Feng Shui Color Palette

In feng shui, the principal or front door is that the mouth through which good chi enters the house. When you use the rear door for most entries and leaves, it takes on the role of welcoming and pulling strong positive chi. Feng shui provides clues to the best color for a frequently used door. Fiery red stands for courage, high energy and prosperity; orange is extroverted, exuberant and welcoming; green is a balancing, healing and young-at-heart color; blue is calm, peaceful and as expansive as the sky. A yellow door represents great cheer, positive energy and sharp intellect; purple means wealth, powerful position and high spirituality. White doors are about freedom, cleansing and fresh beginnings. Black is protective but has a feeling of mystery and surprising possibilities; and brownish pulls a grounded, nurturing, rooted energy for keeping the status quo.

See related