Having a garage is great but having one that dominates the front of your home can be a design challenge.  I have found that the biggest mistake homeowners make is to use color to draw too much attention to the garage doors rather than downplaying them.  This is even more pronounced on a home with a protruding garage that already dominates the view of the home. 

In some custom homes the garage doors add to the architectural detail and it makes sense to have them standout.  However, the vast majority of homes have standard or unattractive garage doors and it is best to have them blend rather than  contrast with the main color of the home.

Here are my general DO’s and DON’Ts for painting garage doors:

• DO paint the garage doors in the same color as the house itself and not the trim color or white (unless white is your house color) if you want to keep them from standing out. Painting the garage doors the same colors as the body of the house may also make your home appear larger.

• DO paint the trim around the doors either to match the door or to match the trim on the rest of your home.  Usually it looks best if it is the same as on the rest of your home but there are times when it may look better to not call attention to the trim with a contrasting color.

• DON’T paint the garage doors in the same accent color as the front door or shutters. This usually draws too much attention to the garage doors and chops up the facade of the home.

• DON’T highlight the details of a standard garage door by painting the door in more than one color. There are historic or special doors where this may be appropriate but for the majority of garage doors this would not be the way to go.

If the home is brick rather than find a color that is very close to that of the brick, I recommend identifying the color cast of the brick and use that as a guide for selecting a paint color.

The bricks in a home may basically be red but will have a cast of another color such as beige or gold or gray. The best bet is to find a close color match to the cast color.  For example if your bricks have a beige cast paint the siding and garage doors in a shade of beige. This guarantees that the siding and garage door colors will harmonize with the rest of the home and give you nice curb appeal.

To continue to draw the focus away from the garage and to the entrance of your home select a beautiful color for the front door and draw attention to you entry with lighting, colorful plants and flowers, or an interesting bench or other tasteful element near the door.