Choosing a Color for Garage Doors

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 find a color that is blends with the color of the brick. This guarantees that the 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 toward the entrance of your home select a beautiful color for the front door. You can also draw attention to your entry with lighting, colorful plants and flowers, or an interesting bench or other tasteful element near the door.

Read Time: 2 min
author avatar
Kate Smith
Kate Smith is an optimistic, expressive, artist, designer, writer and color fanatic. With her warm and witty style, Kate teaches you to clearly see, understand and be inspired by color. Then she guides you step-by-step to develop your own unique color sense-ability and achieve results you never dreamed possible.
  • John says:

    Good info. We get quite a few questions about painting doors especially since leads times are so long right now.

  • Patti Salkeld says:

    What is the color on this garage door? I am looking for a almond color like this.

    • Kate Smith says:

      I don’t know what color was used, but recommend lookong at Benjamin Moore Natural Cream OC-14 or Sherwin-Williams Shoji White SW 7042 as starting point for finding the right color for your home.

  • Great to know this tips! I love to renovate and paint my garage door to maintain it’s color. Aside from the color, it’s also important that your garage door is in good quality.

  • Kurt Grosse says:

    Thank you for writing about Choosing a Color for Garage Doors. As a former NV building engineer and a 25 year Las Vegas Realtor, I found it interesting and informative which is hard to do! To further the discussion, I’m attaching our blog link – https://homesforsale.vegas/new-construction-homes/ It’s about energy efficient homes and minimizing everyone’s carbon footprint. With this crazy weather, maybe it’ll give your readers more to think about.

    Kurt Grosse
    https://homesforsale.vegas

  • It’s good to know that a garage door with the same color as the body of the house makes the house look larger than it is. My dad plans to have our garage door replaced soon since our current garage door has an irreparable spring. I’ll share this advice of yours with him, so he knows what color to choose for our new garage door. Thanks.

  • Susie says:

    I m building a cottage style weatherboard light grey for body of house and woodland grey roof Builder was going to put woodland grey garage door i thing matching the house color would blend better what do you think

    • Kate Smith says:

      I am currently not able to offer color consulting for individual homeowners personally but I have many people who I have trained over the years that can help you. You will find a list of home interior and exterior color consultants here:
      http://www.sensationalcolor.com/directory/

      I hope that helps.

  • Dee says:

    We are building a house: highland grey brick, sandtone trim around the Windows. There was a mix up with soffit colors and terratone was applied. What color would look best- sandtone or terratone ?

  • Deb says:

    I. Have a older wood sided home dark brown. I was thinking of wine doors and a taupe trim. Is that good but not sure on the door and garage door. Color for wine.

    • Sandy says:

      Deb, I suppose the author above would say to paint your garage door dark brown. I’m kind of in the same boat. I like your idea of the wine doors and taupe trim.

  • Marie says:

    I have a Tudor style house. On the first floor it has a grey decorative stone work. There is a yellowish speck in the grey. The garage is red brick.
    On the second story it is stucco with wood panels. We bought a new garage door in the color of sandstone. Not sure what color to pick for the front door, the stucco and wood trim?

  • Pascale says:

    I need advise about the garage door. the house color is greyish green, trims are salmon color, garage door salmon color. shutters and front door are blue. it looks so old . i would like to make it look more modern. any advise what to color shutters, garage and front door? thanks.

  • My garage door looks terrible, the paint is coming off and is having a hard time opening. I need to look into getting it replaced or fixed up. Which color should I do if I decide to fix it? Thanks for the tips too, I’ll make sure to mix up the colors so they don’t match.

  • Melissa says:

    I have a prominent garage door that stands out as the main view of the house the way the house is positioned. I want to paint it a color that draws the eye to the rest of the house. I have a 2 storey house with Genentek “pebble” color siding and genetek “sable” (gray/brown color) trim. The lower level of the house is a mix of red/black/brown brick. I was originally thinking Sable for the garage door and the garage door trim but now thinking pebble for the door. What color would work best for the garage door and trim? Thanks!

  • Maria says:

    We have a large redbrick home with taupe/ecru accents. We are not sure what color to paint the double garage doors or thd front doors. Any suggestions?
    Thank you.

  • Adam Meyer says:

    What is the color of the siding and garage door above. I would like to copy it

  • Jane walker says:

    We have mahogany colored Windows and want to know what color garage door to have, would it be better to have a cream door rather than white

  • CRIS says:

    Hi, here’s a link to a picture of my home.
    http://www.sheahomes.com/community/sagewood-pp/plans/0001/ The colors of both the garage and front door are too boring. I was thinking a black front door and a medium gray garage door (wood smoke GLN40) or vice versa. Would that work? Please advise. Thank you so much. I loved the article.

  • Bridget says:

    We have a 30 year old two storey orangie red brick home with white trim and siding that covers the second storey sides panels of our house. The front door is set back about three feet and faces north so it doesn’t receive direct sun. Any suggestions on what color to paint the front door and possible the garage. The front door now is a few shades lighter then the garage to make it stand out which is and orange color.

  • Gee says:

    Our ranch style home built in 1989 is aluminum sided in an almond color. The windows are sandstone as is the soffit. What color should I use for new porch posts? Would white or cream look good? Also what color for garage overhead doors and trim?

  • isabelle clibborn says:

    It’s really up to you to have cool design or just make it simple but this article is a great help for those who are planning to paint their garage door and for those who are planning to get some roller doors this one will help you decide of what type of roller door to get http://goo.gl/wTcFBb

  • tara says:

    I want to get a new garage door on the house. I’m going to be painting it before I do though. I would love to have a fun colored garage door.

  • Maria says:

    We have a 1970s dark brown brick two storey home, with white trim and white front door. We need to replace the original metal brown garage door. The garage installer recommended an off white door, we were considering a dark timber look door. Now we are confused. Does anyone have any recommendations?

  • Jake says:

    Great post — MesaGarageDoors shared this on our social networks. Here’s a question related to painting — any tips for keeping the garage door clean, other than repainting?

  • Laura says:

    I have a beige stucco ranch in FL that needs a new garage door for hurricane protection. The roof is a light grey. The two-door garage door protrudes from the front of the house as your article describes. The window trim is currently brown but we will be replacing those in the near future with white trimmed impact resistant windows. We will also be painting the exterior but I don’t know the color yet. I really like the look of the faux wood garage door. I also like the look of a black garage door, but feel it would be a mistake in hot FL. I feel that if I go with the white, almond, or sandstone colors currently available the house will look awful until we do our future home improvements which may take a few years to accomplish. My question is do you think the faux wood would be a good choice and if so, should I go with the dark, medium, or light wood tone and then paint the house a greige color? Thank you so much for your reply!

  • jass says:

    Hi kate
    we r confused to choose colour combination of garage and front door .we chose colour for gutter down pipe is monument ,windows are jasper ,wall rendering is beige royal -A 192 and pier rendering is light leather -A167. House inside floor is off white. we want same colour of both doors .could u suggest us colour plzzz.we ll be highly thankful to u .

    jass

  • Jan ediri says:

    Hi Kate
    I have some idea of what the garage door should be from your writings above. Can I confirm with you, my entry door is charcoal black. The window joinery is Endura Bronze. The roof is greyish black shingles, My exterior is weatherboard.
    I am thinking of having a little darker colour for ground floor walls and a lighter colour of the same for first floor, Greyish (with a hint of pink). (Can you comment about having darker and the lighter colour for ground floor and first floor too if you can?). I don’t like the garage door to stand out too. What colour do you think the garage door should be?
    Thank you so much

    Jan

  • reno says:

    Hi there. I have a grey body house with cream trim and a grey stone bottom trim with the stone going up the around the door to the second floor roof. My garage door has a trim around it and it is the same colour as the trim on the house. However, the garage door is white. The windows are white as well. Should I paint the garage door same as the cream trim or the same as grey siding? My front door will be painted a black grey colour.Thanks

    • Tommie Hardy says:

      House Gold, front door red, trim white……what color should I paint the garage?

  • Paul says:

    Great advice! I absolutely hate prominent garage doors, and it’s the rare garage door that’s not prominent. Our prior garage door was painted to match the trim color, when I replaced the door I got one that blended with the house color. Somehow I just knew it would look better.

    Two decades later I’m know facing the dilemma of how to deal with the garage door again so I’m glad for this reminder, but am unsure of what to do. My early 70’s ranch home has a brick and stucco exterior that is off-white (cream/vanilla?) and I’m planning to visually age the house by replacing the wood trim with cedar that will be allowed to naturally age/weather. To cover up what is clearly a contemporary metal garage door, I’m thinking I will clad it in cedar…so it wouldn’t match the brick anymore, and as it weathers it would hopefully recede from the visual prominence. What do you think?

    And, rather than the front door being glammed up, the exteriors newest focal point is a wildscape garden that recently replaced my lawn. My home faces an oncoming street so I’m trying to visually distance it further from the curb…so in addition to adding focal points between the two, I think toning down some visual elements of the house will push it further back into the landscape and be a better backdrop to the garden. Thanks for any forthcoming opinions.

  • kelli says:

    if your house is sandstone with white trimmed doors and windows (front double doors are white as well). would you recommend a sandstone garage door with white trimmed windows to continue the flow?

    • Kate Smith says:

      Yes, generally that works well and would be a good choice.

  • Love the image! Thanks for giving us the source link too! We share several articles from your website!

    • Kate Smith says:

      I love it, too! I always try to acknowledge my sources and share the color love. Thanks for doing the same.

  • Very true, painting the trim and front door is a good call to help make this match properly.

    • Kate Smith says:

      Yes, sometimes painting or staining both the same is the best solution but often having your front door stand out while the garage doors blend in works best.

  • Caleb says:

    These are very good tips for picking out the color of your garage door. I agree with not painting it the same color as your front door and other accent colors. Have it stand out and go with the flow of your home.

    • Kate Smith says:

      Thanks for the confirming my advice. I appreciate your comment.

  • Choosing a good color combination for the front wall of your garage door can be challenging. Some doors come in neutral colors like grey, off white and bright white. You should accent the home by matching the garage door with your home’s color combination.

    • Kate Smith says:

      So true. Sometimes homeowners don’t realize what a different getting the color right can make.

      • Brenda says:

        My home is a two story red bricked colonial (front face)with black shutters and white trim and siding..Unfortunately our double garage is front facing and white. It’s difficult to match the garage to the brick. What would you recommend painting the garage? White, cinnamon, brown?-Brenda

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