Introduction
The front door is the first welcoming, or unwelcoming, depending on your intention, sign for others coming to visit you. Different factors come into play when it comes to the front door, and the answer to the question, “what does your front door color say about you?” can be put into perspective.
The material, engravings, size, etc. are as important as the door’s color. The environment where you’ll put your door matters as well. Is your garden or patio colorful; is your house made of brick; is it painted, and if so, what color? A door isn’t just a door but a complementary addition to the composition we all call “home.”
Famous Doors
Let’s take a quick look at the most famous doors used and still being used actively. By doing that, we can get a better-shaped picture of which door is used for what reason, ideology, and why the engravings or the materials are picked.
10 Downing Street
One of the most noted and important front doors in the modern history of doors lets in and out the British Prime Ministers. The door is shiny, well-black, put between marble arches, stuck among the black bricks of the house, which is behind a black metal fence.
Here, the door stands heavyweight and carries the presence that of a person that talks little but to the point, non-talkative type. We’ll come to it in a little while, but the black is now almost synonymous with bureaucracy.
221B Baker Street
The description above also applies to the person having lived in the house this door opened to: Sherlock Holmes. Holmes is an inward-looking, less-talk-more-thought kind of person. The grave color, black, decorates his front door unsurprisingly.
Columbus Doors
The pair of bronze doors that are designed by Randolph Rogers for the East Front of the Capitol Building are depicted events from the life of Columbus. This door’s colors are also gravely picked, lifting the engravings that make the door appear right out of basilicas.
Bilbo Baggins
You may remember from the movies that the light-green oval door. It’s green against the lush climate around and the green fields of New Zealand.
Color Codes
Colors have different meanings around the world, differing according to the cultures they are shared among. The same color’s meaning in where you live and on another continent may not be the same or may be the binary opposite. From darker to lighter shades, we’ll look at which color means in which culture.
Black
The color seen on the most famous doors above and one of the most selected colors not only for doors but also in other respects of life is black. In different cultures, it has such meanings as:
Western | Eastern | Europe |
● Death ● Formality ● Power ● Elegance ● Evil ● Sin ● Funeral ● Mourning |
● Wealth ● Prosperity ● Health ● Masculinity ● Knowledge ● Mystery ● Evil ● Mourning |
● Mourning ● Death ● Evil ● Formality ● Elegance ● Sophistication |
White
The complementary color to and also standing right against black is white. White doesn’t necessarily mean the contrasting choice against black since they can go hand in hand in harmony. If you find a monochromatic, cool-looking black-white pattern, don’t miss it as you don’t want to miss the chance to surprise your guest at the door with the mixture of meanings from the black-white door. Its meanings are as below:
Western | Eastern | Europe |
● Purity ● Peace ● Elegance ● Wedding color ● Brides ● Angels |
● Death ● Mourning ● Funerals ● Sadness ● Purity ● Unhappiness ● Misfortune |
● Purity ● Cleanliness ● Emptiness ● Neutrality ● Antiseptic ● Surrender |
Yellow
Yellow, alongside orange, represents positive feelings in general but that the chemical warning signs are in yellow isn’t unheard of. The color symbolism of yellow in movie posters is mostly associated with indie movies. The posters of independent movies are usually done using yellow color. Choosing a yellow door suited to the home’s architecture would be alright, and if it’s accompanied by another color would be way better. Its meanings across the cultures are:
Western | Eastern | Europe |
● Happiness ● Joy ● Hope ● Hazards ● Warning ● Femininity ● Weakness |
● Sadness ● Happiness ● Sovereignty ● Earth ● Power ● Royalty ● Sun ● Masculinity |
● Happiness ● Joy ● Quality ● Weakness ● Hazard ● Warning |
Green
The secondary color of our beautiful Earth. Except for jealousy, it’s without negative connotations, which may explain the door color of Bilbo from “Hobbit,” as you may remember that he greedily wants to keep the One Ring to himself. Its meanings go by:
Western | Eastern | Europe |
● Nature ● Spring ● Regeneration ● Luck ● Environmental awareness ● Money ● Jealousy ● Greed ● St. Patrick |
● Eternity ● New life ● Regeneration ● Family ● Health ● Prosperity ● Peace |
● Nature ● Fertility ● Confidence ● Jealousy ● Inexperience |
Blue
Blue may or may not be the warmest color, but it’s surely a friendly color for a door. You can pick darker or lighter shades of blue, yet, it’s a sight for sore eyes nonetheless. Its meanings differ across cultures and even in the same culture:
Western | Eastern | Europe |
● Trust ● Loyalty ● Authority ● Conservatism ● Business ● Peace ● Calm ● Depression ● Sadness ● Masculinity |
● Immortality ● Wealth ● Self-cultivation |
● Truth ● Responsibility ● Fidelity ● Serenity |
Purple
The color of when you say Prince: purple! The color of ancient Greek gods that’s also taken up by the Byzantium emperors for eventful days. For a door, it may come as unusual, but if you can relate to the meanings, you can make up the rest on the way:
Western | Eastern | Europe |
● Royalty ● Spirituality ● Faith ● Fame ● Magic ● High-Ranking |
● Wealth ● Nobility ● Privilege ● Sorrow ● Mourning |
● Royalty ● Nobility ● Luxury ● Power ● Vanity |
Pink
Powder pink tones are probably one of the most trending colors alongside the mint green. Softer tones, like powder pink which is another trending color with mint green, would be beautifully calming and energizing for a door. Your guest would appreciate it while waiting for someone to open up the door. It has no negative meaning among cultures:
Western | Eastern | Europe |
● Love ● Romance ● Femininity ● Childhood ● Nurturing ● Sweetness ● Valentine’s Day |
● Marriage ● Femininity |
● Baby Girls ● Delicate ● Flirtation ● Sensitivity ● Serenity |
Red
If you’re shown the color palette with all the colors and their undertones, the first color any human would and should pick up is red. The reason for that is our evolution, and the information passed down from generation to generation. The ripe fruits and vegetables are most usually reddened, which we were looking for during our hunter-gatherer days to survive.
If you choose red color for your door and it’s slightly out of context, it immediately becomes loud. If it sits within the context, it turns into bold color. Let’s look at this famous color’s meanings:
Western | Eastern | Europe |
● Stop ● Danger ● Anger ● Blood ● Energy ● Excitement ● Action ● Adventure ● Love ● Passion ● Valentine’s Day |
● Prosperity ● Good Fortune ● Happiness ● Worn By Brides ● Celebration ● Communism |
● Visibility ● Cheapness |
Orange
Probably the most friendly, welcoming, and warmest color so far: orange. Once you see it, it’s improbable to feel bad. To put an orange door to welcome your guests would be a great option for them and a treat for yourself, too. Its meanings don’t travel around the spectrum but only on the positive side:
Western | Eastern | Europe |
● Energy ● Vitality ● Excitement ● Adventure ● Creativity ● Caution ● Construction ● Harvest ● Autumn ● Affordability ● Halloween (accompanied with black) |
● Love ● Happiness ● Spirituality ● Humility ● Good Health ● Immortality |
● Purity ● Cleanliness ● Good |
Brown
My least favorite color and one of the more common door colors: brown. Its naturalness may be one reason why people choose brown, as it reminds us of nature, soil, tree trunks, etc. Brown door color wouldn’t be a bad decision, however, it wouldn’t be the most creative work made on a door either. Its meanings are:
Western | Eastern | Europe |
● Comfort ● Stability ● Practicality ● Wholesomeness ● Dullness ● Fertility ● Organic ● Earthiness ● Poverty |
● Earth ● Mourning |
● Masculinity ● Earth |
Conclusion
You can choose one color for your door or get creative to put something to dazzle your guests waiting at the door. You shouldn’t feel bound by the norms and traditions of cultures or the culture you’re in when choosing a door color.
The door is an important part of the ambiance, a statement of sorts you’re making to the persons you’re inviting. So it can’t be random as long as you are offered the options. You can pick meanings that reflect your personality from the spectrum and combine them. So when asked, “what does your front door color say about you?” you wouldn’t get caught by surprise because you know what you’re doing with your door and its color.