A Color Scheme Gone Awry: Repainting the Front Door

When we had our house painted a couple of years ago, we chose a pale blue green (the color of sea glass) for the body of the house; a deep, dark blue green (almost black) for the shutters, and crisp white for the trim. I wanted the front door to stand out, so I sifted through dozens and dozens of paint chips trying to find just the right color. Then I bought sample bottles, painted poster boards with my candidate colors, looked at them propped against the door in every lighting condition from morning until night, and STILL guessed wrong! Goes to show even someone who works with colors all the time can misjudge on occasion.

The infamous magenta door, taped off and ready for a do-over.

Color shock

What I thought was going to be a rich, dark mulberry -- when applied -- turned out to be an obnoxious bright magenta. Not remotely close to what I'd had in mind! It looked nothing like the color on the chip. The magenta clashed with the other colors and made the front of the house look like a circus wagon.

The painters finished up the job a couple of days before Thanksgiving. By then the weather had turned sharply colder and they were racing the clock to complete the exterior before falling temperatures made painting impossible. The front door had been the last thing on their to-do list. So the magenta stayed. I was mortified.

The following spring we were immersed in other projects. Summer came and went. Fall flew by. Then winter. In short, I never got around to repainting the front door, though it made me cringe every time I looked at it.

Better the second time around?

Now it's spring again. And I'm determined the magenta has got to go. Now. Yesterday I washed down the door and taped off the hardware to ready it for repainting. A brand new quart of paint awaits. Will this new color be the right one? Will it look good with the rest of the colors on the house? Or will it be just as garish as that god-awful magenta? Once I start painting, I'll have answers. Then I'll post a photo to get your take on it.Whether I've made a good choice this time remains to be seen. Like Forrest Gump said, it's like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get!

©2014 Lynn Edwards