My goal was simple: choose a color to paint my new front door. How hard could it be?
Since I’m an artist, I first painted my own sample chips in watercolor in an attempt to narrow down the wide range of colors I envisioned. ‘A dark red with a hint of sienna, and cinnabar undertones, or a colonial blue, but more along the lines of Prussian blue with a touch of pthalocyanine,’ I mused.
Before I headed to the hardware store I decided to consult with my friends. All 1200 of them. Facebook friends, that is. (Full disclosure, most of these friends are really there to see the latest photos of Bailey the beagle, not me.)
The entire door unit had just been replaced, and the carpenters/painters wanted to get a first coat of paint on it before they left for the day. Time was of the essence. before buying any paint, I quickly posted ‘before’ pictures of the door, which had been a muted sea-green for 25 years. Yes, time for a different look.
Asking for a Friend
“What color should I paint my door?” I asked on Facebook.
You know how Ray Kinsella said, in Field of Dreams, ‘Build it and they shall come.’? My version: ‘Ask Facebook friends what color the door should be, and they shall tell you.’
Within minutes of posting ideas started pouring in. Responses included suggestions to paint the door yellow and red and purple – and everything in between. Red turned out to be the favorite color: shades included deep red, barn red, New England red, cranberry red and plain old red.
Of interest: Apparently there’s an old adage that a red door signifies to travelers that they are welcome.
Egg-yolk Yellow or Goldenrod?
People who liked the idea of a yellow front door (sorry, not my favorite color) were quite specific, urging me to go with egg-yolk yellow, or goldenrod. I read online that bright yellow paint tends to fade when used on the exterior, thus the trend towards deeper, richer yellows.
Suggestions for appealing greens included moss, mossy (is there a difference?), olive or lime green. I like the idea of a keylime pie front door, but it still isn’t a color I’d select.
The brown family proposals embraced sienna, russet, brown-red, brown and chocolate – along with the suggestion from fellow artists that I could paint my own faux woodgrain on the brown door. Uh… No.
Quote from a FB friend in the FB comments: ‘Always loved a red door despite Jagger’s call to Paint it Black.’
There were quite a few purple-to-pink suggestions: pale lavender, violet, plum, grape, magenta, pink, dark salmon. The interesting thing is, one of my Facebook friends who I’ve known since grade school was one of the purple-paint lovers. I remember, as a child, seeing the powder room off her family’s playroom painted entirely in purple. Purple. Even the toilet.
Initially my color choices were in the blue range, that were subtle, subdued, evocative of November days in Maine. My Facebook friends liked teal, dark blue-gray, colonial blue (yes!), and ‘blue on the aqua side.’
I Thought it Would Be Blue
However, by the time I’d read the nearly 100 responses to my simple question, I had completely gone off the blue idea. Which is strange, because I’ve always been a blue person. I took into account the color of my house, a pale greenish gray called ‘seafoam,’ so it made sense that the complimentary color, red, would look good.
After all the suggestions from my friends, and seeing the pictures they posted of colorful front doors, it hit me that the door had to be red. And what was my initial watercolor swatch? Oh yeah, ‘A dark red with a hint of sienna, and cinnabar undertones.’
And the Winner Is. . .
I went with a rich red, on the orange side, from Ace Hardware in Kennebunk: Rouge Italien, Benjamin Moore 2007-20.
Tip: If you don’t buy a small sample can of the paint color in order to test it on the door itself, take the paint chip chart outside the store before buying. I was surprised at how much lighter a ‘dark russet’ chip color appeared in daylight, which led me to choose a darker version on the strip.
Dougie, who painted the door, proclaimed it was the perfect color, and said that the paint went on very smoothly.
And, by the way, the contractor who I hired for the door replacement etc. visited my Facebook page and added his two-cents’ worth to the conversation. (‘Colonial blue’) Thanks, Mark Auld of Auld Building Company. https://auldbuildingcompany.com/
When I posted pictures of the final (finally!) painted front door, and I got another surge of replies and comments, I was surprised, gratified and amused. I mean, to get such an enthusiastic response when all I did was ask a simple question…
One More Thing
I have to clear out my basement next. It’s an overwhelming project. I’m thinking about turning to my trusty Facebook friends to give advice on what to keep and what to chuck.
Visit me on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/geraldine.aikman
Travels in Maine on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/travelsinmaine/
Comments welcome!
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