Paint the garage or leave it white?

12 years ago

last modified: 12 years ago

Hi everyone!
I need some advice: My wife and I recently spruced up the entryway to our front door and painted the shutters on the front of the house. I want to paint the garage doors another color (just not white..blehhh). Since we have a brick front home, I wanted to match the garage doors to the brick's mortar. My wife is thinking we should leave them white. What do you all think? I'm open to any and all suggestions! Many thanks in advance :-)
Decatur Slater

Featured Answer

PRO

Timberlane Shutters

12 years ago

Even though you recently painted your shutters, would replacing them be an option? Your shutters that are currently installed on your windows are not properly sized. Shutters should measure out to be half the size of the window they are covering, so if they were to close they would cover the entire window. We are aware the most people do not use them functionally, but the size is important and really makes a difference on the facade.

The window with the radius top, directly above your front door, should have radius top shutters. This will also make a huge difference. Feel free to use our shutter snapshot visual to see what properly fitted shutters would look like on your exterior. We are positive you will see a major difference!

http://www.timberlane.com/resource-center/shutter-snapshot/#.U43hNXJdU-c

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Comments (44)

J Patz
12 years ago
I agree with you that the doors should be painted. Right now the white stands out so much that the garage is the focal point on the house. Since the garage is rarely the best feature of a house, you don't want to draw so much attention to it. I would go with a mid-tone grey for the garage that works with the shutter colour, but isn't the same. Then I would amp up the colour of your front door - even if that just means black - to bring the focus back to where it should be. Good luck!
emceelikeme thanked J Patz
MarleneM
12 years ago
Yes, paint the garage doors. When you look at your photo, you notice the garage doors first before the nicely painted blue front door.
emceelikeme thanked MarleneM
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PRO
ASVInteriors
12 years ago
I agree that the garage doors are currently taking up one third of the visual footprint of your front facade.Can you also consider getting planters with tall thin trees/shrubs to place on the three columns aside the doors to soften the edging?I would paint a blue or grey similar to your shutters or driveway...
emceelikeme thanked ASVInteriors
User
12 years ago
We can commission a contemporary urban artist to come paint the garage doors or even the entire house facade.
emceelikeme thanked User
emceelikeme
Original Author
12 years ago
I really appreciate the advice everyone! I've attached two pictures of the work we did (new door and shutter paint). I painted a strip of the garage to get a feel for how the color would look. The color seen is almost a spot-on match to the brick's mortar. But I think a more grey-ish color will look better. I just don't want it to clash with the blue. Suggestions?
Dar Eckert
12 years ago
I think I would paint the doors the same color as the shutters or match the brick. Did you test paint on the brick? It looks like you have bands of color on the brick next to the door.
emceelikeme thanked Dar Eckert
carolejschofield
12 years ago
Absolutely !,paint the garage doors the color of the shutters and then add an accent color on the front door. The white garage doors just draw your attention to the garage .Direct attention to the entry instead.
emceelikeme thanked carolejschofield
Meghan
12 years ago
You can just spruce them up.
emceelikeme thanked Meghan
PRO
Sound Painting Solutions, LLC
12 years ago
I would paint them a color it goes better with the brick.
Good luck:)
emceelikeme thanked Sound Painting Solutions, LLC
MarleneM
12 years ago
I think more of a colour of the brick would be better, a grey might look like you matched the driveway.
I know you said you have just tidied up the front, but honestly you have too many shaped shrubs in front. A planting design with different colour and sized plants would look so much better.
emceelikeme thanked MarleneM
Madeline Small
12 years ago
Since the garage doors scream "look at me" I would paint them a subdued color, such as gray so they fade into the background. I also like the above suggestion to spruce them up, which would make them more visually appealing.
emceelikeme thanked Madeline Small
paw1431
12 years ago
Garage doors and trim: black
Shutters: black
House trim (gutters, etc): crisp white
Front door and trim: rust (all the same color will balance out the garage doors
Black, white and rust :)
emceelikeme thanked paw1431
chloebud
12 years ago
You don't want those long drain pipes to pop...paint them a color that blends with the brick. Love the suggestion of carriage-style garage doors.
emceelikeme thanked chloebud
flopsycat1
12 years ago
Agree with painting the long downspouts to blend into the brick. As with garage doors, gutters are generally not great focal points. Also, I know you have a new front door. I think the white vertical strips give the door a very chopped up appearance. If possible, I would paint them blue to give the door a wider and more cohesive look.
emceelikeme thanked flopsycat1
PRO
Creative Visual Concepts, Kevin Strader
12 years ago
Here are a couple of mock ups, one with a color similar to the shutters and one a gray, more like the mortar. With your house the doors are so prominent that you're going to see them no matter what you do. With the white trim I think I might just leave well enough alone and keep them white.
emceelikeme thanked Creative Visual Concepts, Kevin Strader
emceelikeme
Original Author
12 years ago
Hey Kevin, what program did you use?
Dar Eckert
12 years ago
How about doing one with the color of the bricks?
emceelikeme thanked Dar Eckert
emceelikeme
Original Author
12 years ago
MarleneM I totally agree with your comment about the shrubs. We're going to revamp that entire area as well with 3 different levels of plants and flowers, varying colors.
chloebud
12 years ago
Hmmm...seems the garage doors will be pretty much front and center no matter what the color. I would strongly consider doing something similar to the photo Meghan posted...turn the garage doors into more of a carriage style for some interest.

Question for the pros out there...would an arbor above the garage doors help or just make them more of a focal point? Seems something more interesting than just paint needs to be done. Also, specific to emceelikeme's home, should the shutters and garage doors be the same color for balance?
emceelikeme thanked chloebud
MarleneM
12 years ago
Emcee, that sounds good! I didn't want to insult you if you had just cleaned up the beds.
emceelikeme
Original Author
12 years ago
It's basically the stuff the builder planted MarleneM. We are gonna start fresh with our own design. Thanks for your feedback and courtesy!
emceelikeme
Original Author
12 years ago
chloebud, in a few months I'm having the entire house repainted. So the other three sides of siding will be refreshed with a more modern color and all the trim (including the rain spouts) will be painted to blend in more with the brick. I'm glad that I'm not the only one who is bothered by how they stick out.
emceelikeme
Original Author
12 years ago
paw1431, believe it or not, my initial plan was to go black on the shutters and garage. Unfortunately there are too many people in my immediate vicinity that chose black accents. They're just afraid of painting the garage black or they think the white is fine. But nobody has that rich blue that I have.
emceelikeme
Original Author
12 years ago
flopsycat1, your door and colors are amazing! I really preferred the blue back panels (on my door and on the full side lights) with the white trim. It won't matter much after the screen door is installed, though.
emceelikeme
Original Author
12 years ago
I think I will try a grey-ish garage color or one that actually matches the brick. Matching the brick will be a challenge though. Thanks again everyone and please keep the suggestions coming!
emceelikeme
Original Author
12 years ago
Meghan, I saw that "faux window" look about two weeks ago and really liked it. I didn't think of it for my garage though. After reexamination of the overwhelming effect of the doors and after feedback from the great people here, I am strongly considering it...... that carriage effect, (along with a good color) might just put the doors in their proper context and redirect attention to the front door.....
PRO
Decorating Den Interiors Team Tatera
12 years ago
Go with the carriage effect!
emceelikeme thanked Decorating Den Interiors Team Tatera
bgfuqua
12 years ago
you should paint garage doors to match brick. stand back and squint at brick - that is the color to make them not a feature.
emceelikeme thanked bgfuqua
emceelikeme
Original Author
12 years ago
bgfuqua....it's soooo hard to match that color brick but I may try. Thanks!!!!
User
12 years ago
Can I ask, why are those white lattice strips on the side of your garage by the front door??
User
12 years ago
I also think your house would look great with a pergola over the garage doors;)
Hemingway's Cottage · More Info
emceelikeme thanked User
emceelikeme
Original Author
12 years ago
last modified: 12 years ago
Margo, those are there to break up all the ugly brick of nothingness on that huge wall. My wife is going to train ivy to grow on them. The pergola is gorgeous but I'm not certain of how it'd play out with my brick-front house. Pergolas seem to coordinate better with Craftsman style homes, or so I think.....
User
12 years ago
last modified: 12 years ago
I hear you emcee- but there are pergolas with a more modern look too, adding a shelf like pergola with ivy would also break up some of the brick from the windows to the garage door ;) rest arrow on pic to enlarge
Lake House · More Info
emceelikeme thanked User
mnd01890
12 years ago
beautiful house. we faced the same dilemma, and are happy with our choice to paint the doors. It would look better if the garage doors matched the shutters, but that might be too much blue. With that in mind, I suggest (glossy) black garage doors and shutters while leaving the door blue. this will give you a beautiful, traditional look while keeping the blue color that you like. good luck,
emceelikeme thanked mnd01890
dfmcminn
11 years ago
I don't know if you painted your doors yet but I decided to paint my garage door the same color as my house siding this past summer taking it from a colonial blueto something like Sherwin Williams summer white. It was the single best thing I could have painted. the garage door looks so much better the same as the house color
emceelikeme thanked dfmcminn
ycity
11 years ago
I don't know if painting the doors would change things because it is still a flat wall. I think that the ivy and pergola would add some dimension, especially the ivy, which would match your style. Or, more costly, you could replace the garage door with one that has windows.
emceelikeme thanked ycity
PRO
Tumblewood Designs
10 years ago
Did you ever finish this project? i'm curious to know what you ended up doing...
emceelikeme thanked Tumblewood Designs
emceelikeme
Original Author
9 years ago
I didn't have $300k to spend on a home, so I was looking at foreclosures that I could customize. A brick-front/ Hardi-Plank siding home can look very detached from itself. I wanted to bring a cohesive design to the home.
emceelikeme
Original Author
9 years ago
After some light touching up the front of my house, I decided to replace the roof. I thought I had another 5-10 years but my roofing guy disagreed. He told me that roofs in GA usually make it about 10-15 years because of the climate. Plus, I had several spots that had been patched over from storm damage. It was definitely time for replacement.
emceelikeme
Original Author
9 years ago
Once the roof was replaced, it made the 8-year old paint job look even worse. So I started looking at everything I could look at in terms of choosing nice, modern paint design for the home. Because of the brick color, we had a limited amount of choices for the color of the shutters. I actually wanted to paint the brick but it wouldn't have been characteristic of the neighborhood. I don't know about anybody else but I didn't want an updated version of my home from 2002 (the year it was built). I wanted it to look like a newer home. There was nothing special happening in GA that year in terms of home architecture or design. Sorry 2002 :-(

I also wanted a design that helped the house not be so detached from itself. My wife and I went back and forth for almost a year trying to choose a color that would best compliment the house and our style. We downloaded color simulators and visited the paint stores at least 3 times per week for swatches. I also threw my ugly house on this site so that the "design elitists" could pick it apart and I could get the best ideas. We wanted to be proud of our little house every time we drove up. So, here's what we came up with.
emceelikeme
Original Author
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
We also added a deck out back, a privacy screen, patio furniture, and small aluminum pergola from Home Depot. We're happy to have such a nice, quaint little outdoor space. My wife and I do all of work outside now.
emceelikeme
Original Author
9 years ago
emceelikeme
Original Author
9 years ago