I also agree, but I would paint the storm door, front door and sidelight the same color. I'm not really sure...do you want to highlight a storm door?

You should leave it like it is with the new black door. You will never achieve symmetry. The lanterns and the horseshoe work well with the new door.

No matter what the door color is, my husband is wanting to paint the trim - basically make it a symmetrical black "box" taped and painted so an equal amount of taupe shows on the left and right and it's a straight black line across the top. We can discuss the door/sidelight color (so I'm not dismissing comments on those anyone may have), but the immediate dilemma is his idea about painting the trim area, whatever color the door and sidelight may be.

Chloebud, are you saying paint door and skylight, leave all trim as-is?

Paint the door black to match storm door and the sidelight taupe to match the trim. Personally I would have gotten a red storm door if you plan to keep the inside door red.

drbarb, I think jck910's suggestion is good. The door and storm door should be the same color. It's distracting to have them different colors, and no reason to place focus on a storm door. The side panel could be taupe or the same color as the door/storm door. I would leave the trim around it all the same as the trim around your windows. A photo of the whole house might be more helpful.

Look at photos online of "entry doors with sidelights." It might give you some better ideas. Whatever you do, use the same color for the door and storm door.

The wood trim on top could be straight, maybe the round is why it looks off. Paint door black first and go from there.

Just wanted to also say what really matters is what YOU like. We can give suggestions and opinions, but they might not jive with what makes you happy. I think your front door and sidelight are more attractive than the storm door and wouldn't want to detract from them. Oops...guess that's yet another opinion from me. I'll be still now!

Per chloebud's request, photos that show more of the house. Posting these on the condition everyone completely ignore the landscaping. There are projects not in the photo and landscaping will be revamped when those are done (may have to be in spring at this point). Plus we are on clay and have had a ton of rain so it has been impossible to mow. Our veggie gardens, though, are to die for this year!

Thanks chloebud, I appreciate that. We welcome the variety of opinions and ideas. Of the Houzz posts I've read, I think I have come across a total of one where opinions were unanimous and in agreement! I needed to go to town today (20-minute drive through country and many developments) and tried to pay more attention to homes and storm doors as I drove, as some design choices I know can differ by region. Oddly enough given the advice here, other than older homes with white-on-white doors with white trim, I saw only one storm that matched the door color (no side panel on that house). Of houses with storms, I'd say about 70% on the drive matched the trim. The other 30% matched neither trim nor door/panel. Most of the newer and/or higher end construction has no front storm door. I suspect they all have true entryways, which our house does not. That door enters the livingroom. In the summer we utilize our porch heavily and so the main door is open most of the day, hence for us the storm door makes functional sense. When we ordered, I thought about the red but we were afraid it would look bad if it didn't match closely enough. It didn't seem right to match the trim because (a) the color match issue, and (b) all the houses I saw today where storm matched trim had a trim color different from the brick or siding. Our trim and siding are the same so we thought the door wouldn't look right and would give an awkward shape effect to the entry that would detract worse than the black, which at least matches the other black accents. Right or wrong, that was our thought process. Thanks for all of the comments so far. I think husband at least has given up the idea of painting part of the trim black. We will be interested to hear any other thoughts anyone may have.

barb, I came across the link below from Houzz. Scroll through and you'll see many with matching colors on the entry and storm doors. Again, the bottom line is do whatever looks best to you. There's no right or wrong...well, maybe with certain things. For example, I'll still never understand WHY people put exterior shutters on bay windows or garden windows. What on earth is the point?

https://www.houzz.com/photos/storm-door-phbr0lbl-bl~l_142624?fi=8 

Thanks Chloe! I had no doubt the combination existed. Just surprised, given the comments, that I was seeing so few examples around here is all. I do see the point. If we do paint, it won't be right away. I just got done with the red! 5 coats on the front door (already a red shade), took seven on each of the two rear doors. Don't think I can handle covering it with black right away, LOL! It will give us time to live with it for a bit and see what we like. Thanks to all! Again, any additional thoughts will be considered as well!

What if you painted the entire sidelight taupe with a red front door?

The sidelight is part of the trim. It should match the trim, which you say is taupe. For the sake of my image I made the trim white. When the sidelight matches the trim the narrow strip becomes less noticeable. In reality, it would look better than the image because the dark from the red is still showing through on the sidelight.

It looks best when a storm door matches the front door. I suggest painting the storm door the same red.

If you leave the side light red I still think your husband is wrong. The trim containing the doorbell is narrower than the piece outside the sidelight. Does he want to make them equal too? Some things are not meant to be symmetrical

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Painting the storm and trim will balance the door with the sidelight ...all red would be eyecatching without the distraction of so many parts....great color!