I love the colour of your door. That is a keeper. A grey, black palette is on trend but maybe not for beachfront abodes like your charming spot. I don't suppose you have taken a look at Pinterest for ideas. I would go with a bright white, keeping the window white and adding shutters in the same colour as the door. Unless you go with the blue colour on the door, knock it down to the lightest shade and use that on the walls, which also works. Let us see what you decide to go with in the end!

I would not do a dark color at the beach . it appears you are part of a row of units all connected , I am a bit of PITA but really IMO when all of the units are somehow connected colorwise the whole complex looks higher end than when they look like tenament housing so i would do the door the color of the siding to your right and be done .So big planters filled with nice plants with color .

No dark on a beach house. I would change the color of the door, and use the door color for the house. You need to paint something that will look decent to the units on each side of you, and down the block. Your door color is a real beachy color, and will look great on the house itself. You could use a deeper color for the door. Pots of flowers, etc, up next to the house, so it looks fresh, light and welcoming.

No dark, I think a crisp white keeping the door color and the front light fixture would look great!

Thanks so much! it really helps to see a rendition like this! I also love the idea of pavers, but don’t believe they would be approved by our HOA. And the planter box looks perfect, except we have a water spicket, a downspout and another metal thing sticking out from the siding. I would have to use 2 narrower planter boxes instead. would that look strange?

I would get a chippendale style two seater bench and center it to the right of your door, covering the spigot. You could place a colorful pillow on it or a flower pot with a blooming plant in it right beside it. I like the color of your cottage, the white trim and the blue door. Perhaps a white bench with a blue printed outdoor pillow on it. A cobalt blue planter and a coral flower of some sort. Beach colors! Sand, white, blue!

Some good ideas above…if this was my home I would also look at beautifying the roof and concrete drive as well…there are some pretty stains for concrete..

I like your driftwood color shingles and your blue door. While I don't want to be the HOA police, I everyone's unit should have the same siding since they're attached. Tweak the blue, though, so it echoes blue sky and blue water color and links your house to the sky and ocea. Get a driftwood teak/gray bench for the right of the door with blue striped pillows. Or a blue one matched to your door.

Add potted plants.

How about flipping the blue? If it's your favorite, do the shingles in blue.

Who will water the plants? Are you there all summer?

@lisedv Would you be able to tell me how you created the rendering of my beach home? I love the idea of a white house with our light blue front door and would really like to see it with some natural/stained wood elements (California Coastal)…We’d like to replace the glass block window with a window of the same size with some type of privacy glass (perhaps framed with a light stained wood trim). And I like the idea of a wood planter box with beach grass or a similar low maintenance plant (probably 24” wide or so and fairly tall (32” or so) to the right of the front door. If we did something like this, would you also recommend trimming the front door in natural wood to match the window trim and planter box, or would you leave the trim white? And lastly, I love the idea of resurfacing the driveway, but I don’t think pavers would be approved by our HOA (no other units have them). Perhaps an epoxy or granite stone coating?

Shelly: I do the sketches in PowerPoint but have been doing it for some time and know a few tricks... Unfortunately my husband has been hospitalized and I'm unable to work on another sketch at this time. If I have a few minutes at one point I'll try to illustrate what you're thinking of or make another suggestion. As for the driveway, you'd have to ask your HOA what product(s) they recommend and approve to update the surface. Perhaps some of your neighbors would also be interested in giving their driveway a fresh clean look.

Thanks so much for the reply. I’m so sorry to hear that your husband is not well and hope that he’ll soon be on the mend.

Please take care,

-Shelly