“The door is the smile of the house.”

John has a habit of making quirky, memorable statements like that. He once compared mustaches to bacon — “the mustache is the bacon of the face, and bacon is the mustache of breakfast” — and he’s not done surprising me yet. But back to the front door. Our first house had a red door, our second house featured a sunny yellow door, and our new house now has a bright, cheerful blue door.

It’s a happy blue — somewhere between peacock and teal with a touch of gray so it doesn’t go neon in direct sunlight. Choosing that exact shade took more testing than you might think.

To pick the right color we taped up a wide range of swatches: reds, greens, several blues, and other options like plum, orange, navy and charcoal. We stood back about ten feet to evaluate, then farther away to see how the color read at a distance. We checked the swatches at different times of day so we could compare them in direct sun, in shade, and under the porch light at night. That small ritual helped us avoid a color that only looked good in one light but terrible later on.

Before committing to a hue, I painted the sidelight trim white so the creamy-yellow trim that was originally there wouldn’t skew our perception of the new door color. After scrubbing the glass panes clean and removing bugs with a magic eraser, I used an angled brush and the same white exterior paint the painters left behind. Once the trim looked right, narrowing down door colors became straightforward.

We settled on four finalists from Benjamin Moore: Spirit In The Sky, Blue Lake, Peacock Blue, and Tranquil Blue. Honestly, several of the swatches looked great against the white trim and natural brick, but we went with the colors we liked best and then tested them directly on the door.

Instead of relying on tiny swatches on paper, I painted four large rectangles directly onto the raised panels of the door — one color per panel — with thick, even coats so the true color was obvious. Colors often darken slightly as they dry, so we watched them throughout the day. After evaluating them in morning, afternoon and evening light, Blue Lake emerged as the winner: the others read either too dull or too electric depending on the lighting, but Blue Lake consistently looked balanced and welcoming.

Painting the door itself took about half a day. We used Benjamin Moore’s exterior door paint called MooreGlo in Soft Gloss, which is effectively a semi-gloss and is self-priming, so no separate primer was necessary. A quart was enough for the whole door, making the project inexpensive — a nice relief after recent, more costly home repairs.

My preferred painting approach is to start early so the door can dry throughout the day. I work only with an angled brush; John prefers a foam roller, so to each their own. I follow a specific sequence: first paint the frames around each raised rectangle, then the inside of each recessed panel. Next I paint the flat planks surrounding them, always brushing in the direction of the grain — top to bottom for vertical planks, left to right for horizontal slats, and finishing the edges last. After an hour or two of drying (longer if it’s humid), I apply a second coat in the same order, then let it cure for the rest of the day.

We removed the door hardware before painting, which makes for cleaner edges; we reattach everything right before locking up for the night. We also updated the door knocker and doorbell as part of the refresh, which involved a bit of DIY and a small scavenger hunt for the right pieces — more on those upgrades in a future update.

I painted the trim sides of the door to match the new color, but left the back alone for now. The foyer still has blue trim and patterned wallpaper, so I’d like to eventually repaint the foyer trim white and then paint the interior side of the door to match the cheerful exterior.

In all, one quart of paint and a morning of work made a big visual impact. It took me longer to photograph the finished door than it did to paint it — thanks, unreliable weather — but the result is worth it. The door now brightens the entire entry and really does feel like a smile for the house.

If you’ve been putting off painting your front door, go ahead and do it. It’s an inexpensive project with an immediate lift: the house will greet you like an excited friend instead of a casual, “oh, it’s you.”

I’ll leave you with a small anecdote: while photographing the finished door, a deer wandered across the yard, stopped to nibble near the entry, and posed smack in front of my shot. It felt like the neighborhood wildlife agreed with our color choice — who knew a door could be so inviting?

UPDATE: I captured a quick phone photo on an evening walk that shows the door’s green undertone more accurately than my larger camera shots. Sometimes a phone camera really does tell the truest color story.