I’ve wanted to paint the front door black for a long time, but just hadn’t really gotten around to it.
There was always something going on or something else I’d rather do, so it just kept getting pushed back on the project list.
Since I started blogging and taking almost daily photos of my front garden, the red front door really started to bother me.
Don’t get me wrong…I love the color.
But, every time I photographed the garden, I felt like it clashed with my flowers.
The door color also impacted my decision-making when purchasing new plants because I avoided plants that would not coordinate with the front door.
Therefore, it was time to change the door color to something more neutral. And black is a great neutral color!
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Before


Painting the front door was much easier and went quicker than I expected. After doing it, I have no clue why I didn’t paint the door sooner! If you have been considering painting yours, just do it! It is super easy to do!
Pick Up Paint Samples
Do you know how many shades of black there are? Let me tell you – there’s a lot! If I were doing this the right way, I would have picked up a few samples before just painting the door. In my haste, I opted to pick up a can of what I thought would be a good black for our front door.
Turns out – it was not. LOL! The first one we picked, was pure black with a glossier finish than the matte finish we had. Because we have dogs and they get the door a little dirty sometimes, my husband and I wanted to experiment with the finish to see how it would look.
I put the first coat on and totally hated it. It was too dark and too shiny for my house. We get south facing sun and the light hitting the door looked way too shiny. I’m sure it would look great on other houses, but for me, my taste and the look I was going for, the door reminded me of shiny patent leather shoes.
So I went back and picked up a softer shade of black with an eggshell finish. When I opened the can of Benjamin Moore’s Mophead Black, I was a little skeptical because it was not as black as I thought it looked on the swatch but decided to try it anyway because I wanted the other black off the door.
After putting on the first coat, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. It was more of a dark charcoal gray with navy undertones than black. I liked it but wanted to see it with the second coat. Once the second coat was on, I felt pretty happy with it. The final color goes really well with my planters and exterior lights. And it really makes my new front door wreath pop! But the biggest difference, is how it looks with my gardens! Love it!!!
Supplies Needed
- Paint brush
- Painer’s Tape
- Drop Cloth
- Quart of your favorite paint (I used Mophead Black by Benjamin Moore – it’s more of a dark charcoal/soft black)
Directions
- Remove all hardware and tape up any areas that you don’t want to hit with paint.
- Set up your drop cloth.
- Listen to good music.
- Start painting! I did two coats on mine.
- Note: Since I changed the glossier black finish to a softer black, I lightly sanded the finish with a 120 grit sandpaper to scuff it up so the second black color would adhere.
Update Hardware and Technology
In addition to painting the front door, we changed the hardware from brass with a key lock to the oil-rubbed bronze keyless entry and upgraded to the Ring Doorbell. Do you have one of these yet? Let me tell you – they are fun to have. I’ll be out there taking photos of my garden and my husband will see me out there while he’s working and scare me half to death! So aside from the security aspect of the Ring, the entertainment value is pretty high. LOL!
If you haven’t purchased one yet, check it out here (paid link). We love it! In addition to adding it to our New Jersey home, we also added to the Vermont house. It is a great addition to the home security systems and I love that we had the option of purchasing them in a bronze finish.
After




What Do You Think?
When was the last time you painted your front door? After painting ours, I don’t know what took me so long to do it! It took no time at all and looks 10x better!
I hope you found this post helpful. Let me know what you think in the comments here. And be sure to follow me @bricksnblooms on Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram where I share lots of the behind-the-scenes of my home, garden and personal life.

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