The Best Front Door Paint Colours: Dusky Purples

Let's talk house fronts again. Finding the perfect exterior paint colours is sometimes tricky but your home's exterior speaks volumes about you so it's worth taking the time getting your house and garden to say the right thing!

Who hasn't been seduced by images like this, full of promise and loveliness? Gorgeous, dusky shades, complemented by chalky grey paint and Modern Country planting: 

It can be easy to leave this kind of picture feeling down-hearted at the widening gulf between what you love and your reality, but if you'd like this look for yourself then, fear, not! With a little time and a little love, this look can be yours!

From gently-greyed lavender through to rich damson and darkest, moodiest plum, there's a perfect purple paint for everyone.

Before we start, one of the most important things to consider is the material your home is made from. Is it brick? Stone? Weather-boarding? Painted render? This should be your first port of call as it will affect how you carry this look out.

Secondly, ask yourself honestly about the visual impact that your home has. You see, carrying out this look on a modern new-build requires a very different procedure than on a converted warehouse, for example.

Keeping in mind these two pertinent pieces of information, let's get on to the exciting bit....how to Make It Yours!

Clockwise from top: this aged brick house is set off beautifully by dusky grey paint on the doors and frames, allowing the drainpipe and rendered base to fade into the overall scheme...white hydrangeas and lavender, contrasted against smart clipped box, keep this home looking firmly Modern Country; pick out architectural details on your house front with matching materials, such as this zinc planter; if you don't like the part of your house's exterior, simply hide it with climbing plants that keep their leaves for most, if not all of the year; try a toning palette of Farrow and Ball Cabbage White, Farrow and Ball Calluna, Farrow and Ball Brassica, Little Greene Lead Colour; small touches in nickel, such as these beautiful French handles, keep this scheme from veering into drab in dingy winter months. 

See how adding details with silver metals, like chrome or nickel, lifts this door to another level?

Clockwise from top: If you live in a building like this incredible converted Country Church, then, frankly, you're in business! Although some paints might look more pleasing than others, the building itself carries such visual weight that the front door paint colour matters less; Feast your eyes on this Modern Country garden: soft lavender surrounds an old stone fountain, and is set off by peonies in soft pink and magenta; on a somewhat smaller scale, topiary box balls will bring a little bit of Modern to your Country House exterior; consider a country-inspired feminine palette of Farrow and Ball Pelt, Dulux Linnet, Farrow and Ball Purbeck Stone, Farrow and Ball Cinder Rose.

Painted render can carry pretty much any front door paint colour but these home owners have chosen a divinely muted grey-mauve. 

Clockwise from top: add character to a new build with Modern Country planting - soft layers of white and purple flowers, juxtaposed with evergreen topiary; a muted palette of Little Greene French Gray; Farrow and Ball Brassica; Ralph Lauren Nairobi Dusk; Sanderson Grey Squirrel; warm grey rattan baskets next to a boxwood topiary ball; this house could just as easily be a cleverly thought-out new-build as an old French stately home - don't be intimidated by the seeming inflexibility of a new-build...choose pretty, chalky mauves and greys, and add extra decorative touches such as lanterns and seating in high end finishes...you'll be surprised what you can achieve.

A gorgeous Modern Country front garden. Behind smart cast iron railings, four bay trees stand either side of a black and white encaustic tiled path, leading to a red brick double-fronted Victorian house. Behind them are small squares of lavender, bordered by buxus hedging.

Clockwise from top: you can add colour into predominantly brick houses but the hue of the bricks should determine the strength of colour you choose for your front door paint. Here, with creamy-brown bricks, the owners have gone with lilac paint for the door surround, with palest grey front door paint; consider introducing colour via planting, lavender is heavenly to brush against on a warm summer's day; for this look, try Little Greene Juniper Ash, Zoffany Sung Mauve, Fired Earth Sea Lavender, Fired Earth Gentian Violet; a beautiful Modern Country planting scheme with four clipped box hedges enclosing swathes of lavender, and boxwood balls nestled within each quadrant; red brick can often be too strong a colour to start competing with loud front door paints so consider a warm grey, and pick up the purple theme with rows of lavender leading to two half standard privets standing sentinel-like either side of your front door.

If the material that your house is built from feels unbearably over-bearing, then consider painting it white and choosing the front door colour of your dreams, here a washed-out dusky grey.

The best front door paint colours are more intense than you might expect, in order to take the strong daylight that they'll receive. These are my perfect exterior paint colours for front doors.

Choose one of these four perfect front door paint colours and, combined with the front garden schemes I've picked out that combine topiary and lavender, you'll be well on your way to your dream Modern Country Home!  

Images via: flickr, Vaucelleshof, Farrow and Ball, MCS Moodboard 1 (Via Revedeco, Pinterest, sbdigs, My Design Chic), Farrow and Ball, MCS Moodboard 2 (A Breath OF Fresh Air, Nicola Stocken, unknown), residential search, MCS Moodboard 3 (unknown, johner, unknown), Belderbos, MCS Moodboard 4((5thandstate, Greensandberries, Houzz, Fleaing France)), Tierlantijn, MCS Moodboard 5