A wrought iron door is an extra touch that creates a distinguished look for your home. Perhaps you’ve considered the size, design, and finish options, but have you thought through the color and how it would align with the rest of your home’s exterior color palette and the surrounding area?
Match, Complement, or Contrast
There’s no hard and fast rule about what color to paint your wrought iron door. You can choose to match, complement or contrast your exterior paint, and the choice is personal. If you don’t remember the finer points of the color wheel from elementary school, here are the basics.
Match
While we think of a match as an exact match, it can also mean being part of a monochromatic (single color) scheme. If the exterior paint color of your home is gray, a match would be a darker or lighter shade of gray.
Complement
Next to your exterior paint color on the wheel, these colors sit next to your main exterior paint color. They provide a contrast from your main color without being too extreme. For instance, if your home were painted blue-green, your complementary colors would be greens or blues.
Contrast
Using a contrasting color is the boldest choice to make your wrought iron door stand out. The contrasting color is the color directly opposite from your exterior paint color on the wheel. If your home is blue-green, the contrasting color would be a red-orange. If your home is gray, you can consider white or black as your contrasting colors, or choose any color on the color wheel for a pop.
Most common iron door colors
The most common colors for iron doors are classic metals. Many people choose black because it’s the classic choice that can be perceived as traditional or modern depending on the design. Other common iron door colors include:
- Aged bronze with a patina
- Dark brown bronze
- Dark brown espresso
Narrowing the Choices
Before choosing a final color for your iron door, explore the options on the color wheel. Get some generalized color paint swatch samples from your local paint or big box retail store. Tape different options to your existing door and near your exterior paint and step back to see what type of color speaks to you—the most common wrought iron colors, a monochromatic color, or a complementary or contrasting color. If you’re sold on one direction right away, congratulations! If not, narrow the choices to three. Look at your surroundings, like your yard and your neighborhood, and imagine the statement you want to make. Look again at the color choices and see which best reflects you.
Finalizing your choice
Once you’ve narrowed your paint color choices, it’s time to finalize your choice. You can purchase small amounts of three different colors at retail. Use a removable board like a lightweight piece of plywood or plank to stand upright at your existing front door. Paint the choices on your board, let it dry, and step back to see what best resonates. If the colors are close, there’s no wrong choice in the end. But if you let the colors sit for a day or two, you can see what feels best to you.
Simplify your process of selection
Choosing the color for your wrought iron doors can be overwhelming. Simplify the process by following these steps:
- Review the color wheel to find your exterior paint’s matching (including lighter/darker monochromatic shades), complementary, and contrasting colors.
- Consider the most common wrought iron door colors: black, bronze, dark bronze, and espresso.
- Narrow your choices with general color sample swatches from a paint retailer
- Purchase and paint 3 finalist color swatches on a board to review at your front door
- Determine which best reflects the statement you want to make within the confines of your exterior home, yard, and neighborhood.
Let Forever Iron Doors Create a Custom Color Matched Iron Door for You
Did you know that Forever Iron Doors can custom color match an iron door to any color you wish? So if you’re in love with the existing color on your home exterior, or have a specific color theme in mind, contact us today to find out more information about how we can bring your dream door to life.