Interior designers can spend hours choosing the perfect front door complete with colour, hardware and glazing before deciding how it will look within the porch. In contrast, the garage door which is often three or four times the size of the front door is usually ordered from a catalogue and forgotten.
A beautifully conceived façade can be brought down by a poorly conceived garage door, but an ordinary house can be transformed by a well-conceived one.
The garage door is not a utility panel. It is one of the largest design elements of a house.
Start With the House, Not the Door
Start with the basic form of the house and try to determine its strongest lines. A Georgian or colonial house is made up of symmetrical forms and repeated panels. A farmhouse is simple boards and simple trim. A modern house is made up of basic planes and large apertures.
Your garage door should speak with the same language as the rest of your house. A traditional house has raised panels for example, a farmhouse has vertical boarding or a carriage style door and modern houses have flush panel garage doors, wooden garage door panels or even glass garage doors. When the garage door is talking the same language as the rest of the house then it ceases to be an afterthought.
The Colour Question
There are two good approaches to colour, and one common mistake.
To make a garage front less dominant start by blending the colour of the garage door with the colour of the surrounding wall. This will help the door to recede from view and allow the eye to focus on the entrance and the windows instead.
Accent: paint the garage door a strong colour and match the colour to the front door or shutters. This makes a feature of the garage door, and works well when the garage is set back from the road or to one side.
The mistake of choosing a colour for the garage door that has no relation to the rest of the house colours is evident. A bright white against a cream coloured house, or a colour that is not at all related to the trim or the house colours will get attention for all the wrong reasons.
Materials and Texture
Many modern steel doors are now offered with timber-like finishes, but nothing can quite replicate the warmth and depth that real timber brings to a property. Of course, timber needs to be constantly maintained in order to preserve its appearance, but it is well worth the hassle. Aluminium door frames incorporating glass are another option, which offers a light and modern appearance, and can be accentuated at night when lit from within.
Surface texture is as important as material selection. A smooth flush door is minimal. A door with grooves or ribbed panels will have shadow to it dependent upon the time of day. In terms of looks and low maintenance combined, composite and fibreglass door skins offer the look of real wood.
Windows and Light
Adding a row of windows across the top of your garage door can add rhythm to your home’s facade while bringing daylight into your garage. In seeking to echo the shape of your home, arched tops are generally more suitable to traditional homes while simple rectangles can generally be made to work with most home styles. Full height glass is generally reserved for more modern homes.
Exterior lighting completes the picture. Two wall lights are positioned on either side of the garage door and correspond with the entrance wall lights, making the whole frontage visible at night.
Hardware Is Jewellery
The decorative handles and hinges on an overhead door are of no mechanical value but can change its appearance totally. Black iron hardware can make an overhead door look like a farmhouse or carriage door. Brushed steel or none at all can give a modern house an attractive door.
As with jewellery, less is usually more, and a single handle or set of handles, correctly scaled for the door, can be more impressive than a profusion of embellishments.
Beauty That Still Has to Work
A garage door is also a machine, and many design choices can affect how it functions. Although timber and glass doors are often perceived to be light, they can in fact be very heavy indeed. The springs that balance the door are sized on the basis of the weight of the door and so a change of material could require a change of springs. Work with the springs and cables is for a trained technician only, never a homeowner.
Many homes in the older suburbs of cities in the US are still gracing the streets with the original doors as well as much of the original detail to the home. Owners of these homes often wonder whether an old door can be refinished rather than replaced. In the regional cities of the US, companies such as Century Garage Door Repair Service see this question frequently and a specialist in garage door repair in White Plains or similar older town would be able to tell you what you can save.
The Takeaway
Treat your garage door as you would another large surface in a room. Take into consideration the size in relation to the other features and its colour and finish. Design the garage door as part of the house design and not as an afterthought added to the end of a wall. Treat the entire front of the house as if it were one very large surface. Make sure it looks complete and finished.
Quick Answers
Should my garage door match my front door?
A colour can act as an accent or it can fade into the walls. Either way, it needs to reference something else on the house.
What garage door style suits a modern house?
Use flush panels, wood cladding or framed glass. Keep the hardware minimal and the lines clean.
Are wooden garage doors worth it?
Wooden doors add a lot of character and warmth but will require regular maintenance to keep them looking good. They are also very heavy, so you will need to select the appropriate springs for the door.
