Garage Door Color Picker

How to use the garage door color picker

1. Pick your siding color. Tap the chip closest to your siding, stucco or brick, type its color code from a paint chip, or tap Read it off my photo and then tap the siding in your own photo.
2. Say what the trim is. The garage door sits inside a trimmed opening, so the trim changes the second number on every idea. White is the default; cream, black or the same color as the house are the others.
3. Read the ideas. Each garage door color family (black, white and cream, gray, brown and wood, beige and tan, Blue and Green, red) shows its shade that stands out most clearly, with two gaps: against the siding and against the trim. The last idea is the siding’s own color, for a door that blends in.
4. Tap an idea. On a sample house the whole garage door is repainted in it at once, with the photo’s own light and shade. On your own photo, tap the middle of the door; a door with raised panels, grooves or windows may need a tap on each panel.
5. Compare and save. Compare puts a before and after slider across the photo, and Save image keeps the result to send to whoever is choosing with you.

Stand out or blend in? On a garage door, both are right

A garage door is the biggest single thing on the front of most houses. Clopay, the garage door maker, puts it at about 30% of the front of the average home, and it offers both directions: Whether you want your garage door to blend in with your home’s siding or stand out with a pop of color, there are endless options to explore.

• Stand out when the garage is part of the design: a modern house, a carriage-style door, a door that matches the front door. Clopay: Black garage doors create a striking contrast with lighter-colored siding and can make a modern home pop.
• Blend in when the garage faces the street and you would rather the eye went to the front door. Clopay on beige doors: they suit a home that wants a welcoming and inviting feel, without drawing too much attention to the garage itself.
• Match the trim to sit in between: white trim and a white door frame the opening as one. On light siding a white door still stands out; on white siding it blends.

The picker does not choose for you. It measures how far each color is from your siding and says which way it goes.

The rule: an LRV gap of more than 30 points

LRV is how much light a color reflects, from 0 for black to 100 for a perfect white. Paint makers print it on most color cards. The picker works it out from each color’s on-screen value, so it is close to the printed figure but not a measurement of a real chip.

How far apart two LRVs must be before one surface stands out against another is set out in the UK’s building guidance for accessible buildings. Approved Document M, Volume 2, paragraph 0.26 defines “contrast visually” like this:

“the difference in light reflectance value between the two surfaces is greater than 30 points. Where illuminance on surfaces is greater than 200 lux, a difference in light reflectance value should be a minimum of 20 points.”

That guidance was written so people with low vision can find a door in a public building. It is not a rule for houses, but it is a clear, measured answer to “will my garage door stand out”, so the picker uses it as a yardstick (the same one as the free front door color picker and shutter color picker). Daylight is far brighter than 200 lux, so:

• Over 30 points: stands out in any light. The door reads as its own block from across the street, morning or dusk.
• 20 to 30 points: stands out in daylight. In full sun it reads; in shade or at dusk it fades toward the wall.
• Under 20 points: blends in. The door recedes into the house: the look to pick when the garage faces the street.

Garage door colors by siding color

With white trim, these are the garage door colors from the picker’s board that stand out from each siding color in any light, with their LRV gap from the siding, and the ones that blend in (besides the siding’s own color, which always does).

Color names here are the picker’s own, not a paint brand’s. To try a brand’s color, type its code into the color box, or get the code from a photo with the paint color matcher.

Three worked examples

A light gray two-story. The gray sample’s siding is close to Light gray (LRV 59). A Soft Black garage door (LRV 2) is 57 points from it and 92 from the white trim: it stands out in any light, the “modern black garage door” look. The sample opens with its door painted Soft Black; its original white door is 35 points from the siding and 0 from the trim, so it also stands out, as one piece with the trim.

A tan stucco house. Tan (LRV 41) sits in the middle of the scale, so dark doors stand out (Soft Black 39, Espresso 38, Navy 37) and so does white (53). Sandstone, 14 points away, blends, and so does a door in the stucco’s own tan. The sample opens with its carriage door in Soft Black; on a light color the thin frames around its windows stay brown, so tap each one too.

A red brick house. Red brick is dark (LRV about 12). A black garage door is close to it, so on brick it blends rather than contrasts. For a door that shows, a light one does it: dove gray stands 47 points from the brick, sandstone 43.

Common mistakes when choosing a garage door color

• A loud color on a door that faces the street. At about a third of the front, a bright garage door can outshout the front door. If the garage is not the feature, let it blend.
• Judging a swatch on a screen. Clopay’s advice: Don’t rely on a paint swatch or a color on a screen. Instead, get physical samples of the colors you’re considering and view them against your home’s exterior at different times of day. The picker narrows the list; a sample board at the curb decides.
• Forgetting the seasons. Clopay again: Think about how the color will look in the bright light of summer versus the muted tones of winter.
• Painting a door that is still under warranty. Clopay warns that painting an existing door risks ruining it or voiding its warranty; a door ordered in the color you want avoids it.
• Ignoring the HOA. Many homeowners’ associations limit garage door colors. Check before you buy paint.

Read next

• Curb appeal ideas
• Updated split level exterior ideas
• Exterior color schemes for red brick houses
• Exterior ideas for brown brick homes
• Orange brick exterior color schemes
• Garage makeover ideas