Interior Door Color Picker

How to use the interior door color picker

1. Pick your wall color. Tap a swatch, type its color code from a paint chip, or use the color picker. On a sample room the walls repaint at once.
2. Say what your trim is. White, the wall color, or black. The door options and the two to try first change with it.
3. Tap a door color. Each shows its LRV, its gap from the walls and from the trim, and whether it stands out from the walls, stands out only in a bright room, or blends in. On a sample room the door is repainted in it. For a color of your own, use Your own door color.
4. Read the paints. Under the doors are the closest Sherwin-Williams, Benjamin Moore and Behr colors to the door you chose.
5. Try your own room. Use your photo, tap the walls in your wall color, pick a trim and tap the casings and baseboards, then pick a door and tap the door. A paneled door may need a tap on each panel.

The door colors, in the paint makers’ words

Each option on the picker is one a paint maker shows or recommends on its own pages.

• The same color as the trim. Benjamin Moore’s trim guide offers its whites for the perfect white paint for your interior doors and trim, and shows a bathroom where the walls, trim, ceiling, and doors are all painted in White Heron OC-57.
• The same color as the walls. When using one color for the walls and trim, we love painting the interior doors the same color as well for a completely uninterrupted look, says Benjamin Moore color expert Arianna Barone. When using bolder hues, it allows you to be more immersed in the color.
• A shade deeper than the walls. Sherwin-Williams, answering a reader on its blog: Whichever color, it should come from the existing trim and/or walls, don’t leave the doors white, it may make your space look unfinished. A deeper shade of the wall color is a door that comes from the walls but still shows.
• Black. Benjamin Moore shows walls in dark gray Wrought Iron with white trim, and The door is painted in rich Black 2132-10 for even more drama and contrast.
• A color of its own. Sherwin-Williams: Add a pop of color to any room in your home by giving the door a fresh coat of paint. The picker starts it on a navy, the color of the French doors in Benjamin Moore’s trim guide (Hale Navy HC-154).

The picker makes each one from your colors. The trim’s white is a near-white in the walls’ own hue (CIELAB lightness 94, a chroma of 4 at most), the same white as our trim color picker. The black is a soft black, #2B2A29. “A shade deeper” is two steps darker, 20 points of CIELAB lightness, in the same hue. Those recipes, and which two doors the picker suggests trying first, are ours, not the paint makers’.

Stands out, or blends in

LRV is how much light a color reflects, from 0 for black to 100 for a perfect white. How far apart two LRVs must be before a door stands out from the wall around it 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.”

It was written so people with low vision can find a door. It is not a rule for decorating, but it is a measured answer to “will my door show”, so the picker uses it as a yardstick, against the walls and against the trim:

• Over 30 points: stands out from the walls in any light.
• 20 to 30 points: stands out in a bright room. In daylight the door reads; on a dull evening it fades toward the walls.
• Under 20 points: blends into the walls. That is the point of a door in the wall color: it disappears.

The gap from the trim matters too. A door the trim’s color makes one frame with its casing; a dark door inside white casing is outlined by it, which is why a black door can work even on dark walls.

Door colors by wall color

With white trim: the LRV gap between each door and the walls, what it does, and the two doors the picker suggests trying first. “Stands out” = over 30 points, “bright room” = 20 to 30, “blends” = under 20. A door in the wall color is always a gap of 0.

Color names here are the picker’s own, not a paint brand’s; the picker names the closest brand paints for the door you choose.

The sheen: glossier than the walls

Sherwin-Williams, for walls, doors and trim in one color: A flat finish is perfect for walls, but when it comes to the other details, you’ll want to add more dimension. Use a satin finish for trim and a gloss finish for doors. A higher sheen also takes the hand marks a door gets around its handle. With the door in the wall color, the sheen is the only thing that sets it apart, so do not skip it. The paint sheen finder picks the sheen for each surface.

Three worked examples

Greige walls, white trim, white door. Greige (LRV 63) with a door in the trim’s warm white (LRV 85) is a gap of 22: the classic, but the door reads clearly only in a bright room. In a dim hallway, a shade deeper (31) or black (61) gives a door that shows at any hour.

Sage walls in a bedroom. Sage (LRV 44) sits mid-scale. A door in the trim’s white (LRV 85) is 41 points away and black 42: both stand out. A door in the wall color is 0 away and disappears: Benjamin Moore’s uninterrupted look. The hallway sample opens on Sage walls with a white door; tap The same color as the walls to see it vanish.

Navy walls. Navy (LRV 4) and a black door are 2 points apart: the door blends in, and only white trim around it outlines it. A door in the trim’s white (81 away) is the strongest frame; a door in the navy itself makes the room one deep color.

Common mistakes when choosing an interior door color

• A different white on the doors than on the trim. Two whites side by side make one of them look dirty. Use the trim’s own white, as Benjamin Moore and Sherwin-Williams both do.
• The wall color in the wall sheen. A door the same color and the same flat sheen as the walls loses its edges and looks unfinished. Go glossier on the door.
• Black doors in a dark room with dark trim. On navy, forest or charcoal walls a black door is within a few points of the walls: without white trim around it, it disappears.
• Every door a different color. A color of its own works best on one door: a pantry, an office, a bathroom. In a hallway with many doors, one color for all of them keeps it calm.
• Judging the color from a chip. A door is a big surface and reads darker and stronger than a chip. Paint a large sample board and look at it next to the door at night as well as by day.

Read next

• Dark doors with white trim
• Bathroom door ideas
• Space-saving door ideas for small spaces
• Black trim ideas for an interior
• Ideas for white walls with black trim