Are you looking for a cheap, cheerful and high impact way to add some instant curb appeal to the front of your house this season? We love this idea — reader MidCenturyThriftyGal shows us how she used our favorite mid century paint collection to transform her plain garage door into a cheery mid century modern garage door.
MidCenturyThrifty Gal didn’t need to buy a new garage door to get the modern garage door design she wanted. Instead, she used her existing garage door … chose two colors from the Sherwin Williams Suburban Modern paint collection that complemented the red-gold color of the brick on her house… and then painted out some of the existing rectangles on the garage door to create a mid century modern geometric design. The colors she chose are Caribbean Coral and Harvest Gold. It is amazing what a little paint can do to add retro appeal to an otherwise plain garage door. Kudos to you MidCenturyThriftyGal — on a job well done — and thanks for allowing us to share this photo of your freshly-painted garage door.
Also check out this six-page catalog (page shown above) that we featured in 2010 — it shows lots of ways to add wood trim to great terrific mid century modern garage door styles.
Sandra says
I have an excellent garden design book. The author points out that if you put plants on either side of the door, framing it, you’re essentially saying, “Look at the garage door.” She advocates choosing a different focal point, and draw the eye to it, usually toward the front door, rather than the garage door.
With that in mind, I love this idea! Assuming the front door is to the left, it does rather point to the entry (or the sky!). And, it really helps change the scale of what would otherwise be the biggest shape on the front of the house (most likely), from a big white rectangle to something that blends.
I do think the mid-century folks were rather automobile-enamoured, putting their (preferably double-car) garages right out front. My preference is to downplay the garage, but paradoxically, I think this approach could do that.
oh Holland says
So simple, affordable and effective. Very clever MCM girl!
Sherree says
Thank you 🙂
Sara says
For all those gazillions of 50’s-now tract home neighborhoods where all you see when you drive around are garage doors…how cool would it be if painting patterns on garages became popular again!
Sherree says
I agree Sara! My neighborhood is all mid century (mostly) modest homes and garage doors are just boring white 🙁 Paint is such an inexpensive way to add a pop of color; maybe my door will inspire my neighbors 🙂
Robin, NV says
My neighbor’s garage door is painted in white and yellow stripes. It matches the awnings over his windows. Very cute. Another garage in the neigborhood has what looks like an original unpainted aluminum door. It looks very retro in its own way.
Beth says
Homeowners’ association says NO!
Robin, NV says
Boo on them.
My friend’s homeowners assocation has a rule that garage doors can’t be open for more than 15 minutes at a time. Holy moly, that’s strict.
Kate says
Seriously? What if they are cleaning it out or having a garage sale? That’s nuts!
Jay says
Garage sales are probably banned as well.
Robin, NV says
Yup, no garage sales allowed. Homeowners assocations are always a trade-off in my opinon. You may get a nice looking neighborhood but kiss any individuality goodbye. Personally, I’ll take my slightly scruffy and funky neighborhood over what I call “Utaupias.”
Besides my friend lives in Fernley (or Ferntucky as we call it), it’s not like they’re fooling anyone with their strict rules. It’s still Fernley. I say all this mostly in jest. Fernley-ites call my town (Fallon) “Fallabama.”
Sara says
lol, I can’t believe Fernley would have a neighborhood with rules like that! I went to college at UNR and had friends out in Fernley. I think houses in the desert need things like painted garage doors to add color and charm! Reno has some darling old neighborhoods and I can imagine many of them looking fantastic with custom painted garage doors.
Mary Elizabeth says
Well, that’s one of the reasons my DH and I moved from a condominium association to a private retro house. Inside, our house was all individualized (we redid the kitchen, replaced every bit of woodwork, bath fixtures, flooring, windows, etc.), but outside–well, when people came home drunk, they were likely to stumble into someone else’s house and fall asleep on their sofa 🙂 When we first lived there, you could paint your front door any color you liked, then a stricter association board gave you a choice of three bland colors (cream, beige, or darker beige) that matched the siding. One of the things I like about the tract houses of the late 1940s and 1950s (Levittowns in NY, NJ, and PA, for example) is that they looked all the same at the beginning, but then people added onto them, painted them, and gave them their individual stamps.
Robin, NV says
Wow! Another Wolf Pack person! I got my BA there in ’97. And yes, Reno does have a lot of nice mid century neighborhoods. The Plumb Lane/Reno High area has some stunners while the Keystone area is a nice mid century working class neighborhood. The areas around Wells Avenue and Veteran’s Memorial are starting to show some MCM pride too.
Bette Jean says
Garage sales are definitely banned.
Joe Felice says
The board and management of my HOA are obnoxious. I’d like to paint my garage door just to piss them off. but then I’d get a fine & a lawsuit, so I guess not. One time, i put a half-circle of pavers around some evergreens on my corner, and I got a letter from the attorney!!!!!
Rebecca Prichard says
I LOVE it. I was recently thinking about garage doors and how they used to look cool, and not just lame. This is awesome.
Sherree says
🙂
Angela says
I need some ideas for what to do if your door has a row of windows. (And it’s a one-car)
Victoria says
Me too! I have a double-car garage with a row of windows.
Mary Elizabeth says
Our double garage doors (on a 1959 ranch) on a white garage have a row of recessed panels on top, then a row of windows, then two larger sets of recessed panels under the windows. We painted the door trim around the panels white, then all the recessed panels the same color as our shutters, which happens to be Benjamin Moore Jamestown Gray. It’s really a blue with a little gray in it. We have neighbors stopping to comment on how nice it looks.
siri says
i would LOVE to see a photo of your garage… is there any way you can post it? i’m trying to picture it, but can’t quite. pam… is it ok to ask?
Mary Elizabeth says
Hi, Siri. I have taken photos and when my techie DH gets home, I will have him put them on a file from which I can send them. I think I will send them to Pam so she can post them, as I don’t know how to do it here.
Marta says
This really is stunning. It’s perfect with the brick.
Sherree says
🙂
Diane says
Love these ideas, but what do you do when your house was built in the 20s and the garage in the 60s???
Barbara says
The advice I got from my painter was to paint the garage door the same color as the house…that way it fades into the background instead of jumping out. Saved me the cost of a new garage door!
Our house and garage door are Ozark Shadows by BM. Trim is white. Shutters are Iron Mountain. Front door is Cottage Red. I really like how they work together.
Diane says
Good advice, but my garage sits behind and a bit aside of my house. The door is the same as the house color. Booooooorrrrrring. I think adding a painted pattern would really liven it up! But leaving it as is definitely has pluses too! Thanks!
nina462 says
What a neat idea! I’m glad to see many patterns for the different types of garage doors.