When you start thinking about ways to spruce up your home, your garage door might not be the first thing that comes to mind. However, your garage door makes up a large part of your home’s front façade and therefore can be a make-or-break component of your house’s curb appeal. As renovations go, it’s one of the most affordable and simple projects you can do to your home and the results can give your house a new lease on life. Changing your garage door’s colour is a simple, affordable renovation that can revitalise your house and turn heads in the neighbourhood.

What is meant by curb appeal?

In a nutshell, curb appeal (or street appeal) is the visual attractiveness of the exterior of your house. Another way to think of it, when you walk by a house and marvel at how fantastic it looks? That’s great curb appeal: you immediately assume that inside that house is equally as nice. A house where the lawn is messy, and the paint is peeling off the walls? The curb appeal isn’t so great. It could be immaculate inside, but no-one is making that assumption. Most people will judge your home from the exterior, and even for visitors, a first impression tends to stick, be it good or not so great.

When it comes to selling a house, curb appeal is a vital component to consider. Many homeowners will drive by a house to inspect it themselves before contacting a real estate agent. If there’s an advertised price, potential buyers will likely use the exterior of your home as a gauge to whether the asking price is reasonable. How your house looks from the street could be the difference between a potential buyer calling or driving on. In real estate, people will judge a book by its cover, so any step you can take to improve your curb appeal will be worth the effort.

How can your garage door add to your curb appeal?

Your garage door is probably the single largest feature on the front of your home. While they’re easy to take for granted, they go through a lot in their lifetimes from daily use to wild weather. A garage door that’s seen better days or one that just doesn’t go with the rest of your home, will stand out for all the wrong reasons. Considering your garage door will be part of the first impression made on visitors or potential buyers, it’s easy to see how upgrading your door could improve someone’s overall opinion of your home.

In terms of investment, a new garage door will yield one of the best financial returns, pretty much paying for itself when done right. This is because a garage door is one of the cheapest renovations you can do, yet it can have the highest return of any of your investments. The fact it has practical, everyday uses – as opposed to just being a decorative feature- only adds to its value.

How to Choose the Right Door for You

While some people have a natural knack for choosing colour schemes, a lot of us find it surprisingly tricky to decide what garage door is best for our home. Here are a few tips and things to consider when making your choice.

Consider the rest of your house

Choosing your garage door style can be about the context of your house as much as the door itself. A general rule of thumb is that your door colour should match or blend in with your home’s overall design, structure, and look. For example, if you’ve got a brick home, you can use warm neutral colours to match the brickwork or match the door to another part of the home.

A popular option is to match your garage door colour to that of your window trim rather than the front door. This allows your door to keep with the theme of the rest of the building while standing out. Even if you want a garage door that stands out and is colourful, you still want to make sure it complements the rest of the house.

Choose quality materials

Steel-Line Garage Doors highly recommend using Blu-Scope Colorbond steel for a new garage door. Not only is it a sturdy material that can withstand the elements, but it also comes in a range of colours, so you’ll be able to find the style that best suits you without sacrificing quality.

Keep it simple

Unless you’re trying to make a statement, the ‘less is more’ approach is best when choosing colours for your garage door. A non-obtrusive colour will allow your garage door to blend in with the rest of your home, working with your current house design rather than against it.

While you certainly can go with bright colours or something that’s a strong contrast, just be aware this will be a more divisive style. While some will love your flair, others may find it a bit much for their taste. This will more likely work in neighbourhoods with other colourful homes, or if your home has a striking, modern appeal, but might clash in an old-fashioned neighbourhood or on a more traditional home design.

Trust your taste

Following the above guidelines can still leave you with a few options so your own personal taste will play a role. After all, this is your home so why choose a colour you can’t stand?

Talk to an expert

When in doubt, you can ask someone for an expert opinion. Where most of us will only make this decision a few times in our lifetime, businesses like Steel Line deal with garage doors every day. The Steel-Line Garage Doors team will be able to guide you through the entire process and answer any questions you have.