Designer’s Choice: Stain Color

Choosing an Exterior Stain Color for the Front Door

 

Stained front doors are a common design feature among the homeowners who visit the Brick Design Center. The appeal of stained front doors is that the color gives the home a warm and rich look, allowing the home to appear more inviting. The front door stain color is one of the last choices that we make in the design center and we want it to coordinate with all other exterior selections.  The process is similar to choosing a scarf or a tie to complement and finish your outfit.

Many factors are involved in the front door stain color selection process:

First you must take into account the chosen colors of the brick, siding, roofing and exterior accents of your home. While there are some homeowners who to want to make the stained door color decision based on their other exterior selections, in addition, others prefer to match their front door stain color to their interior flooring. Ask me about our custom design boards; they are a great reference tool for your entire building process.

Secondly, decide on the desired opacity of the stain. Stain is absorbed by the wood, which causes it to take on the color of the stain. How much wood grain do you want to show through? Do you want the appearance of your wood grain to be heavy or subtle? See below for a quick tutorial on the types of stain available: 

  • Clear stain contains no coloring and allows the natural grain and color of the wood to show through
  • Semi-transparent stain contains a small amount of coloring that also allows the natural wood grain and color of the wood to show through. This choice is the most common among the customers who visit the brick design center.
  • Semi-solid stains have more color and allow a smaller amount of the natural wood grain to show through. 
  • Solid stains contain the most pigment. They completely block the wood grain and look closer to paint

The look and feel of a wood grain door paired with Triangle Brick Company’s clay brick creates a very organic vibe that is quite popular in today’s housing market and home designs.

We have put together samples consisting of two of our most popular brick with two wood stain colors from Minwax.

Below, you will see our Charleston brick, in Triangle Brick’s Village Collection, as well as our Old Charlotte brick, from Triangle Brick’s Vintage Collection, paired next to Special Walnut Stain #224 and Red Mahogany Stain #225 from Minwax’s Stain Color Guide.

 

 

As you can see, the Special Walnut stain highlights the warm tones and charcoal accents in the Charleston brick, while the Red Mahogany stain accentuates the underlying red of the Charleston brick.

 

 

Similarly, the Special Walnut stain highlights the warm tones as it does the Charleston brick. It also brings out the brown accents in the Old Charlotte brick. The Red Mahogany stain accentuates the rich apricot color of the Old Charlotte brick.

If you would like to take advantage of our professional exterior design services, I am available by appointment, Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Although we exclusively sell brick, we also have a number of building material samples available to allow you or your customer to see how popular cladding, roofing, paint colors and other exterior finishes will look with our brick products. Please check out our website for tips on how to prepare for your design consultation.

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Stay tuned for our next Designer’s Choice blog!