A bit ago, I alluded to a project I’ve undertaken: refinishing the front door. Yesterday, that project took a bad turn.
Short version: We opted for a stain, but used one of the new water-based stains. The result was disastrous, and I was so displeased with the gummy, uneven result, that we decided to go to Plan B: Painting the door.
Painting the door was a last resort; I liked the look of the solid wood, even though it had aged some with the decades. But I just hated the result of the stain, so we switched gears and started talking colors.
Surprisingly, we both wanted to paint it red. Why? No particular reason. We just liked red. We’d seen red doors on houses here and around Britain and, though red rarely matched and at times even clashed with the color of the house, it always worked. Our house is milk-chocolate with a semi-sweet trim, warm in tone, so a red door would work well.
I mentioned this to friends and they told me anecdotes about the meaning of a red door.
Meaning? Of a red door? I’d never heard of a door color having any meaning. Curious, I did what I do: I researched.
Patti Drane, an interior designer, lays out the meanings quite concisely with photo examples in her post on the subject, but the meaning of a red door basically falls into four categories:
- Scottish/Irish — this house is paid for
- Chinese — a sacred and lucky color, and the feng shui practice says that red allows positive energy to enter the home
- Catholic — church doors are painted red to symbolize the blood of the Christ
- American and many others — welcome, hospitality
The paid-off-mortgage was by far the most common meaning I heard from others, and I can imagine ceremonial door-painting parties, celebrating the transition to true home ownership. Another little tidbit, tucked away for use in some novel.
For the meaning of other door colors, check out this article on Houzz.
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[…] « Paint it Red […]
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I’d heard somewhere that it signified a brothel. I was in an unfamiliar town a few years back and drove through a neighborhood where almost every door was red, and I thought I must be in that part of town. I guess it was probably just heavily Asian. Oops.
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Yes, I has assumed that connection, but found no mention of it in my searches.
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