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Front doors are an important part of your exterior scheme.

They signify the entry, welcome visitors and are often the most cheerful component of your home’s exterior – like a smile on your face. This is the one area where you can be bold in your colour choice, whether that’s deepest black, or a vibrant bright. A high-gloss finish will then bring out the depth and richness of such colours. Red is a perennially popular front door colour but there are plenty of other exciting tones in the Resene colour range to choose from.

Try these too: Want to make a bold statement with your front door? Try the merry emerald of Resene Fruit Salad, the brave violet blue of Resene Deep Koamaru or for something quite different, use glossy, crisp Resene Alabaster white.

1.A very sophisticated scheme, perfect for those inner-city villas – all crisp and urban in greys and black – this scheme centres around a glossy black door and door step in Resene Nero surrounded by architraves in Resene Double Concrete. The weatherboards are in bone white Resene Half Black White, the veranda boards are in Resene Trojan.

2.Taking its cue from the pretty vintage interior schemes that so beautifully partner our character homes, this uses the warmth of Resene Eighth Bison Hide, to support a door in fun-loving Resene Mandy, while the veranda boards are in the soft mushroom brown of Resene Americano. The trims are in Resene Half Alabaster.

3.Bring a little bit of care-free Cape Cod style to your home. Awash with tones of the sea, this scheme is perfect not only for our older weatherboard houses but also for a country which has such a lot of coastline. The weatherboards are a soft duck egg grey Resene Tiara, set off by a front door in the wintry grey slate blue Resene Atomic, and veranda boards and door step in the freespirited Resene Rolling Stone. The trims are in the cool Resene Quarter Black White. The existing red and orange pots and cushions pop out against this cool coastal-style scheme.

4.When habitat plus magazine featured this classic square-front villa front door on its cover a few issues ago, the scheme was inspired by the cheerful colours of Mexico – saturated turquoise veranda boards (Resene Calypso), a fluoro orange/red door (Resene Daredevil) and sherbert yellow weatherboards (Resene First Light). Resene Alabaster is used as a clear white for the trims and deep blue Resene Billabong for the doorstep.