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Monday, November 30, 2009

Green doors


When I was a child, I lived in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC for several years. My family lived in a rowhouse near a deli called Booeymonger, and given the urban nature of Georgetown we walked everywhere. Even as a child, I remember noticing the different characters of the homes and how many of the doors were used as individual expressions of personal taste.

georgetown

One of my favorite doors in the neighborhood was painted green, and I used to look for it every time we went out. Image of Georgetown via About.com, photo credit Rachel Cooper.

Since then, I have always had a fondness for green doors. In Atlanta, many doors and shutters are painted in 'Buckhead green', which is a dark, dark green that reads as black. This is not the green that catches my eye; I like the lighter shades that are more unusual on a door. I was reminded about my love for green doors recently when I 'rediscovered' this home while posting about the origin of the name of my blog, and since then I have driven by it several times. The green door and shutters are still there, but the front of the home is distinctly weathered now.

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I snapped this picture of a green door in London when I was there a few years ago. On that trip, I walked all over the city, so I am not sure where it is located.

lime green door

I found this incredible image of a lime green door on Living the Sweet Life. I love double doors - they seem so gracious, like you would throw both of them open and welcome guests into your home.

I 'discovered' this little gem of a home while walking my dog this year. It is right in the middle of Buckhead, yet tucked away on a tiny street; I even had a Buckhead realtor email me and ask where it was located, as she had never seen it. There are so many things I love about this home and the landscape; it looks perfectly at ease in its surroundings. My favorite feature is the green door with the charming criss-cross design on the transom above the door.

A beautiful green door leads into designer Kathryn Ireland's Spanish Colonial home in California. Image via Veranda, photo credit Miguel Flores-Vianna.

french_pakheydt

This home, which was featured on the cover of Veranda and is on the market in Atlanta (I posted about it here), looks like it has a sagey green door, but it could be taupe. I will investigate this week, although the front door is difficult to see as the home is on a hill and the landscaping conceals it.

This is a one of my all time favorite houses, and it is not even the front of the house, it is the back! I wonder what the front looks like. The architect was A. Hays Town of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The door has a distinct green tone to it. Image via Provencal Interiors. (Have any of my readers ever seen this house in person? If so, please email me!)

This lovely hotel in the French countryside, called Prieuré d'Orsan immediately caught my eye because of the mellow green door. It is from a book called French Country Hideaways.

I love this magnificent green door in Paris - the real door is human scale, and the huge doors are the grand scale. Image via the Porch & Atelier.

Architecture Tourist alerted me about this beautiful Neel Reid designed home (1885-1926) last year, and I have never forgotten it. The light lime sherbet color of the door and shutters is unusual in an Atlanta home, and yet it is part of what adds to the charm of this home. I have been reading a lot about Neel Reid recently; he was one of Georgia's premiere architects in the early part of the 20th century, and owning a Neel Reid house was considered to be 'a mark of taste and social acceptability'. He died young, at age 41, and yet he had such a dramatic impact on the landscape of Atlanta.

These were the only green door images I could find. If you have any good ones, I would love to see them!

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37 comments:

  1. Oh I just love all of the green doors....and all of these homes are amazing!

    Tricia
    Avolli

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  2. All of these houses are stunning. I love the green doors also, you don't usually see that. So gorgeous. Hugs, Marty

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  3. Beautiful post. Green doors are gorgeous. I guess I have taken them for granted - or just not seen many of them. I will keep an eye out for them from now on!

    Your mention of Booeymonger caught my eye, too. My cousin is the owner and has been for, my guess is, over 20 years now. Small world!

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  4. Oh such pretty images. My favorite is the A. Hays Town House of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I just love the lines and the placement of the windows and doors. Stunning.

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  5. I love this, I'm always snapping pictures of old doors in my travels. I'll try to post some of them soon on Garvinweasel Thanks!

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  6. Yes, yes. Besides the color I like doorways at street level or with just a few stairs.

    Yesterday I drove by the Neel Reid in Druid Hills just for the pleasure of it. The house is right on the street for all to see. Wonder if Mr. Reid chose the color himself or the green came later.

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  7. Beautiful green doors.

    I searched everywhere for just the right green for our front door. I had heard it called Charleston green, which is almost black. After going through paint chip after paint chip I found Midnight Green. I'm not sure, but it may be Ralph Lauren, can't remember. I bought it at The Home Depot. Our front door was left builders white, a couple of years, until I could find just the right green.

    Wonderful inspirational photos!

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  8. Love the "Living the Sweet Life" green doors...every picture makes me catch my breath. Farrow and Ball's "French Gray" is a very green gray...the French just do green so beautifully. And the round dormer windows! Heavenly, thank you. Trish

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  9. Booeymonger!

    My mother's best friend lived in the same area when I was little and I loved all the beautiful facades, too. :)

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  10. I love this post. I, too, love green doors. I think my favorite shade of green for a door is a traditional "English" or "Irish" green-- a hint of a home that is filled with life. Thanks so much for the great images.

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  11. I do share your love of green doors. There is also a shade of french blue that I love on an entry door. A good friend recently came back from Italy where he took the most gorgeous photograph of a weathered green door. I admired it and lo and behold, it arrived in my mailbox last week. It's sitting in my kitchen now. I gaze at it in the morning as I am slicing my grapefruit, and dream.

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  12. Wow that home for sale with the curved staircase entrance is so beautiful! Your posts are always so unique and thoughtful!

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  13. Red and green doors are my two favorites. When we built our home I had every intention of having our front door painted green, but our two next-door-neighbors already had the same idea. I went with black instead.

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  14. I also used to live in Georgetown and really loved it especially in the spring. I used to take my son and dogs to Dumbarton Oaks, such a beautiful park very near our house.
    Love the post.... would not know which one to choose to live in....maybe the Prieure d'Orsan as it reminds me of my childhood in France

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  15. Enhorabuena por su maravilloso blog!
    Nos ha encantado descubrirlo!
    Saludos desde España,
    2pompitas

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  16. Love the green doors! Hays Town is one of my all time favorite architects,too. Thanks for another inspiring post with beautiful photos.

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  17. I love to see this, colors that make you really take notice, and where better than the front door! In Europe Doors and windows were my favorites after art and sculptures, the cathedrals, etc!!

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  18. I live in Griffin, and we have a few Neel Reid homes here on East College Street. They are beautiful! I also love colorful doors. Ours is a light tealish blue.

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  19. I loved this post and the green doors...incredibly inspiring!

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  20. Your images are beautiful! your comment about Booeymongers made me smile---it was one of my favorites when I went to Georgetown Univ! :)

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  21. Great post! Beautiful homes! I have a thing for doors, too. My house has had green doors for over twenty years. Every time we repaint, I think I'll change to white, but I seem to always stay with green.

    Green is a tricky color and one that is hard to select from paint samples. I have had people knock on my door and ask for the color name/paint brand. I'd do (have done) the same, rather than guessing and remixing ten times trying to get the color right.

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  22. Thank you for the comments, everyone! One of the comments reminded me of a friend who was renovating a home in Atlanta, and she knocked on the door of a home in Brookhaven to find out what shade of green they had used so she could replicate it on her own house. Since then, the original house has painted their door and shutters taupe, and my friend has sold her house and moved. But, the shutters on the house she remodeled are still green!

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  23. Love these pictures- colored doors seem to add personality to a house!

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  24. You've done it again.

    Another OSCAR winning post.

    More than the green, the GARDENS. Oh my. Especially the one with a meadow. La-ti-da.

    Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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  25. I love what a small world it is - i work 1 block away from booeymongers and go there for lunch at least twice a week -haha. Love green doors -great images!

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  26. Though I love your examples of green doors, I'm a blue door person myself, especially against crisp white; think Greek isles and Ireland, for example. Blue doors are remnants of an ancient belief that it warded off evil and are common throughout Europe. Often a turquoise blue was used and in strong light this can fade to a green -- perhaps a genesis for green doors??? I wonder out of curiosity if there are any old or archaic associations with green doors in tradition or myth? What was the origin of the southern green/black door that used to be so prevalent? Just a fashion that was widely copied? Interesting to speculate . . .

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  27. I love a painted front door! The faded teal ones are my favorite.

    xo,
    cristin

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  28. I too am a green door fan. I have two exterior doors that are green and shutters to match.
    I enoyed this post. Beautiful homes.
    Lee

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  29. If I hadn't painted my house a dark grey-green (with a brick-red door) I would definitely have painted my door green - love it!! And the images you've shared are fantastic. My favourite door would have to be the french "grand" door - interesting how it had bent and weathered over the years (and years and years!). Tres magnifigue!
    Victoria @ DesignTies

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  30. I enjoyed this fabulous post of you! The house with the beautiful staircase is a real dream house!

    Thank you for these wonderful images!
    Greet

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  31. I've never actually seen a green door before.

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  32. If I had your gorgeous streets to walk, I would spend my whole day walking. The green doors are so beautiful!

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  33. the lime green doors were amazing!

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  34. Beautiful images - I'm partial to yellow doors myself! Particularly fitting in London, Dublin, Boston, or anywhere with an overabundance of row houses and gloom.

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  35. Beautiful! Makes me want paint my red door green!

    David @ Ashfield Hansen Design

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  36. I'm surprised you didn't feature the green door of the Andrews house you love so much!!! That's one of the best parts of the house. Want me to send you a picture?

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  37. Love, love, love green doors! Gorgeous images! Tracey xx

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Thank you for your comments! I strive to make my blog positive in tone, and appreciate the same courtesy when comments are made. Thank you!

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