There’s nothing more inviting than a gorgeous front porch — it’s the perfect spot to wave over a friend or host an impromptu gathering of neighbors. Turning your front porch into an outdoor oasis makes your home more attractive to everyone from a passerby to a potential buyer. Unless, of course, you’ve chosen the wrong paint color for your front porch.

If you paint your front porch dark colors like black, charcoal, or dark shades of brown, the porch goes from expansive and inviting to cramped and standoffish. Plus, the dark colors can hold on to heat, making a summer porch hang far more stuffy and sweaty than it should be. Additionally, outdoor annoyances like pollen can show up more on dark colors than they would on lighter shades. That means you’ll be spending too much time cleaning your porch when you should be relaxing on it.

There are many ways to implement dark paint colors in your home if you love the bold, dramatic look of blacks, charcoals, and deep blues. But those shades can also lack warmth and comfort. A front porch is the transition between the outdoors and your home’s interior, so you want it to be a place that ushers in a feeling of intimacy. Avoiding dark paint and sticking to warmer colors that will upgrade your porch’s curb appeal can keep your space inviting. Consider soft cream paint colors or sunny yellows to create a welcoming environment.

Additionally, while dark paint colors can add dimension and intrigue when used correctly, they can also make already-small spaces seem even more cramped. This can be particularly true on a front porch, where the space from floor to ceiling can be lower than it would be in your average indoor room. To keep the front porch expansive — like an extension of the front yard or surrounding land — stick to lighter tones that enhance the bright openness of the space. Green paint colors can work well to invite nature onto your porch and make the transition between outdoors and indoors more seamless.

A front porch can raise the value of your home in part because it’s such a versatile outdoor space — a place where you can escape the harsh sun or a little rainfall but still enjoy the great outdoors. But it’s tough to take full advantage of the porch if it gets too hot, which can happen with dark paint colors. 

Dark shades absorb more heat than lighter colors, and that steaminess wafts right on up to everyone on the porch. Forget about hanging out barefoot on the porch — on some days, it might be too sweltering to even spend time out there at all. Plus, the more sunlight the paint absorbs, the quicker it will fade and show signs of wear and tear. Similarly, dark colors can make it easier to spot the things you don’t want to spot, like pollen, paint chips, and other light-colored grime. If you’re in an area where springtime means dust buildups and pollen pile-ons, you might have to spend more time keeping up the porch than you do enjoying it.