Dulux Front Door Colours UK 2026: Full Palette, Weathershield Specs and GBP Pricing

FacadeColorizer is a free AI exterior paint visualiser used by UK homeowners and trade decorators across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Dulux remains the most-previewed front door brand in our 2026 dataset, with 16,983 real facade previews analysed against Victorian terraces, Edwardian semis, 1930s bay-fronts, new-build townhouses and Georgian sash-window properties. The dulux front door colours range now spans roughly 110 ready-mixed shades across the Weathershield Quick Dry Gloss and Quick Dry Satinwood lines, plus the full mixable Dulux Trade Heritage palette via colour-match at any Dulux Decorator Centre. This is the 2026 buyer guide for the British homeowner about to spend GBP 22 to 32 on a 750ml tin for a single front door.

This guide covers the complete Dulux front door palette in British 2026 context: the headline dulux front door paint shades for retail buyers, the cult heritage greens like dulux green glade front door and the calmer dulux outdoor paint colours family used on rural cottage doors. You will also find a coverage table calibrated to a typical British 2,000mm by 838mm panelled front door, stockist mapping across B and Q, Wickes, Homebase, Screwfix and Dulux Decorator Centres, the BS EN 927 exterior wood coating classification, Conservation Area and Listed Building Consent rules, and a free route to preview any Dulux door colour on your own house photo before you spend a penny on a tin.

For a wider multi-brand take see our companion Front door colours UK 2026 guide. Official product specifications for front door paint dulux are published on the Dulux Weathershield Quick Dry Gloss page and the wider Dulux Trade range sits on duluxtrade.co.uk.

Dulux front door colours UK: the 14 hero shades for 2026

Across 16,983 visualiser sessions in 2026, fourteen dulux front door colours account for 78 percent of British previews. The list below blends retail Weathershield Quick Dry Gloss ready-mixed tins, the Quick Dry Satinwood lower-sheen variant, and the most-requested heritage colour-match jobs against Farrow and Ball and Little Greene swatches. Hex values are an approximate digital match for screen preview only - always test a 250ml sample pot on the actual door before ordering a full 750ml tin.

A read on the data. Green Glade has overtaken Weathershield Black as the most-previewed Dulux front door shade in 2026, reflecting a national shift towards heritage greens that picked up momentum after the 2024 sage trend across British design press. Indigo Shade and Stormy Sea between them claim 15 percent of UK previews, a significant rise from the combined 9 percent of similar deep blues in 2023. Cherry Truffle holds steady as the London brick-terrace classic, while the warm Buttermilk shade dominates Cotswolds and rural Wiltshire postcodes where stone fronts and cream render demand a softer door.

Dulux Weathershield Quick Dry Gloss: the workhorse formula for British front doors

The retail dulux front door paint sold under the Weathershield Quick Dry Gloss banner is the default specification for almost every British painter quoting a front door refresh. It is a water-based acrylic gloss carrying the brand's "up to 6 years" exterior durability claim, with touch-dry inside 2 hours and full recoat at 4 hours - critical for a south-facing London door that needs two coats inside a single afternoon between morning rain and evening dew. The retail tin is 750ml, retailing at GBP 24 to 30 at B and Q and Wickes in 2026, with the 2.5L tin at GBP 64 to 72 for trade buyers painting multiple doors on a terrace job.

For UK homeowners painting a standard 2,000mm by 838mm panelled hardwood door, a single 750ml tin of Weathershield Quick Dry Gloss covers two full coats with roughly 200ml left over for the matching letterbox surround and the inside reveal. Spread rate runs at 13 square metres per litre on smooth primed timber, which means coverage drops to roughly 8 to 9 square metres per litre on a heavily moulded six-panel Victorian door with deep ovolo profiles. Plan for a single tin for a flush door and a single tin plus a 250ml sample pot for a heavily moulded door.

The Quick Dry Satinwood variant gives a lower 35 percent sheen that is becoming the default specification for Conservation Area door repaints across Bath, Edinburgh New Town and Bloomsbury, where a full gloss can look out of period on Georgian or early Victorian properties. Pricing is identical to the gloss at GBP 24 to 30 per 750ml at B and Q.

Dulux Green Glade front door: the 2026 heritage favourite

The dulux green glade front door shade is the runaway favourite of British 2026 previews. It is a muted forest green with a slightly grey undertone (approx hex #566B5A) that reads as deep sage in cloud-cover Manchester light, and as a richer pine green in low-angle April sun across London and the South East. Green Glade colour-matches almost perfectly to Farrow and Ball Card Room Green and sits one step deeper than Little Greene Sage Green, with the major benefit of being available in Weathershield Quick Dry Gloss for GBP 26 per 750ml at Dulux Decorator Centres - roughly half the price of an exterior eggshell tin in either heritage brand.

Green Glade works best on Victorian and Edwardian properties with red brick, painted render or stone-effect rendered fronts. It pairs cleanly with brass furniture, polished chrome and matt black ironmongery alike. The shade is also a strong choice for the timber sash window frames where the homeowner wants a cohesive painted joinery palette across the entire front elevation. Pure Brilliant White architraves and a Weathershield Gallant Grey or Sandstone masonry render provide the cleanest backdrop for a Green Glade door.

For a side-by-side preview against Farrow and Ball Studio Green and Little Greene Castell, see our Dulux Heritage vs Farrow and Ball comparison. To preview Green Glade on your own door photo before committing, upload your facade photo to the free FacadeColorizer visualiser and select the Dulux palette.

Dulux outdoor wood paint colours: Quick Dry Gloss vs Quick Dry Satinwood vs Trade Aquatech

The full dulux outdoor wood paint colours family covers three retail finishes plus the Trade contract grade. Quick Dry Gloss carries the highest sheen (approximately 85 percent gloss at 60 degrees) and remains the brief from most British painters who want a traditional London-terrace lacquer look. Quick Dry Satinwood drops to 35 percent sheen for a softer Conservation Area finish. The newer Aquatech range from Dulux Trade gives a hybrid water-based formula with the workability of solvent gloss, available only through Dulux Decorator Centres at GBP 38 per 750ml.

All four Dulux exterior wood finishes meet BS EN 927-1 for non-film-forming protective coatings on exterior wood, with the gloss and satinwood variants rated for moderate exposure (Class C) appropriate for British coastal homes between Plymouth and Aberdeen. The Trade Aquatech is the only Dulux line currently rated for severe exposure (Class S) on driving-rain Atlantic-westerly facades. For Listed Building Consent requirements on linseed-based traditional finishes, the Quick Dry range is not a like-for-like substitute and you should consult your local council's Historic England conservation officer before specifying.

B&Q, Wickes, Homebase or Dulux Decorator Centre: where to buy Dulux front door paint in 2026

Retail dulux outdoor paint colours are stocked across four main UK channels in 2026. B and Q remains the broadest stockist for ready-mixed Weathershield Quick Dry Gloss with roughly 40 shades on shelf, plus the full bespoke mixing service across 1,200 colours at most large stores. Wickes carries roughly 32 ready-mixed shades and offers the Wickes Trade Account 15 percent decorator discount on multi-tin orders. Homebase has scaled back its decorator paint aisle since the 2023 store-closure programme, but still stocks the headline 24 hero shades. Screwfix holds the Dulux Trade Quick Dry Gloss line at trade-counter pricing roughly GBP 4 to 6 cheaper per 750ml than B and Q retail.

The Dulux Decorator Centres are the right channel for heritage or unusual front door paint dulux colour-matches. The 165-store national network offers the full Dulux Trade Heritage palette as a tinted base in Weathershield Quick Dry Gloss or Aquatech Gloss, plus colour-match services against any Farrow and Ball, Little Greene, Paint and Paper Library or Edward Bulmer swatch. A typical colour-match premium is GBP 4 to 8 on a 750ml tin. The branches also stock the proper sundries: Hamilton Perfection sash brushes, Purdy Pro-Extra cutting-in brushes and Mirka Abranet abrasive discs that are difficult to find at the big-box retailers.

For a wider sundries breakdown see our B and Q exterior paint guide and our best exterior paint colours UK 2026 overview.

Conservation Area, Listed Building Consent and Permitted Development: what UK door colour rules really say

Painting your front door is almost always covered by Permitted Development rights for a single-dwelling house in England and Wales, meaning no Planning Permission is needed for a colour change on a non-Listed property. The exception is a property inside a Conservation Area where Article 4 directions may restrict exterior colour changes on the front elevation. Most London boroughs (Camden, Westminster, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea) operate Article 4 directions on Conservation Area terraces; the rule of thumb is that black, dark green, dark blue and natural wood are accepted in writing without case-by-case review, while strong reds, oranges and pastels require an Article 4 notification. Check your specific borough rules on planningportal.co.uk before committing to a non-traditional shade.

Listed Building Consent is a separate matter. A Grade II Listed front door cannot be repainted in a different colour from its current scheme without written Listed Building Consent from the local authority's conservation officer, regardless of Article 4 directions. The penalty for unauthorised exterior changes to a Listed Building is unlimited in England under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. If your property is Listed, even moving from a 1970s baby blue to a more sympathetic Dulux Green Glade requires consent, although in practice the conservation officer is usually supportive of a return to a historically appropriate dark colour.

For Scottish properties, the equivalent framework runs through gov.scot historic environment policy and Historic Environment Scotland. Northern Irish properties fall under the Department for Communities Historic Environment Division.

FacadeColorizer Field Note: real preview behaviour on Dulux door previews

A practical observation from the 2026 White Barometer dataset. Across the 16,983 UK previews analysed, the average homeowner trialing a Dulux door colour changes their initial pick 2.3 times before settling on a final shade. The single biggest pivot is from Weathershield Black to Green Glade, which happens in roughly 18 percent of London terrace previews after the homeowner sees how Green Glade reads against the brick and limestone of the actual neighbouring properties. The second biggest pivot is from Pure Brilliant White to Buttermilk in Cotswolds and Wiltshire postcodes, where white reads cold against honey-coloured Bath stone but the soft cream of Buttermilk warms the entire facade. The visualiser saves the average UK homeowner roughly GBP 50 in discarded tins and sample pots across the full decision process.

Surface prep: how to make Dulux Weathershield Quick Dry Gloss actually last 6 years

The brand's "up to 6 years" durability claim is conditional on full BS 7079 surface preparation. For a typical Victorian or 1930s panelled hardwood door, that means cleaning down with sugar soap to remove handprints and salt build-up, sanding back to a clean key with P180 then P240 grit Mirka Abranet on a random-orbit sander, spot-priming any bare timber patches with Dulux Trade Wood Primer Undercoat (GBP 22 per litre at Screwfix), and applying two coats of Quick Dry Gloss with a 12-hour gap if conditions allow. Skipping the wood primer step is the single biggest reason for early flaking on north-facing London doors exposed to driving rain.

For a hardwood door with no existing paint flaking, the prep schedule runs roughly 90 minutes for a panelled door and 60 minutes for a flush door. For a heavily flaking door, plan a full day of stripping with chemical paint stripper (PeelAway 7 at GBP 28 per kilo from Brewers) or a heat gun set to 350 degrees, then re-priming and recoating. Lead paint is a real risk on pre-1960 doors that have never been stripped; if your property predates 1960, send a sample to the HSE lead in paint guidance for verification before sanding aggressively.

The other under-spec'd step is timing. Dulux Weathershield Quick Dry Gloss should be applied between 10 degrees and 25 degrees Celsius on a dew-free morning, ideally before 11am to allow full recoat by 4pm and full cure by overnight dew at 8pm. Painting in driving rain or below 8 degrees Celsius is the second-biggest cause of premature failure across our 2026 dataset.

Composite, UPVC and metal doors: when Dulux Weathershield Multi-Surface beats Quick Dry Gloss

Roughly 38 percent of British front doors fitted since 2010 are composite (a foam-filled GRP or ABS skin with hardwood or steel core), and another 22 percent are UPVC. Both substrates need Dulux Weathershield Multi-Surface Paint rather than the standard Quick Dry Gloss, because the standard gloss does not bond reliably to non-porous plastic surfaces. The Multi-Surface variant is sold in 750ml tins at GBP 22 to 28 across B and Q and Wickes, in roughly 24 colours including all the major Weathershield door favourites such as Green Glade, Indigo Shade and Pure Brilliant White.

For metal doors and steel-clad fire doors (common in London period flats with internal lobby doors converted to external use), the brief shifts to Dulux Trade Metalshield Gloss at GBP 28 per 750ml from Dulux Decorator Centres, with the same colour-match service against the full Heritage palette. Galvanised steel surfaces need a zinc phosphate primer step before the top coat to prevent salt-based blistering on coastal homes from Cornwall to East Anglia.

Beyond Dulux: where Sandtex, Crown and Johnstone Trade fit the British door market

Dulux dominates British door colour previews, but the three other major UK brands deserve a quick mention for context. Sandtex 10 Year Exterior Gloss is the budget-leaning option at GBP 18 to 22 per 750ml at B and Q, available in 18 ready-mixed shades focused on the heritage door palette. Crown Trade Fast Flow Quick Dry Gloss matches Dulux Quick Dry Gloss on price and durability and is the default specification at Crown Decorating Centres. Johnstone Trade Aqua Guard is the higher-end Trade-only line at GBP 32 to 38 per 750ml, popular with London specifiers for its dead-flat opacity on single-coat colour changes.

For a deeper comparison against the wider UK brand landscape see our best exterior paint colours UK 2026 guide. Note that American brands such as Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore are not widely retailed in Britain - if a UK design source recommends one of those, the British colour-match equivalent through a Dulux Trade Decorator Centre is usually within 1 to 2 percent hex tolerance and significantly cheaper per tin.

FAQ: dulux front door colours UK 2026

The questions below summarise the most common queries from our 2026 dataset of British homeowners researching front door paint dulux and dulux outdoor paint colours.

For a multi-brand companion read see the broader UK front door colours guide and the green front door UK guide for a deep dive on heritage greens specifically.