A Welcoming Front Door

  Monday I shared my color swatches that we were considering for our front door.   Of course nobody wants a "before" pic if there isn't an "after" photo.  And if you're anything like me I like a good tutorial to go along with someone's sharing of anything.  This was a pretty easy project and quick.    I painted the door in one afternoon.  Our door started off beige, and in desperate need of a makeover.  Since I didn't want to paint our options on the door, I instead took a bunch of swatches of each color we were considering and taped them on the door so we could see what they looked like.  Once we picked a color I went back and grabbed a small can of paint and a short time later? WA-LA! A brand new door! 

As for the color we chose, it is Behr's "Jamaican Bay".   I couldn't take my eyes off this color and it just makes me so darn happy when I see it, so it had to be.  Sam is upset that it isn't pink, but I can't win them all.  Mike seems to like it so that's all that matters.  

  Here's what I used:

1. angled 2 1/2 inch brush and a 1 inch brush for the nooks and crannies. 

2. a sander- fine

3. Behr's Jamaican Bay in exterior satin finish with primer (2 coats). The nice man at the counter suggested a satin finish and he seemed to know what he was talking about.

 ALL DONE!! AIN'T SHE PRETTY?

I can't help to smile when I pull up to my house now! Before my front door said, "I'm boring." Now it says, "LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME!" I love the color so much, I may just paint the inside of it...and the garage door leading into the house too.  The possibilities are endless!  Did I inspire you? Do you have a fun and fresh front door? If so, I want to see it. 

A Splash of Color

So, for a few months now I've been pondering painting our front door.  The front of our house is east facing so in the summer the morning sun can be excruciating so I've been waiting for some milder weather before taking on this small project.  Right now I have taped up a bunch of different paint swatches and periodically go outside at different times of the day to see how they all look.  Like all the colors we've painted in our house, or bedrooms mainly I should say, once I get an idea in my head nobody can sway me from it.  Like the morning I woke up thinking I wanted to paint ginormous navy and white stripes in Tanner's room, Mike tried to talk me out of it, but it was, eh..too late!  I've gotten excited about it and no matter how crazy it seems to anybody else it's happening.

This time, it's a little different.  I'm painting our front door which is visible to everybody on the outside.  I want it to stand out but I don't want it to be an eyes sore for neighbors (yes, I care about their feelings too).  The outside of our house is a rich brown color and I want to go BOLD with a much cooler contrasting color.  Am I pulling out colors out of our stone? Noooo.  Am I going against all the laws of decorating which this choice? Yessssss. But I want our door to make a statement.  Since we'll never be painting our vinyl siding on the house, the door is my only hope for any change (color-wise) that I'll be making.  If we hate it, we can always change it.

Right now our shutters are a maroon-ish color and I'm not a fan.  They look fine, but when the door is painted, they will not, so those will be changed as well.  We're going to replace them since we need only 4, but for now they may actually be painted for a quick temporary fix.

Here's what our door looks like today....

The next 2 days look nice so hoping to actually get some painting while it's still warm and sunshiny!

Happy Monday!