My first impression of the first house we bought: "Wow! What a great entry!" Of our second (floating) home: "Wow! What a great view!" Of the third home: "Wow! What a lot!" And of our current home: "Wow! You have no idea how nice this house is until you get inside..."
Point to this little exercise? (No, not to tell you we've moved more times than an Army family.) The point is, with all the homes we've ever bought, the first impression sealed the deal, with the exception of our current home.
That's not to say our house has no curb appeal. In fact, when the tulips are in bloom, it's completely lovely, with a nice walkway, good lighting, and a nice garden off to the side...
...But it's just not as lovely as it should be. So, for the past couple months, I have been trying to think of ways to bring it all together. Then, while scanning through Pinterest one day, it hit me! PAINT THE FRONT DOOR!
You know, sometimes the answer to a design isn't so obvious. The obvious design problems are as follows: lime green paint, orange shag carpet, weeds in the garden.
Usually, however, the design problem can not be explained, and my theory is, it's because it wasn't that hideous to begin with. In this case, the door color (just a plain wood) was just fine. Fine, but not awesome!
I have to admit my husband thought I was crazy when I showed him the quart of black...totally black...paint. I think he said, "Really? You want to paint our stained wood door, black?" And I believe my response was, "Honey, it's just paint." It's a good thing I'm usually right...
So, out came the paint brushes and black paint, and in came a home with a whole new personality. You may be asking at this point, "Where did you come up with the idea to use black?" Well, that was the hard part. I went down and snagged one of those free color charts from Home Depot with exterior paint ideas. I found color combinations that used colors already on the house. Given the colors on the house, the complementary colors were as follows: Forest Green, Brick Red, Burgundy Purple, or Black. Always a minimalist, of course I chose the black, but in truth, I think that was actually a very non-traditional color choice!
The black also coordinated very well with some accessories I had bought and never used, including an antique pedestal turned lantern ($150 from Cricket on the Hearth in Redmond, OR), black twig house numbers ($3.99/ea from clearance at Pottery Barn), acorn door knocker ($35 from Bend Bungalow in Bend, OR), and an antique mail box from an antique show ($35). Now all I need is a new door mat that looks like this...
After taking another look at it once the black door was painted, we decided that there wasn't enough black to tie it all in. We thought about painting the Adirondack chairs black instead of antique white, but opted to paint the window trim, flag pole, and porch ledger black instead ("Gloss Black Universal Spray Paint 245196 (Set of 6)" (Google Affiliate Ad)). Not realizing it at the time, but doing that really brought focus to the beautiful siding on the ceiling of the entry.
All and all, I wish I would have taken photos of the "before." I got so excited that I forgot and had to use the ones I happened to have on-hand. The impact is undeniable. So if you have $25 for paint and an hour, consider painting your front door...and going from "Blah" to "Ah ha!"
Point to this little exercise? (No, not to tell you we've moved more times than an Army family.) The point is, with all the homes we've ever bought, the first impression sealed the deal, with the exception of our current home.
That's not to say our house has no curb appeal. In fact, when the tulips are in bloom, it's completely lovely, with a nice walkway, good lighting, and a nice garden off to the side...
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| Our Springtime Blooms |
...But it's just not as lovely as it should be. So, for the past couple months, I have been trying to think of ways to bring it all together. Then, while scanning through Pinterest one day, it hit me! PAINT THE FRONT DOOR!
You know, sometimes the answer to a design isn't so obvious. The obvious design problems are as follows: lime green paint, orange shag carpet, weeds in the garden.
Usually, however, the design problem can not be explained, and my theory is, it's because it wasn't that hideous to begin with. In this case, the door color (just a plain wood) was just fine. Fine, but not awesome!
I have to admit my husband thought I was crazy when I showed him the quart of black...totally black...paint. I think he said, "Really? You want to paint our stained wood door, black?" And I believe my response was, "Honey, it's just paint." It's a good thing I'm usually right...
So, out came the paint brushes and black paint, and in came a home with a whole new personality. You may be asking at this point, "Where did you come up with the idea to use black?" Well, that was the hard part. I went down and snagged one of those free color charts from Home Depot with exterior paint ideas. I found color combinations that used colors already on the house. Given the colors on the house, the complementary colors were as follows: Forest Green, Brick Red, Burgundy Purple, or Black. Always a minimalist, of course I chose the black, but in truth, I think that was actually a very non-traditional color choice!
The black also coordinated very well with some accessories I had bought and never used, including an antique pedestal turned lantern ($150 from Cricket on the Hearth in Redmond, OR), black twig house numbers ($3.99/ea from clearance at Pottery Barn), acorn door knocker ($35 from Bend Bungalow in Bend, OR), and an antique mail box from an antique show ($35). Now all I need is a new door mat that looks like this...
All and all, I wish I would have taken photos of the "before." I got so excited that I forgot and had to use the ones I happened to have on-hand. The impact is undeniable. So if you have $25 for paint and an hour, consider painting your front door...and going from "Blah" to "Ah ha!"
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