The Difference Some Color Makes: (and a New Front Door)

The Difference Some Color Makes: (and a New Front Door)

I thought this submission was timely considering the post I wrote about curb appeal just a few days ago!

Saturday morning, I woke up and decided to paint the front door. I kinda envisioned getting it painted that day, but deciding on a color took an entire day. I have been pinning yellow doors like crazy lately because I think they look so cheerful, but once I got the swatches up, I just wasn’t feeling it. And then I told Chris, “I know that I want green.” The top one on the right is called Lemongrass by Behr and I thought it looked great with the gray brick, but I started worrying that it would be lost with all of our green shrubs. So, I declared once more that I definitely wanted a red door. Specifically the red right underLemongrass, Bijou Red. Red is classic. Red definitely doesn’t blend in, and if you didn’t know it–I am a total sucker for red.

Earlier this week, you learned that we bought a new door and Monday night I got to work. I thought I would be done by the time the Bachelorette was over–wrong.

After two coats, it looked like this, and I settled in for the long haul. The long haul being 11 coats of high gloss paint in Bijou Red. And although I got frustrated and shed a few tears along the way, I honestly couldn’t be happier with the results. Let’s check out some befores and afters:

What a difference, right? Gah! We love it. And an added bonus that we didn’t even think about was the extra light we gained indoors:

So my advice to anyone with a white/boring/dull front door–why not paint it? If you are going to use high gloss paint, leave 90 minutes in between coats at least. If you are itching for a red front door (how could you not?) plan on lots of coats–but also count on a big pay off.

Speaking of pay, this whole project definitely cost more than we anticipated because we bought a new front door, but here’s the rundown just in case you are planning on tackling your own door soon:

Front door: $197
1 quart of high gloss exterior Behr paint in Bijou Red: $12
4 new house numbers: $5.99 each
(these first three items I had a 10% off coupon for–score!)
New doormat: $6.97

Grand total: $200.47 (plus tax)

…and worth every penny in my opinion. What do YOU think?