If I could go back over a year when I started designing fake colors for my front door, I would tell myself to just try painting the colors on the actual door! It was much faster for me to paint the front door three times than to just think about it for a year!
front porch shopping
I think the reason I’ve been pushing for this for so long is because there’s this added barrier of getting approval through the homeowners association. Not only that, but we also have to get approval from our neighbors. It can be a little awkward to ask, “Can I paint my front door this color?” and have our neighbors say, “We don’t care, you’re fine.” But… I’ve been wanting to paint our front door over and over to see what color looks right (and who wants to keep asking!).
front door painting supplies
The colour I chose was a smokey blue called De Nimes by Farrow and Ball, and I was very excited about it. It looked so good from the entrance with the door open. Then when I closed it, it didn’t look right. It felt completely wrong. It took away from the trim colour we loved so much. Chris felt the same way from the start. Chris usually reserves his opinion when he feels strongly about something – he generally asks me for my opinion first. When he saw the front door, he said, “I don’t like it, it looks bad.” I actually liked it, because neither of us liked it – not just me!
Planters | Boxwood | Doormat | Outdoor Candle Holders (Similar) | Door Hardware (Similar) | Door Knob (Similar)
We didn’t have another color approved, but we did have the trim color approved. So we thought, why not just try Benjamin Moore’s Cromwell Gray? It would be consistent with the exterior windows and the layout of the house. The paint was still wet, and I already knew that wasn’t it. It didn’t make anything look special. I guess there’s a world where it could have worked, but it was… okay? Yeah, we have a side door that’s the trim color, and I’m going to do another secondary door that’s the same color as the trim. I really like the color on the side of the house, but on the front of the house, it just wasn’t for me. The front door needed something different.
So, it may seem like I was feeling defeated when I painted my front door black. I guess I was just dying to freshen it up, but really, the door was a little dull from years of weather and sun. All it needed was a coat of semi-gloss Tricorn Black from Sherwin Williams. I also sprayed our planters bronze, which was a huge change for me. It was the complete makeover I was looking for.
Planters | Boxwood Ornamental Plants | Copper Kick Plate
Often times, when something is expensive, you don’t want to ruin it by painting it. In fact, if you don’t work with what you have, it will cost you more money to replace those things. Once I spray painted the planters, they looked even more expensive! The entire facade looks very rich.
I asked Chris if he saw us replacing the front door, and he said, “100%.” Someday in the future, I can imagine an arched door extending to where the window is above. I see it as a really deep mahogany color. Will it have glass windows? As much as I would love more light in my entryway, having a window in the front door scares me. It would be amazing to walk in and see someone on your front door delivering something or something!
I really love how painting a front door is a low-cost, high-impact project. It only takes a quart of paint, a roller, a brush, and a little effort (get our tools list). It proves that refreshing your existing paint can work wonders!
