Curb appeal – that’s what it’s all about! People passing by your home may not get to see all the wonderful updates and furnishings that you’ve made to the inside of your house, but they sure will notice the outside. They’ll glance at your house, landscaping, and yes, even the front door.
Front doors can give so much personality to a home. From the type of door you choose, the paint color, to the decorations on it (like a seasonal wreath or a sign) – the options are endless. Your front door is a great place to give your house a pop of color, and to express your personal style.
When we first bought our house, this is what our front door looked like:
And here’s an even closer look:
Not so glamorous, right? The rusty-maroon color of the door wasn’t doing it for us, and because it matched the brick on the house, it made the front door kind of blend in. Same with the grey door trim – it got lost in all of the grey siding, trim, and shutters.
Instead of looking cheery and inviting, our front door was dark and dreary. It didn’t exactly scream, “Come on in!” However, the door and all of the original wood trim around it were in great shape. So, we decided to work with it, and give our front door a makeover.
Paint
First, we picked out paint colors for the trim and the door. We used Ultra Pure White by Behr for the trim. This is the same white that we used for all of the trim inside our house, and we love how bright and clean it looks. Plus, we eventually plan to paint ALL of the exterior trim this color, so we’ll want it to match.
We wanted the color of front door to brighten up our *overwhelmingly* grey house, and give it a beachy feel. Pete and I both love the beach, so we like to incorporate coastal colors into our home as much as we can. The color we chose for our front door is called Lap Pool Blue by Behr. It’s a calming teal with just enough color to make our front door pop.
The front door took two coats of paint, and the trim needed four coats to cover the dark grey color and make it white and bright. The trim paint is a paint & primer combo, so it was essentially the same as doing two coats of primer and two coats of paint. I’ll admit, painting the door trim was the bane of my existence for a while, with all of it’s nooks and crannies. Ultimately, we got it done!
Door Hardware
After freshening up the front door and the trim with new paint, the dated doorknob really stood out (in a bad way). The original doorknob was an oil-rubbed bronze color, but the color was chipping off, probably due to 50+ years of use. We could have restored the finish with oil-rubbed bronze spray paint, but we wanted a more modern doorknob anyway.
So, we upgraded the doorknob and bought this one from Wayfair in a satin nickel finish. It’s classic-looking, and makes our front door feel 50 years younger! This was our first time installing a doorknob, and seriously, anyone can do it if you have a screwdriver and five minutes of time.
Accessories
To finish off our front door makeover, we added in some fun accessories. Like these modern floating house numbers (we bought the satin nickel ones to match our new doorknob, but they come in black too). They were super easy to install (all we needed was a drill, screwdriver, & caulk). Next, our electrician swapped out the old, gothic-style wall lanterns next to the door for these new ones. We also replaced the worn-out doormat with this stylish and affordable doormat from Target.
Finally, we hung our front door sign from Citrus Daisy (an adorable hand-painted sign shop in Massachusetts) that our realtor gifted us when we bought the house. Look how nicely the different shades of blue on the sign complement the door:
I seriously have to restrain myself from buying a million of these door signs. They’re always coming up with new colors and designs depending on the time of year.
Back to talking about our front door makeover, let’s see the finished look!
It’s so much more our style now, and it wasn’t hard to do. In case you need a reminder of what the doorway looked like before, here’s a side by side comparison:
Colorful and inviting door: check. Once we paint the rest of the exterior, everything will look updated and cohesive (we’re planning on going from an all grey exterior, to all white). For now, we’re loving our new & improved front door!
