Painting the Front Door

Hello there! I'm glad to have you here! 

The weather has been pretty nice, so, Thank You Mother Nature! I can finally get something done! 

The front door has been on my list of things that needed painting. It's bothered me since we built our house. It was white while the shutters were black.  I felt it stuck out like a sore thumb. Basically, I've wanted a black front door for three years. 

In this photo, you can see how it just looks so, well, white. 

Here too, only dingy white. Kinda lame, right? 

And on the inside, I was as non-plussed. 

Obviously, I was all in for painting the door. However, I wasn't so sure about Big A. But to my surprise, when I mentioned painting the door, he agreed. And, even more surprising, he even helped tape (I hate taping). 

Like a good wife, I sat on the sofa, 

and gave him helpful taping hints. 

He really liked that.

Taping around the hardware was a pain. BUT to save you some time: I've since seen a tip to use tinfoil to cover hardware. Shame I didn't see that before because here's what we came up with: 

Pretty, huh? 

First, I primed the door. The door was white anyway, so I pretty much just put the primer on as quickly as I could. 

When the primer was dry, I painted the first coat of black and let that dry. It didn't exactly look fabulous at this point ~ more like frightening. So, I admit, I had a tiny panic attack that this might turn out to be a disaster. 

Because I couldn't wipe it off at this stage, I kept painting, and after two more coats and I was done! 

Once there were a few coats on, the door looked great! 

(We also hung a new screen door.)

A couple of painting tips:

• You don't need to take the door down, you just need a step stool.
  
• Start painting in the morning so that the door will be dry by bedtime, and you can close and lock your door!
  
• Clean the door and wipe it down before you paint or prime.

• Once the first coat is on, paint slowly and try to avoid brush marks and drips.
  
  
• Use a FABRIC drop cloth. If you step on a drip on a plastic drop cloth, you will track it through the house! 
  
  
• Let the paint dry really well between coats. 
  
  
• Use semi-gloss paint. Doors get dirty, and this is easy to wipe down. 

 Here is another (faraway) view: 

Here is the indoor view: 

Here is Winnie ~ happy with the new black door! 

All and all, I'm super happy with the new painted front door. It doesn't stand out, and I barely notice the change from inside or out ~ but I feel that's a good thing. It means it looks natural and therefore it doesn't catch my attention.

That's what I tell myself anyway. :)

So what about you? What color is your front door? Did You paint it yourself? 

I'd love to know what you think, or what you've been up to, so leave me a comment and say hello! 

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