how to paint the front door {a cheerful color}

It’s no surprise that I wanted to add some color to our white front door on our white house. I mean it’s as bland as bland comes. I love the crispness of a white house but also love some added fun to it as well.

We went back and forth on door color and really, in the end, it’s a few bucks to change it and a one hour project so who cares if we get it wrong, right?

Oh, and as a reminder, here’s what the house looked like when we bought it:

We decided on a few turquoise options. We tried out samples of blues, greens, reds, yellows and more. In the end we decided on the turquoise. We picked up a few samples and while painting the samples our neighbor came over and said she had a whole can of a very similar color. Turns out her color was our winner. So in the end we paid $6 for samples for this entire project.

There was a brief moment when I wanted to replace the front door, but I love that it’s original to the house and has character to it. And also, it’s in perfect functioning condition so no need to spend the money.

We cleaned the door really well with a vinegar/water mixture before getting started. Due to the fact that Colorado is so dry, it’s also dusty, so there was a lot of dirt build up on it.

It took two coats of paint for full coverage and I chose to use a brush instead of roller as there are so many corners and nooks in our door. We started painting first thing in the morning to ensure it would have plenty of time to dry before bedtime when we would need to close the door.

Unless you feel like sleeping with your door wide open. That’s fine too. Speaking of which, did I ever tell you about how the second night in our house we slept with the sliding door to the deck wide open the entire night? We woke up the next morning and were like, yup, we’re rookies in the home owning business.

While the door was drying I wanted to clean the hardware really well. It’s from the 1940’s, so to say it was a little tarnished is an understatement. I cleaned the brass (coming in another post) and put it all back together. And then the door lock jammed and we couldn’t get out the front door for a week. Oops. After working on it, taking it apart, putting it back together a few times it just wouldn’t work. So we called a locksmith and for a cool $109 he fixed it. So this really cheap, paint the door, clean the hardware project was actually $115. Oof.

I had to just get over it because I mean we needed to be able to open the front door. I do love how bright the hardware came out, so I guess it was worth it? Who knew it was such a bright brass under all that filth! Brass typically wouldn’t be my metal of choice, however I was so drawn to it against the door color. It shows the age of the house while still feeling fresh and classy.

Once everything was back together we had a cheerful front door and a whole new look to the front of the house. It’s really one of the easiest ways to add a little cheer to the facade of your home. It’s just so charming, especially in a bright color. So many neighbors have commented on it and how it has changed the entire look of the house, and I’d have to agree!