Nothing says home like your front door.
It takes me back…
All I wanted to do was shut my eyes on my memory foam pillow under my fluffy duvet cover, but there were blue lights two miles ahead pulled off on the side of the interstate checking out an abandoned car, but everyone assumes that a CSI crime scene investigation is going down in Middle-of-Nowhere, Georgia. Traffic is stalled. Four hours into our long Sunday drive after a quick family visit in Tennessee, and home never seemed so far away.
There are some trips, days at work, or nights out where there’s no better sight than pulling up to your front door. It’s a glorious sight of relief. An answer to your exhaustion. The light at the end of the tunnel. You’ve made it. You’re home.
You’re front door is a work horse. It welcomes guests and family in and keeps extreme weather and pesky critters out. It’s one of the most important features of your home’s exterior. It should be treated as one.
When we first moved into our home 2.5 years ago, we had a beat-up, black fiberglass door with a cheap storm door on top. It did not offer a warm welcome to our guests, though it was functional enough keep the weather and critters out. But we can’t just have functionality without style, right?
This project was one of the first big projects we tackled. I knew the style of door that I wanted, a warm, welcoming craftsman door, but choosing a color made my eye twitch. I will go into front door colors more in a later post. We chose this affordable Craftsman door, and Home Depot easily installed it while we were at work. After deciding on red, I now had to narrow it down to one out of a million shades. I finally chose Behr Cajun Red and after priming and painting with two coats, it was a dark shade of pink. Let’s not go into how many times I’ve had to either buy a new gallon of paint or have the store either lighten or darken it because my first choice was not the one I was expecting. It’s a problem.
Quick tip! If you’re painting a room, piece of furniture, or door red, prime it with a shade of pink or gray first. It will add a dark enough base to pull the true color of red you desire. Otherwise, it will turn out lighter or a muted shade of pink.
Color is worthless if you slop it on with cheap paint. You’ll be scraping off the chips and repainting in six months if you don’t do it right. I highly recommend using Behr Premium Plus Exterior Semi-Gloss Enamel on your front door. This paint hasn’t worn, faded, or chipped in nearly two years. I plan to use the same paint on our back doors whenever we get to that project. A quart is plenty for a front door.
Now after those long Sunday drives or tiring days at work, I am welcomed as I pull into our tree-lined street by our welcoming red door that gently says, “You’re home!”
What does your front door say to you?
