Allow me to share a few hints: y-e-l-l-o-w-d-o-o-r
Yup, I’m painting our front door the happiest of shades: rain boot yellow! That’s not the real name of the paint swatch that we settled on, I just think it’s the perfect way to describe the glossy sunny yellow that we chose.
I was hoping to share some after pics, but alas, this is real life and all the prep work took longer than I thought. Boo.
The good news is that I’m done with the drilling, the spackling, the sanding, and the deglossing. So all that general readying stuff is out of the way. And if all goes well I’ll be back with a ton of deets and photos of the entire took-longer-than-I-thought process as soon as the paint’s dry enough to photograph (the goal is sometime this afternoon).
Oh and in random yellow door news, guess what color we painted our first house’s front door in May of 2006?
Wait… why are you scrolling? You have to guess first…
… I wonder what color you’re going to guess…
… I’m just putting words here so you don’t see the answer before you can guess…
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Yup, it was a very similar happy yellow color. And we loved it gobs more than the glossy black look that we later went with…
… and it was probably tied with the bold fire engine red door that we ended up with after a paint/hardware makeover here and a big porch makeover here.
For some strange reason we just couldn’t see the front door of our new house being any other color than bright sunny yellow, especially when we held up a ton of other swatches and felt nothing but blah. So yellow it is. Here’s hoping my little door makeover will help us build curb appeal momentum since there are about 500 other things we’d love to tackle outside. Especially since you can hardly see our door from the street these days thanks to the jungle that is our front yard. Le sigh.
Have you painted a front door four times in five years like me? Have you gone back to the first color you chose as if it were “the one”? Are you wondering why we only buy brick ranches with monkey grass and walls of shrubbery? I’m beginning to sense a pattern…
Psst- I’m revealing an admittedly very odd post pregnancy secret over on BabyCenter today. Can somebody tell me I’m normal? Maybe not…
[email protected] says
August 16, 2011 at 9:20 amI can’t wait to see after pictures. I just painted our door red. (Still needs another coat.) But after doing it people started saying yellow would of been really cute. So I am sure your door is going to be very cute.
Chrystie says
August 16, 2011 at 9:22 amWe painted our front door yellow a few months ago and it makes me SOOOOO happy. I can’t wait to see yours!
Bethany says
August 16, 2011 at 9:23 amLooking forward to seeing the finished door!
Michelle says
August 16, 2011 at 9:23 amOnce of the first things we did when we moved in was paint our doors. We went with the glossy black that I fell in love with on our anniversary trip to Salem. We did however jazz it up a bit with a bright white decal that says “Hello.” Everyone who comes over loves it and our little girl waves at the door and says “hi” every time we come in or leave. Cracks me up.
cw says
August 16, 2011 at 9:24 amYou’re so bold!
Iomay says
August 16, 2011 at 9:25 amIt’s a struggle just to get my husband to allow yellow accessories in the house. I’d love to see his face if he came home to a yellow door! :)
I can’t wait to see the new update. Sounds like it’s going to be great!
LaurenO says
August 16, 2011 at 1:41 pmMy husband doesn’t like anything yellow either. Not that I listen to him haha!
Kristen says
August 16, 2011 at 9:26 amI can’t wait to see the finished door! In the 4.5 years we’ve lived in our house I’ve painted the front door twice. It was navy blue when we moved in and I painted it red. I liked that for awhile and then painted it black. It’s still black but I’ve been getting the itch to paint it again. We’ll see!
Amanda @ Our Humble A{Bowe}d says
August 16, 2011 at 9:26 amOooh, I am loving the color. I also considered painting our front door sunny yellow, but we have to reside and re roof at some point, so maybe down the road. It would clash with our current color scheme. I’m super excited you didn’t paint it red again. Something new is great!
Kasey @ Little Brick House says
August 16, 2011 at 9:27 amOh snap. I have been planning on painting our front door a shade of ‘cheery’ yellow as well. Possibly this weekend… Last Winter I bought a peacoat in the perfect shade of yellow and ever since I have been obsessed with it. I have even held said peacoat up against our front door, and it compliments our brick perfectly. :)
Kim says
August 16, 2011 at 9:27 amWe painted the front door purple years ago. Loved it! Then later we had a moment of “maybe it’s not grown-up enough” and painted it red. We just did a major remodel, and went back to purple, although slightly deeper and more sophisticated. Purple forever!!
YoungHouseLove says
August 16, 2011 at 9:28 amHaha, I think you need a license plate that says PRPL4EVA or something. I love it.
xo,
s
tarynkay says
August 16, 2011 at 9:59 amWe painted our front door purple, too! I think it was called Blueberry Pie, from the Martha Stewart line. It looks great with our brick house.
Jaime says
August 16, 2011 at 12:33 pmOur house is painted a shade of purple (I call it blueberry because it’s bluish purple – Behr Nostalgic). All our neighbours at first said we were crazy and thought it looked better the grey colour it was. Boring! Now that we’re finished, everyone keeps telling us how much they love it. One neighbour, a few streets over, actually painted their house the exact same colour. We painted the front door a bright green and we love it!
I think your yellow door is going to look great! I love a cheery front door!
YoungHouseLove says
August 16, 2011 at 12:38 pmThat sounds so pretty! Feel free to share pics here or on Facebook (we’d love to see it).
xo,
s
JennyB says
August 16, 2011 at 9:28 amIt’s gonna be sunny & sweet! Plus, if someone is coming to your house for the first time you can just say, “Look for the house with the yellow door!” Right??
YoungHouseLove says
August 16, 2011 at 9:33 amYes! As long as they can see it from the street, haha. From some angles it’s engulfed in bushes.
xo,
s
Jess @ Little House. Big Heart. says
August 16, 2011 at 9:28 amI love the idea. We’re trying to decide on what color to paint our door on our 1940s painted ranch. I’ve always dreamed of a red front door, but I’m not sure the existing house color would mesh with that. Any suggestions for choosing the right color to match?
YoungHouseLove says
August 16, 2011 at 9:34 amWe loved our bright red door with the brick-toned exterior of our last house. The key is just bringing home a ton of swatches and holding them up to see what blends too much and which colors pop so they feel like a fun complement. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Leslie says
August 16, 2011 at 9:29 amI’m wanting to paint our front door black along with replacing our white shutters with black shutters to add a little pop to our house! Can’t wait to see how the yellow turns out!
Melanie @ Mailbox Journey says
August 16, 2011 at 9:30 amAhhh, the anticipation! I can’t wait to see!
Kristina says
August 16, 2011 at 9:30 amI don’t know what to paint ours. I have brick, brick red shutters and creamy(like butta) siding and trim. I want to compliment the colors, and not just paint the door red. Any ideas? The details in the window of the door are gold which is limiting. I thought about a brownish gray (but that might look too much like poo)
YoungHouseLove says
August 16, 2011 at 9:35 amI would just bring home a lot of swatches and hold them up to see what you like! In all colors of the rainbow. That’s what we did and “the right color” really does jump out at you!
xo,
s
Wendy says
August 16, 2011 at 9:32 amI love the yellow!
We’re in the process of reconfiguring our front door set up now. (We’re replacing the current front door with salvaged french doors and are moving the “real” door inside our vestibule.) I went back and forth on the color too, but finally decided on “Florida Keys” – a bright turquoise color from Benjamin Moore. (Color seen here: http://www.oldtownhome.com/2011/7/28/Mail-Call-Vestibule-Progress/index.aspx)
The prep work is still dragging on for us too, but I’m so excited to see the impact that this happy color will have on our curb appeal! Here’s a recap of the project so far (http://www.oldtownhome.com/vestibule/index.aspx).
Kristen @ Popcorn on the Stove says
August 16, 2011 at 9:34 amI really like the idea of the yellow door. It’s so unique and not many people use that color. Besides, when people come to visit you can always say “we’re the house with the yellow door!”
Stacy says
August 16, 2011 at 9:34 amCan’t wait to see the finished product. Especially since I am confused about how many front doors you actually have!:) Is the glass pane one just a storm door? Guess I will just have to wait and see!
Meagan says
August 16, 2011 at 9:37 amthose inspiration photos are gorgeous…I cannot wait to see how yours turns out. pinterest has me dreaming of a house with a sort of turquoise blue front door…ah one day
Julia @ Chris loves Julia says
August 16, 2011 at 9:37 amI pinned yellow doors like crazy for weeks. I was so sure our front door was going to be yellow. And then when I held up all the swatches–it had to be red. Bright, High-gloss, RED. And we love it. Can’t wait to see your yellow door, because I’m a sucker for BOTH.
Here’s my red door before and afters. It COMPLETELY amped up our curb appeal. http://chrislovesjulia.blogspot.com/2011/06/what-can-i-say-im-sucker-for-red.html
YoungHouseLove says
August 16, 2011 at 10:10 amOh yeah, that red door is perfect for your house! Lurve it.
xo,
s
Cait @ Hernando House says
August 16, 2011 at 9:38 amI love a yellow door! Our door is blue, but I have pinned several yellow doors recently (and tried to convince a friend they needed to paint their door bright yellow).
Christina says
August 16, 2011 at 9:38 amI love it! I want to paint our house white or navy – it’s an ugly shade of tan right now with chocolate (actually more like poop) colored trim complete with a poop colored deck (yes we call it the poop deck. If navy- totally copying that first photo. If white.. we’ll have grey trim(I think?) and I kinda want an apple green door. I need to figure out trim color that goes with white and apple green. That trim color we’d have to paint the front deck/porch area with as well. Feel free to suggest options (as in pretty please can you suggest options?) :)
YoungHouseLove says
August 16, 2011 at 10:08 amYour trim color could be a sandy tan (that practically goes with everything). I’d just bring home a ton of swatches and see what looks good.
xo,
s
Jae says
August 16, 2011 at 9:40 amYay!LOVE. We just painted our front door yellow. http://www.designocd.com/2011/08/01/
YoungHouseLove says
August 16, 2011 at 10:07 amSo pretty and happy! I love it!
xo,
s
Liz says
August 16, 2011 at 9:41 amLOVE it! My mom painted the front door of her house “rain coat” yellow last spring – here’s a post:
http://www.lifeinyellow.com/2010/05/yellow-door-love/
Happy painting!! Can’t wait to see.
YoungHouseLove says
August 16, 2011 at 10:02 amSo pretty! Love those little windows!
xo,
s
Morga says
August 16, 2011 at 9:42 amI am in the process of stripping the original door that came with our circa 1900 house. There were layers and layers and layers of globby paint from the last several decades. I have been stripping for about 30 hours and have not yet come to the true bare bones of the solid wood door. I’m going to paint it red :)….once :)
YoungHouseLove says
August 16, 2011 at 10:02 amWow- that sounds intense! I bet it’s going to look amazing! Good luck!
xo,
s
jess says
August 16, 2011 at 11:28 amStripping is SO much work. My post about it is right below. We found the best product from Home Depot- I forgot the name, but it comes with its own spray bottle and it’s in the paint section. You spray it on, let it sit, then scrape. When you get down to the bare wood, fill with BONA wood putty and sand once dry. Your door will come out amazing. I recommend staining it to show the beauty of the wood and expose the history of your home! But red will look amazing too!
jess says
August 16, 2011 at 9:42 amI love the yellow! Very welcoming and sunny! Can’t wait to see the outcome! We recently stripped 51 years of paint off our oak front door– about 10+ layers in all and stained it ebony to match our hardwood floors. My boyfriend spent over 20 hours on the project, but the work was totally worth it!
YoungHouseLove says
August 16, 2011 at 9:57 amWoah – that sounds like so much work! I bet it’s gorgeous though!
xo,
s
Dana says
August 16, 2011 at 9:43 amWelcome to the yellow door club!!! We have double front doors and when we repainted our peachy-pink trimmed brick house (yes, it was as gross as it sounds!) white with blue shutters I knew I wanted cheery yellow doors. They have gotten mixed reviews from the neighbors (some a little older, if ya know what I mean…) Hey, did you park a school bus in front of your house? or Is that primer? haha! All my friends love it and I’m so glad we did it!!!
Good luck. I’m sure they will be beautiful!
[email protected] says
August 16, 2011 at 9:44 amHi Sherry and John!
We just painted our front door a bright, “in yo’ face”,” you can see us 20 miles away” yellow, and we love it! It really does make it easier to find on our street. I can’t wait to see your finish product, no doubt it will be fantastic!!
Robin @ Our Semi Organic Life says
August 16, 2011 at 9:45 amCan’t wait to see how it goes!
Veronica says
August 16, 2011 at 9:45 amThis might be a stupid question but are you also going to paint the inside part of the door yellow?
In my family room we have a door that leads outside and it’s so blah as just plain white that I’m considering painting it a fun color but wasn’t sure if you do both sides typically?
YoungHouseLove says
August 16, 2011 at 9:56 amYou can definitely do both sides but we typically leave the inside white (to match all the interior doors) and do just the front a glossy color with exterior paint. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Jae says
August 16, 2011 at 10:05 amThe interior side of my front door was white (well really cream) for 6 yrs. I just painted it black and I LOVE it!
Amanda @ Out of Square says
August 16, 2011 at 1:29 pmI did the same thing! Painted my front and back door a rich chocolate brown and did both sides. I LOVE IT!!
yael says
August 16, 2011 at 9:46 amI think it’s so funny how all except one of the pictures you chose have symmetrical plants on either side of the door! Are you guys wanting that look as well…maybe subconsciously hinting? Love the colour.
YoungHouseLove says
August 16, 2011 at 9:55 amHaha- must be subconscious. I just searched “yellow door” and these were the glossiest, brightest ones that came up!
xo,
s
shannan says
August 16, 2011 at 9:51 amOMG! Jealous you had the balls to do it, Last year when we painted our bungalow I wanted to paint our red door to yellow. I asked everyone what they thought and nobody responded favorably. The colors I picked matched my aveda shampoo bottle and I just knew a yellow door would be perfect. Oh well..yours looks great!
Amanda says
August 16, 2011 at 9:51 amI’m a red front door kinda gal. I’ve done two of them now and they just make me smile.
Actually, something about a bright, welcoming front door, period, makes me smile. Can’t wait to see the yellow!
Monica says
August 16, 2011 at 9:53 amI’ve fallen in love with yellow lately. It seems that all things yellow today are expensive though – so paint is probably the best option to turn things yellow! Can’t wait to see how it turns out.
Amy @ Lovely Nest says
August 16, 2011 at 9:58 amI’ve painted our front door 3 colors in 3 years. Right now it’s a dark turquoise that I love and am planning on keeping for a while!
Julie says
August 16, 2011 at 10:01 amHa, I thought you were thinking of house numbers since all of those in the pics were pretty cool. I have pregnancy brain.
Julie
ilikebeerandbabies.com
YoungHouseLove says
August 16, 2011 at 10:13 amHaha- good point. Cute numbers are definitely something else we’re coveting!
xo,
s
Carrie says
August 16, 2011 at 5:36 pmI was thinking of the numbers at first too! How could we have both missed the yellow? Hello!
Eve says
August 16, 2011 at 10:01 amYellow sounds like a great color for your door! Looking forward to seeing the “after” pics. It’s funny you post this, because I am also going to be painting our front door this weekend, but in red! I will definitely be reading your how-to’s before I begin. We also have a jungle of yard (looks ALOT like yours!), but luckily in the back where only we can see it. I can’t wait to see what you guys do so I can get some guidance!
Thanks for all the great ideas…keep them coming!
Pip says
August 16, 2011 at 10:02 amYellow outside, grellow inside – your faces will ache from all those happy smiles! I can just picture some yellow daffodils peeking out from that monkey grass. (Nearly 5000 entries for you giveaway?!! Huge!)
Giulia says
August 16, 2011 at 10:03 amThe door project always takes longer than you think! We worked on ours earlier this year and I think we started off with a similar colour…Yellow will look great!
http://fishly-fishly.blogspot.com/2011/05/our-door-gets-face-lift.html
YoungHouseLove says
August 16, 2011 at 10:12 amPretty!
xo,
s
Kate (and Ben) says
August 16, 2011 at 10:06 amI won’t lie, I’m very glad you’re doing this; the 2nd project I have planned when we move into our first house is painting the original front door (1940s) a bold rich green colour. I am looking forward to reading your how-to.
-K
Jordan G @ The Happy Homebodies says
August 16, 2011 at 10:14 amLove the yellow! I also love all of the modern house numbers on those samples you shared. I wonder where I can get some of those? We just painted our door glossy black to match our shutters. http://thehappyhomebodies.blogspot.com/2011/08/glossy-black-front-door.html
Have you given any thought to painting your interior doors for a pop of color? I’m contemplating doing that in our house, and I’ve seen some really great yellow and turquoise interior doors on Pinterest.
YoungHouseLove says
August 16, 2011 at 10:18 amI’ve definitely debated bringing some interior door colors in, but we’re not sure if it’s too much since we’re using lots of color in our curtains, pillows, art, guest room walls, etc. As for those door numbers, maybe just do a google search? I love them! Anyone know of a good modern house number source for Jordan?
xo,
s
Molly says
August 16, 2011 at 11:25 amJordan! We are thinking along the same lines. I painted our interior door turquoise and found some fab modern house numbers at Home Depot of all places. You can see both in this post:
http://thenestinggame.com/2010/12/17/enter-sageman/
Also, here’s a round up of some great mod house numbers. They can get pricey though, which is why we ended up at Home Depot.
http://design-milk.com/modern-house-numbers/
Your black door looks slick and gorgeous!
jess says
August 16, 2011 at 11:32 amHome Depot has some for around $4-5/pop. We put them on our mailbox- they came in brushed nickel and ORB.
Pamela says
August 16, 2011 at 12:11 pmSherry – I saw this interior painted kitchen door recently & thought it was gorgeous! (Maybe you’ve seen it). DIYDiva.net referred the link on her 8-12-11 post (luv her blog – she’s ridiculously talented & very funny):
http://mockabeenews.blogspot.com/2011/05/before-after-kitchen.html
Perhaps you could somehow incorporate a beautiful interior door color, too, somewhere in your home? Oh, and do you plan to install a pretty door knocker on your yellow door? How classy are those?! :)
YoungHouseLove says
August 16, 2011 at 12:37 pmLove it- so pretty and sweet! Thanks for the link. As for a door knocker, we’re refurbishing the one that came with our house (it was rusty and hidden – but we can’t wait to reveal the loveliness).
xo,
s
erin says
August 16, 2011 at 10:15 amwe recently had our front door painted (along with the rest of the house, which is why i didn’t do it) BM’s radiccio, you can see it here: http://oliveourhouse.blogspot.com/2011/08/while-ago-i-came-across-this-door.html
the inside of the front door is teal. and the back door (inside) is also radiccio, after a brief stint as golden rod.
in short, painting doors is awesome.
YoungHouseLove says
August 16, 2011 at 10:17 amSo pretty!
xo,
s
Amber says
August 16, 2011 at 10:18 amIt will look amazing! Our current door is black but due to scratches, dog related scratches, we can tell it used to be a horrible purple color. We’re debating on getting a new door – what color would go with pink/coral brick and a brownish roof??!!
YoungHouseLove says
August 16, 2011 at 10:19 amI would just bring home a ton of swatches in all colors of the rainbow and tape them up on the door to see what goes best. Good luck!
xo,
s
Elizabeth says
August 16, 2011 at 10:18 amI love brightly colored front door. I have big plans for my front door too, I’m going to go with a bright almost lime green(a color my dad always calls “Libby Green” because it is one of my favorite colors in all the world). Your door is going to look great!
Rachel Tatem says
August 16, 2011 at 10:19 amWhat fun! Love it.
Nancy says
August 16, 2011 at 10:19 amLOVE! Makes me want to paint our front door!!
Jackie Smith says
August 16, 2011 at 10:21 amWe have a similar brick ranch and struggled what to do with our huge garage door (that we kept even though we made the garage part of the house)& front door. We decided to go with wood and had them custom made for our house. Beautiful!Now we just need some ‘cooler” house numbers and a “fancier” doorknob/handle.
Melody says
August 16, 2011 at 10:21 amThis could be really spectacular. Make it work!
I love yellow doors and Tim Gunn!
Shari @ Chicago Cuisine Critique says
August 16, 2011 at 10:21 amCan’t wait to see how it turned out! I love bright colored doors. SO fun. :)
Audrey Govekar says
August 16, 2011 at 10:22 ami live in a condo so i can’t paint my front door, boo! but we did paint the inside of our door Dazzling Daffodil by Glidden and we LOVE it. it makes us happy every time we shut the door. and we are painting the back of two bookcases the same color. so warm and happy!
joyjoy says
August 16, 2011 at 12:39 pmI was just lamenting the fact that we live in a condo and can’t paint our door. It never occurred to me to paint the *inside* of the door! Now I’m all excited…
Kristi @ Addicted 2 Decorating says
August 16, 2011 at 1:38 pmI also live in a condo, and can’t paint the outside (although I guess I can’t complain too much since they asked me to pick the colors for the building). But anyway, I also painted the inside of my door a few days ago. I went with orange!! And I love, love, LOVE it!