Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

| By | | 239 Comments

Painting Our Door Bright Yellow

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.

FrntDr Door Knocker Gone

FrntDr Hardware Removed

FrntDr Kick Plate Removed

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…

… words…

… words…

… words…

… words…

… words…

… more words …

… even more words…

… word…

…ok, now you can scroll…

First House Yellow 06

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…

Scallop3

… 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.

Hanging Lanterns Striped Po

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.

Can%27t See Porch

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…

Comments

  1. Jen says

    That’s so fun! I can’t wait to own a house so I can do fun things like that. Until then I’m stuck remodeling the inside over and over again. :)

    Reply

  2. Molly says

    Oh! I love that color! I would love to repaint our front door and shutters. Right now it is a dark purple that looks pretty bad. But I’m pretty sure the bright colors we love would have our HOA vote us off the island, lol They are REALLY into neutrals around here, sigh

    Reply

  3. Hilary says

    I hear you on the prep work…I painted my front door one time without much (ok none) of it, and the paint ended up peeling off in one big sheet – like a sticker! Can’t wait to see pics!

    Reply

  10. Meredith says

    What? You’re painting the front door?! I thought you were working on projects in the dining room, the living room, and the office! haha, I can’t keep up with you kids. Perhaps it would be easier for you if you listed the rooms you’re NOT currently working on. ;) You guys are inspiring!

    I do have one question – When you’re in the middle of so many projects, and you’re constantly buying things that aren’t getting used immediately (like the yard sale mirror in the laundry room), where do you store it all? The future playroom? Good luck on the door, btw!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha, I guess we counted the door as the dining room since it opens into the entrway/dining room. And as for our storage room – yup, our insane playroom gets those items piled in there. It’s a mess and it gives me hives if I’m in there too long.

      xo,
      s

  11. Lesley says

    Looking forward to seeing the finished door. Our front door is metal and has the gold kick plate at the bottom. We are going to repaint ours once it cools off outside. We are on the Gulf Coast and it is HOT!!! My question, do I have to remove the door from the hinges to repaint it? I am not sure what deglossing is. Hopefully I will learn more from your finished door tutorial. Thanks for keeping me educated on DIY!

    Reply

  13. ruthie says

    This is too funny. I’m in the process of trying to convince my husband to let me paint our door. Of course we have an entire 2 shutters that would have to be painted to match. They are just old vinyl. Ever painted those before? I would assume they have a product out there for that?!

    Reply

    • Mary says

      We just used a paint/primer combo to paint our vinyl shutters. It covered pretty well but I think my husband still had to do 2 coats. Talk to the guy at the paint store, that’s what we did.

  14. Amanda says

    What color red did you use on the front door of your old house? I just can’t pull the trigger thinking I am picking the wrong color.

    Thanks

    Reply

  15. Missy G. says

    Awesome! My husband and I have been talking about refinishing our door again. We did so about 2 years ago – sanded it, filled the scratches (dang dog), and stained it. We wanted to keep the look of the full wood door and loved the result. But with the humidity of south Louisiana, our door is starting to look sad again, and we’ve been discussing using paint this time.

    I’m sure the upcoming post will answer most of my questions about the process, so I’ll hold off on annoying you until tomorrow. :)

    Reply

  16. Mary says

    I’m about ready to change our door color. We picked a dark red when we first bought our house, but it feels a little blah now. The only thing preventing me from making the change is the prospect of painting our shutters again. Least fun thing ever.

    Reply

  19. Karen M. says

    I painted my exterior door yellow about 2 years ago. The color is called Dahlila from BM. It looks bright and cheery with our gray exterior. You will love it!

    Reply

  20. Molly says

    Can’t wait to see the results! What a cheery color.

    We painted the INSIDE of our front door turquoise and I love it:
    http://thenestinggame.com/2010/12/17/enter-sageman/

    But I can’t decide on an outside color. I am leaving it white for now, because I like how our house numbers pop off. (Same post as above, just scroll down for the pic, or here’s a direct link)
    http://thenestinggame.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/img_3411.jpg

    A roof replacement is in the near-ish future, so we’ll probably repaint the shutters (white right now) and coordinate the door at that point.

    Reply

  22. Janna says

    I saw in the comments that you will leave the inside of ghe door white… What about the sides? Do you paint them yellow or leave them white? I would love to convince my hubby to paint our door so I need to have all the details figured out ahead of time!!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Since the insides of the door were painted the same color as the front of the door (and not white like the back) we’re painting them the new door color.

      xo,
      s

  23. Randi Phelps says

    Shut the front door!!! I JUST painted my door yellow this last weekend too. I was inspired by the third picture down in your post. I will have to take a picture and show you… I was a bit nervous, mine is a very sunny yellow. But I figure when the skies are gray (as they usually are here in Seattle) it’ll be a nice touch of sunshine.

    Reply

  24. kimberly says

    So jealous about the door painting…we live in a condo and cannot paint our doors (admittedly, it WOULD look a little weird if we did, but I’ve always dreamed of a yellow door!). In a slight protest, I hung up a bright turquoise-painted vintage cast iron door knocker. ;)

    Reply

  26. amyks says

    Love it! Our door is painted the Ben Moore “Raincoat” and we love it! Our house is an 1840’s brick in Boston and the neighbors were a little wary at first, but I didn’t care! It makes me smile every time I open it!

    Reply

  28. Mary says

    Love the yellow door. You have my complete admiration for door painting.

    Even though I love to paint, walls, ceiling, trim, etc., doors are tedious and the bane of my existence. Since moving to this house 2 years ago, I have painted 28 of the 36 doors and changed out the hardware from brass to satin nickel. I always use a paint additive (Floetrol for latex, Penetrol for oil) to minimize brush marks. You have inspired me to get the remaining 13 done (5 replacements) in the next 2 weeks!

    Reply

  29. Michelle says

    I loved your red door so much that I decided to paint my front door red. I thought about going for a more burgandy color at first, but they all looked purple next to our grey siding and black shutters. I went for a truer red. Turns out, it’s the same Valspar “Fabulous Red” from your old house! I guess that subliminal messaging works!! :0)

    Reply

  32. Sara says

    There’s isn’t an English word to describe the concept since we don’t really have it in English, but in Japanese there are words that are ‘noticed’ or chosen for use, especially in literature, based on how pleasant (or unpleasant) they are to hear phonetically. I had a professor explain this to me (for the first time) when we were reading about a girl staring wistfully out her window and down at people walking to work. The author was careful to use the word ‘rainboots’ (rain-bootsu), which is a loan word from English, rather than the Sino-Japanese word ‘long shoes’ (nagagutsu). The professor explained that nagagustu sounded “heavy and uncomfortable,” conjured up military images, images of drudgery, workaday, Office Space types that *had* to wear them to keep their generic suits dry in the terrible rain they had to go out into. Rainbutsu, on the other hand, conjures up fun images of children running outside to splash in puddles, and general lighthearted enjoyment, whatever the circumstances.

    So it makes sense that you’re painting your door ‘rain boot yellow,’ because it is fun, lighthearted, and making the best of situations that get others (wearing nagagustu) down.

    Reply

  33. Kristen says

    Yes, I love a yellow door (like all the million other commenters), but what I really wanted to say was “thank you” for this post, and really, all your posts! Thanks for just being honest and saying yeah this is taking me longer than I thought, instead of just pretending it was easy and magic and then it’s done! Your honesty is what makes your blog stand out, as always! :)

    Reply

  34. Ashley says

    Valspar makes an amazing primer when you have a glossy surface to paint it’s called Valspar Interior Latex Multi-Purpose Primer {for glossy surfaces without sanding! blocks stains and low oder BUT not VOC free like I know you prefer} but it does an AMAZING job. Changed my life when redoing old retro furniture where the paint just peels off. My dad is a carpenter and he totally doubted it’s capabilities until they used it this past weekend! Contractor approved!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks for the tip! Unfortunately we need exterior-grade paint for our front door since it’s exposed to the elements (hot/cold/rain/snow etc). We’d love to try it for furniture painting though- it sounds awesome!

      xo,
      s

  37. Carey says

    Love your choice. We are in the midst of building our forever home in the town of Vienna, VA. One house off the commercial district so when our goofy 8ft tall door arrived I knew something fun was needed. Can’t wait until my house becomes known as “the house with the yellow door”. Stop by sometime and crash my shop and my new home. Melissa from Houseorgaphy is one of my favorite customers. I am a avid blog reader as it keeps me connected to the world outside my shop. Thank you for your fun blog!

    Reply

  41. Jasmine says

    We will be repainting our house next year and I am thinking about a deep grey, but the door is still up in the air…perhaps yellow? (or red, black, navy):D
    So I ‘pinned’ it on pinterest (remember me, I’m the loser at Pinterest)and I hope I gave you the right @ younghouselove credit. If not, then sorry ahead of time!
    Can’t wait to see your rain boot yellow door!

    Reply

  43. Heather says

    I have had that third, buttery yellow door pic on my desktop of ages!!! My house is grey with charcoal colored shutters and I am just dying to paint one side that yellow color and the inside of the door black. Great post!!

    Reply

  44. Tracey says

    My house is gray and when I moved it I painted my front door fuchsia. It is quite the conversation starter! I’m definitely the only person in the neighborhood with a pink door!

    Reply

  46. Christine says

    I was so excited to see that you went with Yellow!!! I have been waiting months to paint our front door yellow. I was going to go with a sort of “sunflower” ish shade of it. This might give me the motivation to get it done sooner rather than later….!

    Reply

  47. Lynn van Slyke says

    Seriously guys, I painted my door yellow(Glidden’s vintage yellow) last fall. Though my yellow is not as bright as yours I still say great minds think alike!

    Can’t wait to see the finished results =)

    Reply

  48. Erin says

    Awesome timing! I have been trying to convince my parents to go Yellow. They have a gray farmhouse with white trim and Cranberry shutters. It really does look nice, but I think that it needs a change.

    My dad was thinking of just removing the shutters, after reading a Martha Stewart magazine a few months back ( I actually snorted out loud and then had a giggle attack after hear Dad say that he was reading “Martha” ).

    I don’t think Dad will go for it, cause it would be too much work (approx. 40 shutters and 6 Muskoka chairs from the veranda!)

    Good paint job! I have been thinking of painting our ext door in a wild and crazy colour “Taupe” lol

    Reply

  49. Shannon says

    Yay! Can’t wait to see it! We’ve talked about painting our front door yellow too, but I think we may end up going with lime green (the house is bluish-gray). (I’d personally do pink, but my husband said no way!)

    Reply

Stuff We Love

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *