“The door is the smile of the house.”
John likes to make strange declarations like that. For example, after talking about how both bacon and mustaches were trending, he once proclaimed that “the mustache is the bacon of the face, and bacon is the mustache of breakfast.” But back to the front door. Our first house had a red door. Our second house had a yellow door. And our new house has a….
Yup, it’s a happy little blue door. It’s sort of a peacock meets teal with enough gray to keep it from going neon when the sun hits it.
When it came to picking the shade, first we taped up a bunch of swatches in almost every color of the rainbow (we tried red again, some green tones, a bunch of blue options, and other colors like plum, orange, navy and charcoal). Then we stepped back about ten feet, took note of what we liked best, and stepped back a lot more – just to make sure we still felt the same way from further back. We did this a few times during the day and evening to make sure the colors we loved in direct sunlight didn’t look crazy or change a ton when the front door was in shade or lit up by the porch light at night.
Then I painted the cream sidelights white like the rest of the house’s trim. We really wanted the sidelights to be their permanent color before finalizing a front door hue, just in case the old creamy-yellow trim was throwing us off. So after rubbing them down with a magic eraser to get all of the bug guts off, I just used an angled brush to apply the same white exterior paint that the painters left behind (and later used a razor to scrape the excess off the glass panes).
That helped us to narrow it down to four contenders: Spirit In The Sky, Blue Lake, Peacock Blue, and Tranquil Blue (all by Benjamin Moore). We’re actually convinced any number of colors could have worked (nearly all of the swatches looked nice with the white trim and natural brick) so we just went with what we liked the best.
Then it was test swatch time. After the whole oops-we-picked-the-wrong-siding-color snafu, I didn’t trust swatches without putting a big ol’ rectangle of color right on the door. So here’s how things looked after I applied each of our four samples on four of the raised panels of the door, being sure to give them each nice thick coats so the true color was easy to see, but not goobery and drippy. Colors tend to darken as they dry, so we did that “live with them a hot minute and evaluate them throughout the day” thing. That’s Blue Lake in the top left, Spirit In The Sky in the top right, Tranquil Blue in the bottom left, and Peacock Blue in the bottom right.
And the winner is Blue Lake…
The others all looked either too dull or too neon in certain lighting situations throughout the day. Here she be, all glossy and gorge.
It only took about half a day to get it painted. As for the finish/type of paint, we used BM’s exterior paint that the guy at the desk recommended for doors called MooreGlo in Soft Gloss, which is their version of a semi-gloss finish (didn’t even need primer since it’s self-priming). We only needed to buy a quart, so this whole project was pretty darn cheap, which feels great after basically sweating money out of our pores for the last month or so on bigger inspection-item fixes that we needed to check off.
When it comes to painting doors, my favorite method is to start in the morning so the door can be open all day and has time to dry before you have to close and lock it at night. I like using an angled brush only – although John loves a foam roller, so it’s a different strokes for different folks thing. Literally.
I have a certain order that I swear by, so first I paint the frames of each raised rectangle, then I paint the insides of each of them as you see in the photo above. Then I paint the flat planks around them and between them, always going in the direction of that plank (I pull my brush from top to bottom to do the vertical plank down the middle, then I go from left to right to get all of the horizontal slats, and at the very end I drag from top to bottom to do those vertical parts on each side of the door).
I wait for that to dry about an hour (or two if it’s super humid) and then I do the whole thing again, in the same order. Then I just give it the rest of the day to dry and lock it up at night. Oh and we like to remove the hardware, so that’s why it’s off (we reattach that right before we lock the door in the evening).
We also updated both the door knocker and the doorbell, so we’ll be back with those details tomorrow (they involved a dremel and some paint as well as a bit of a manhunt).
Oh and I repainted the sides of the door but not the back, so that’s still a hazy dusty blue color like the rest of the trim in the foyer… but I’d love to paint the back of the door the same happy blue shade once we nix the blue trim and wallpaper going on in the foyer and get some nice white trim and sidelights in there as well.
So that’s how one quart of paint and one morning of work made our house smile. Not bad, right? It took me waaay longer to take pictures of the finished product than it did to actually do it (is it just me or has it been raining for 40 days and 40 nights?). Heck I think the little doorknocker and doorbell upgrades took longer than painting the door.
The lesson? If you’re putting off painting your door, jump on that pony. Then your house won’t be all “oh hi it’s you, whatevs” when you come home. It’ll be all “Hiiiiiiiiii! Welcome!!!! It’s so nice to see you!”
It’s so funny to compare it to the portico as it looked back when we bought the house. Complete with a really old wreath on the broken slatted screen door (we took that down asap). And remember how green those front steps were before we power washed them?
Oh but one more thing. Remember that time a deer photobombed my front door photoshoot? Wait you don’t because I didn’t tell you about it yet. Allow me to paint you a picture. I’m snapping a few photos, and here comes my deer friend, stage right.
He saunters across the yard right in front of me and stops to chew on a few weeds by the door. Directly in front of my shot. I’m telling you, I never laughed so hard. Dude must have thought our yard looked extra welcoming, what with the smiling door and all. It certainly wasn’t a lush lawn that was drawing him in…
UPDATE: I quickly snapped this instagram picture on the way back from our evening walk, and it one captures the green undertone in our teal door so it finally looks like real life. Leave it to the ol’ cell phone to take a more accurate picture than the fancy camera. #nofilter #instagrambeatsDSLR
Psst- Wanna know where we got something in our house? Just click on this button:
Ally says
Thanks for the inspiration and the how-to tips. I’ve been wanting to / meaning to / hoping to paint my front door for a while now. Deciding on a color has been brutal, but your post is giving me the kick in the butt I need to just DO IT ALREADY! Plus, yours looks gorgeous. Awesome color choice.
Jo says
When you were talking about door colours I was totally gunning for emerald green, so I’m surprised at how much I like this blue! And amazed at how different your front porch already looks!
YoungHouseLove says
I really was gunning for emerald too! I was surprised how much more I liked the blue swatches!
xo
s
christina @ homemade ocean says
HELLO…loving that new photo! Your family is too cute :)
You all always have the best doors :) we just went with a tealy blue for our back garage door and I am loving it even if my dad calls it Miami Vice blue!!!
Jennifer says
Great choice. I think it makes really good sense for your house, too. You seem (at your last houses, anyway) to gravitate toward lots of cool blues and greens, so it makes sense to go with that blue door. As if to say… you are about to enter a home of lovely cool colors. Well done.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, thanks Jennifer!
xo
s
Cara D says
I’m jealous of your street view. What a beautiful street to live on.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Cara!
xo
s
Katie says
So bright and fresh! Just curious – why don’t you just take the door down to paint it?
YoungHouseLove says
We’ve just always had luck painting them in place, so that’s how we prefer to tackle it.
xo
s
Lindsey says
I love what you’ve done to the exterior of your house!!! Beautiful colors, and such a happy front door :) Are you thinking of putting any type of decorative filigree or fleur-de-lee or *insert-something-here* on the triangular space above the front steps?
YoungHouseLove says
That could be fun!
xo
s
Allison says
Do you have any tips on painting interior doors? I know you recently sprayed yours, but do you have any tips/best practices for using rollers? I seem to get roller marks that show when the sun hits the door.
YoungHouseLove says
I’d use the same method as I did on this door (brush only, in a specific order) but John loves a small foam roller (those have less roller marks than traditional rollers).
xo
s
Kelsey says
Love it! I really want to paint my front door a pretty turquoise, but I have to talk my husband into it first. :)
Miranda says
Great color! And that deer shot is awesome! Any plans to repaint the shutters as well?
YoungHouseLove says
We love the black shutters in person (they look great with the slate-ish roof) but I think sometimes photos or your monitor doesn’t make them look the same way they look in real life :)
xo
s
lisa a says
Yay! All the doors on my house are turquoise!
Reenie says
OMG!! That’s totally the color I was hoping you’d go with ~ Love it!!
Stacy says
I love the new color! It fits in the whole gray family with your other new paint, but it really pops. So cute and happy! :)
Kathryn says
Oh, I big-fat-puffy-heart-LOVE it!!! It makes a HUGE difference in the welcoming-ness (welcome-osity?) of the house! (Yes, I know, that’s not a word– but it should be) It totally says “Hi! So GOOD to see you!”, instead of “Knock at your own risk.” ;) Now, excuse me while I go find something to paint Blue Lake…
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Kathryn!
xo
s
Sarah says
Love it!!! And it’s actually not just something strange John said… in my interior decorating classes we actually learned that the door IS the smile of the house :)
YoungHouseLove says
No way! That’s hilarious.
xo
s
Abbey says
I heard some people had some un-seasonably cool weather this weekend, maybe 70s or 80s. Thank being said, would you guys recommend painting your door when the weather is say under 90?
YoungHouseLove says
I’d just read the paint can and follow that to the letter! Some paint needs under 80 degree weather and some has certain humidity concerns, etc. Hope it helps!
xo
s
Katie says
I instantly thought of the First Wives Club when the decorator talks about how the windows are the eyes of the room and the curtains are the “Eyebrows!” Probably my favorite scene.
Anywho….love the door
YoungHouseLove says
So funny!
xo
s
Rachel says
Some random YHL Monday morning thoughts…
1. That is my favorite first paragraph ever in a blog post, ever.
2. I’m a huge fan of you guys and I don’t want to veer off of my “if you don’t have anything nice to say…” policy, but I don’t love that door color. Which, ironically, just makes me question my own taste because you guys are usually so spot on. ;)
3. Not sure if anyone has told you this yet, Sheri, but a new season of Big Brother just started and one of the girls on there, Kaitlin, totally looks like you.
Okay, okay the door color is already growning on me…
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! I keep hearing that about that Kirsten (Kristen?) girl but in photos we don’t see it. Might have to watch her moving and talking to see if I get it more in “3-D”
xo
s
bethany says
super cute color! I like how you tried different colors on your front door at each house!
Kenda says
Love it!!!! I’ve been thinking of changing my red door…. With a turquoise, like you felt, soooo many to choose from. So thanks for the samples :)
Sara Tostenson says
Love your door! My husband and I recently painted our front door red and followed your blog’s directions on how to do so! It looks beautiful!! This was probably about two months ago. The problem – we just noticed our first chip!! We have kids coming in and out all day so who knows if they scraped something up against it or what but it definitely didn’t take long to happen. Do you have any recommendations for a sealer coat product that would help prevent this?? And is it too humid right now to do it? We live in Chesterfield as well so we feel your pain with the rain. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no! We don’t use any sealers (they can actually make things crack down the line) so perhaps if the paint was put on in hot/humid (or too cold) weather it never cured perfectly so it’s more vulnerable to scratching? I’d wait until a nice cool and not humid day and put another coat on if you can. Then let it fully dry (using other doors to enter/exit, etc) and hopefully it’ll cure up nice and strong.
xo
s
Jessica says
NOOOOOO!!!!! Looks like I’m the odd man out! Love the house. Love the new paint job. Love the yard/tree clean up. But I can’t get on board with the door color! It’s hitting me all wrong, kind of like the grellow paint in the old kitchen. It’s too out there-it’s doesn’t nestle in with it’s surroundings. Perhaps for a little white cottage, but not for a brick Colonial!
Anne says
Do those deer appear to be afraid of humans? I ask because I use to think it was nice to see them until I learned that they aren’t just unafraid, but they will charge at you while in your own backyard (which is not in the middle of nowhere, but rather Metro-Detroit). #bambiwithattitude
YoungHouseLove says
Ours don’t charge us, thank goodness! They’re spooked by us if we walk towards them, but if we’re quiet they might walk by around 20 feet away. Our neighborhood has had them for ages and I’ve never heard of them hurting a person or even a pet.
xo
s
Sarah says
I have “Blue Lake” in my apt. bathroom (to make the baby blue 50’s tile kind of go). I like the brightness of the Peacock color -very interesting note about it having some gray to prevent the sun from hitting it and making it neon.
And WOW, you aren’t joking about how private/woodsy your cul-de-sac is! That shot of you and the deer really shows that perspective. I can see why you guys were excited about the location. That is a great place for kids to play.
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh I bet it’s awesome in a bathroom!
xo
s
Barb says
Beautiful! You make it sound easy enough to tackle. But we live our screen door so it needs to stay. Do you recommend painting both doors the same happy color?”
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, I like them the same color so from the street it all blends.
xo
s
kendra says
I went with the Peacock Blue for my front door! Our house is gray, so it doesn’t look too neon. I used it on the inside, too, but cut it with some white to soften it.
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds so sweet!
xo
s
Celia Rodriguez says
I love it! Since your house is pretty neutral (brick and black shutters) you should consider changing the color every season, just kidding, every year or two. Sounds crazy I know, but thought it would be a cool project that would allow you to experiment with color.
Tess says
Suuuuuch an improvement! I love it. We just bought a fixer a month ago, and need to make over our front door; the phrase that will be running through my mind while I paint will be, “The door is the smile of the house”, Haha!
Lindsey says
The door is the smile of your house… my hubs also makes statements like this. He personally cannot even consider buying a house “without a face” aka a flat door on a flat house with no architecture. : )
Cassandra says
You must have been reading my mind… or maybe I was reading ya’lls minds… I’ve been trying to pick out a blue for our front door to paint this weekend! Love the blue you picked it looks great! I might have to steal it! ;)
Ammanda says
I love it! We did ours in Peacock Blue last year, and Blue Lake was one of the contenders. It’s nice to see how it turned out, and it looks great!!
Ariana says
YESSSSS. It looks SO good. Was it my slow chant that sold you? I got one used on me to go bungee jumping this weekend, so I understand the raw power of a slow chant. Luckily both of our stories ended well (although hopefully you screamed less). It really does look so HAPPY! :) Enjoy!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I do love a slow chant!
xo
s
Ana says
Looks great!
I was considering a light blue door but none of the swatches I brought home (from 4 different paint lines) looked right. Mostly they looked too washed out in the sun or too gray/dull so I gave up and was leaning toward either yellow or cobalt. I’ll check out some of the colors you tried. Thanks!
karen says
hey, i guess all that blue inside is rubbing off of you!
it’s a great colour. I wonder how it would look if the side lights were also painted??
YoungHouseLove says
We googled around to see bright doors with bright sidelights and bright doors with white sidelights and we just preferred the color on the door, but it’s definitely a personal preference thing!
xo
s
Allison says
Love it! Our house is a dark blue that I love and I am dying to paint our front door a chartreuse-y green, but my husband isn’t sold on my idea. We eventually want to replace the front door, so thanks to how great yours looks, I may just paint it while he’s gone on his next business trip. :) It’s at the end of the month, so that’s not too far off!
We were at my in-laws this past week and there were five deer that kept appearing in their backyard, two fawns appeared as well and began nursing from one of the does. I have been seeing deer all my life, but that was the first time I’ve seen any fawns nursing! Gotta love nature :)
YoungHouseLove says
That’s amazing!
xo
s
Crystal says
You probably already remember to check for ticks after working or playing in the yard, but since I don’t recall you mentioning it, I felt I should say something. With the deer coming so close to your house, you can’t necessarily assume that anyone/anydog is safe just because they haven’t been in the wooded area. Also, if you have Japanese barberry growing in the wooded area of your lot, you might remove that quickly. Studies have shown mice (carrying deer ticks) love Japanese barberry. Here’s some info, but your county extension office would surely have more info for you: http://mnfi.anr.msu.edu/invasive-species/JapaneseBarberryBCP.pdf
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Crystal! We definitely do tick checks, Burger has a lyme vaccine, and we don’t have any barberry :)
xo
s
Autumn says
Love it! Makes everything about your house look so cheery!
Kn says
Hey :) first time commenter. It isn’t my cup of tea, but hey- it’s your house.
I’m thinking about painting my new house’s door black (along with the shutters. Currently they are a faded dark red and they look so dingy).
I’m debating on whether I should go with gloss or semi-gloss. Any recommendations?
YoungHouseLove says
I would go with semi-gloss just because gloss is a bit harder to master (shows brush strokes more easily) and semi-gloss is plenty glossy!
xo
s
Molly says
So glad to see this post today – I just bought a quart of exterior paint yesterday to paint our porch swing and front door! One question – have you ever had the front edges of the door leave paint on the inside of the door frame? This has happened to me twice now on interior doors even though I leave them off their hinges for days to dry. Is it just my old house’s tight fitting doors or do you have any other ideas? Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no! Maybe you’re painting on super humid days or not starting early in the morning? We haven’t had that issue, but more drying time and thin and even coats along with painting on a cool/not humid day will probably help!
xo
s
Kelly says
I am clearly in the minority, but I do not like the blue. The new gray paint, the blue door and the black shutters just doesn’t work.
Manda Wolf says
Looks very nice! I love the blue it is so inviting and welcoming. I have a thing for red doors though, can’t help it its who I am.
Megan says
Love the color!
I need to get around to painting my front door’s frame after we stripped it and stained it last year. Here’s what I’m working with….http://thebrickbungalow.blogspot.com/2012/09/front-door-labor-of-love.html talk about an ugly before!!!!!
Georgina says
Your door looks beautiful. What are your thoughts on painting your door a different colour than your neighbours if you live in a semi detached home.
YoungHouseLove says
Hmm, I would check about what colors you’re allowed to use (might be limited) and go from there! Maybe holding up swatches and stepping way back (to consider your neighbor’s door color in the mix) would help?
xo
s
foobella says
hmmm. I love the blue color, but I don’t know about the white sidelights. The old picture makes the door look more grand with the uniform color than it does now. I’m sure you thought of painting everything blue, though, and then came to this final decision.
Are you going to fix that slatted screen door or just go without one as in your previous house? I actually like a slatted screen door.
But all in all, your house is looking very nice and I am going to enjoy watching it change over the months and years. =)
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Foobella! We looked at other doors that were bright online and liked white sidelights with them instead of bold color around the windows too, so that’s why we went that way, but I think it’s a total personal preference thing! As for the slatted screen door, it wasn’t really a screen (bugs could fly through the slats) and it was the same type we had and removed from our first house (and never missed it) so we’re just not a slatted screen door family I think! Haha!
xo
s
Ashley@AttemptsAtDomestication says
Love that color! I’ve been wanting to repaint our doors for awhile but haven’t done it yet! Definitely something I need to do soon!
Lil says
pretty!
Katie says
Am I making this up or do you typically do a “Wedding Week” around your anniversary? Did I dream this?
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes we used to, but since we have been married 6 years we have pretty much told all there is to tell about our wedding/honeymoon. We do have a fun wedding themed giveaway lined up for you today though!
xo
s
Katie says
Great color! I just did a similar project this weekend where I painted an amazing thrift shop console in Valspar’s Sea Exposure. It’s that pop of color our living room needed and I am incorporating it throughout the house in different ways. Thanks for the inspiration!
Lindsay Ross says
Hi guys, I have a quick question! I recently painted my front door (red, in case you were on pins and needles :) ) and the storm door, which is a door one and in good condition, now needs some love. It is white and the showing lots of stains, chipped paint, rubbed spots, etc. I’d like to go over it with something in the black / rubbed bronze family and wondered if you had any recommendations for painting the trim of the storm door- recommended paints, tools, process, etc.! Thanks for your thoughts! Lindsay
YoungHouseLove says
Hmm, we’ve never painted a storm door. Anyone have tips for Lindsay? Just primer and paint? That works on most metal stuff…
xo
s
Lori says
Hi Lindsay!
We painted our storm door (from dark green to black) and it went well and was surprisingly easy. We actually spray painted it. We took the glass out and all parts that were to stay silver and then sprayed each side of the door. If I remember right, we put it across two saw-horses to spray it. Hope that helps and good luck!
Mandy Grimes says
You would think with all that blue trim the last color you would want to paint your front door would be blue! Looks great guys. You definitely need to name your deer friend.