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The Front Door Makeover That Took 3 Years

Front door before and after
Some projects crawl along at a snails pace.  Either because of time or budget or because you just don’t know exactly what you want your final vision to be.  Some times you try something and decide that your changes aren’t what you expected or aren’t “enough” and it feels like you will never be finished.

My front door has been one of those projects.

When we first moved into the house it was so bad that I had to do something RIGHT THEN to update it.  Because I didn’t have the money or HOA approval to make major changes, I could only update it partially.

Here is the front door when we moved in:
Before
The first thing I did (about 3 years ago) was spray paint the hardware.  At the time we didn’t have the money to completely change it, but I couldn’t stand to look at the tarnished brass one more minute:
Spray painted door hardware
I have been really impressed with how well that paint has held up.   This is what the hardware looked like 3 years later.
Not even a scratch.  I think the key was that I sanded it really really well and did a lot of thin coats.
Spray painted hardware
The other update I added was our house numbers.  And this is how the door looked for about two years:
Adding door numbers
Here is the door during Christmas of 2012:

I never loved the front door color, but it was controlled by the HOA. The siding of the house and the door were the EXACT.SAME.COLOR (I think this was a budget issue, since it was easier for the painters to just paint everything at once.)

So I petitioned the HOA to change my door color.  I wanted high contrast and so as a test I painted the interior garage door black and I just loved the results:

The HOA agreed to my request and although you may have not noticed, back in October my “new” front door made it’s first appearance:

You can see it is still sporting the original spray painted door handle, but the black made a huge difference. The numbers on the door are so much more obvious.
 Here it Christmas 2013:


Well, the time has come and I finally had the budget to replace the door hardware.  The last step of the complete transformation.  I decided to replace the old hardware with the Kwickset Hawthorne Sectional Handleset in brushed nickel.
Kwikset hawthorne
I am also currently replacing all the my interior door hardware, and decided on black, but I had to leave the exterior hardware nickel so it would show up against the black door. I liked the square mounting hardware a lot more than the original oval, and the whole set is a lot “beefier."
Kwikset hawthorne
 Here is the whole door today (completely and FINALLY finished!)
Front door after

The whole front porch is just more welcoming than the monochromatic nothing-ness that was the before:
New entryway
And it only took three years!

Do you have any of those projects that just *never* seem to get finished.  They are a constant work in progress?  This is just one of many of mine.

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7 comments :

  1. The square hardware is such a awesome look Kim! We have a black door too and I love it so much more than boring white!

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  2. Hmm.. Honestly? I don’t remember. I don’t remember it being really short, but it is possible I just sorta sewed it in and then finished up the seam if I had leftover. Usually I am so far off when I do a pattern that I just assume it is user error! ha!

    Sorry I can’t be more useful. Let me know how your version comes out!

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  3. Ha! Ok no worries. I'm the same way. I'm for the most part self-taught, so it is not unheard of for me to be off. :) Thanks for the response!

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  4. The door looks great. We are having dark door - in terrible shape - but I'd love to have something else, a window, really. I guess that is just in my dreams....

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  5. Oh it looks fabulous. I love a black door and the new hardware is stunning. I need to replace mine, it is looking a little tired.

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  6. ChiWei @ One Dog WoofMay 15, 2014 at 7:53 PM

    Holy cow, what a great dress! Beautiful job Kim!

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  7. Patricia Haskell BealMay 22, 2014 at 12:34 PM

    This is my granddaughter in her "Elsa" dress made by her Auntie. It was for her 6th Birthday May 16th. She used a pattern size child size 10 and the measurements of my GD to help. She made her own pattern for this. A note, she used sparkle sheer material for the cape, appliqued 3 large snowflakes. She then used a stencil of a snowflake and white fabric paint for the other snowflakes. I think she did an awesome job. Me, I can barely sew. I can only sew buttons one and hand sew ripped seams.

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