Love seeing the transformation!

What a difference a few years, seasons and renovations can make!

I couldn’t help but take a photo of our house today, the colour of the trees and sky were so bright and beautiful!

Does your Inside match your Outside?!

Our most recent front door renovation transformed the outside of our home, but it also had a major impact in our foyer.

We are fortunate enough to have a larger foyer but the true beautiful of the space was not being captured.

Here is what our foyer looked like when we bought the home in 2010, than fast forward 4 years to what it looks like after our entry way remodel! Enjoy!!

Before (2010)

 

AFTER! (2014)

Painting Your Front Door

The front door can set the mood for the entire home. The previous door we had was old, dirty and didn’t close properly. It created a lack luster feeling to any guest entering our home.

I am in love with simplistic beauty. I didn’t want a fussy door, with multiple cuts or fancy glass. Keeping simple and clean lines was the objective. Since no one stays in a house forever, clean lines will maintain a classic look for significantly longer.

During the planning stage of our front entry remodel, I had the option to have the door itself come in white or have the manufacturer colour match the desired shade. Personally, I am not one for a plain white front door, a little colour generally ties together the entire appearance of a home. I painted the original door and shutters a dark grey, which I have come to love as it compliments the brick and stone. I decided to keep the same shade for the new door, even though it did take away from the “wow” factor of the overall transformation.

For the company to colour match the shade of grey I wanted on the door was going to cost $400. Personally, I thought that was outrageous. Instead, I asked if I could pick up the door prior to the installation to paint it myself. The company we worked with was extremely accommodating and together with my wonderful husband, we had the door in our basement ready to paint a week before installation day!

As many of you know, I am a HUGE lover of Benjamin Moore paint. I had the chance to try their exterior Aura brand of paint, which I have never worked with before. The finished product is beautiful, however the paint does dry extremely fast, so working with it could be a challenge if you are not an experienced painter. This paint is the “cats meow” of exterior paint though and I would recommend it in a heart beat!

The part of any door the chips the most are the sides, where the door meets the framing. The door we purchased had a clean edging that made taping easy.

When you are painting anything with grooves, it is important to paint the grooves first with a very thin coat. The exterior Aura paint is self leveling, making it even more important to ensure the coat is thin to avoid paint pooling.

As difficult as the paint is to work with the finished product is impressive. I put 3 thin coats of paint on the door, with 24 hours between each coat. Since I had the door early and could lay it down flat, it made painting a lot easier. I would recommend getting the door prior to the installation if you have the chance, not only does painting the door yourself cost significantly less, you don’t have the risk of the paint running because of this lovely thing called gravity. 🙂

Front Door Reveal!

If you are a regular follower of my blog you will understand how BIG of a deal the front door was to me. I still cannot believe it is finally done. Truly.

Even though my husband and I are still working on a few added touches to the overall look to the front of our home, I thought I would share the before-and-after of the door itself.

Happy Wednesday -Enjoy!! 🙂

{Click on the photo itself to see a larger version on your screen!}

The Joyful Good-bye

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have tripped across this photo recently…

At a quick glance, this may look like an opening of a garage door. Unfortunately, it is not. As you may have guessed it is our front door, what was left of it anyways. The dimensions of the opening are actually the size of a standard garage door, 8 feet. Mindboggling for a front door, I must say.

There was no better sight, as I have waited for that moment for 3 years now and it finally came. GONE!

Stay tune! Before & Afters on the way, along with cost savings measures and helpful tips!