Today, we are revealing our 2-day Front Porch Entry transformation… let’s just say, never underestimate the power of PAINT!

Here’s BEFORE, where we started…

and the AFTER!

If you haven’t seen our back entry, we had the exterior door painted Sherwin-Williams Tricorn Black earlier this year, and after watching the painter, we knew we could easily tackle painting the front door ourselves.

Here are a couple of tips to help you tackle painting your own door…

Painting Supplies

• 01 Prep : Start by cleaning the surface of your door really well to remove any dirt or marks. If you have glass in your door, like we do, and feel more comfortable taping off those areas, do that first. But, if you would rather not bother, remember you can easily clean the glass up with a razor blade when you are finished painting!
• 02 Start with a Brush : We like to start by using a small angled brush, we love this one because of it’s comfortability, flexibility, and quality! We start by cutting around our hardware and brushing in any of the difficult areas- grooves and insets we have and also around the windows.
• 03 Now the Roller : When you are finished with your first coat of cutting around those areas, we like to use a small high-density roller to help minimize brush strokes and to ensure we are getting an even cover on the first coat.
• 04 Second Coat : After the first coat is dry, we repeat step 02 and 03. Our door only needed two coats and it dried pretty quick- which we think had something to do with the cooler weather.
• 05 Don’t Close the Door Too Soon : Remember, if you are painting the exterior, you will need to paint the edges while the door is open to ensure you are covering everywhere. Just be mindful to not close the door too soon before the paint is dry or else the rubber seal in your door jamb will take the paint off.

Note, our doors are fiberglass and wood composite, they are not real wood. However, the decorative piece on our door which gives it that Craftsman style, is real wood… so we removed that piece prior to painting and gave it a good coat of paint and let that dry before reattaching it with nails and liquid nails.

It was much easier than we anticipated and cannot rave enough about how the Black makes everything pop with the added contrast it creates!

While the door was drying, we gave the trim a fresh coat of paint and touched up some of the siding. It’s amazing how fresh and clean everything looks with a new coat of paint!

We dressed up the front entry with some simple decor including this Northfolk Island Pine in a vintage barrel, a vintage bucket that I painted a quick stripe on to match the door, this indoor/outdoor rug, and this Joy door mat. We also made a wreath with leftover Christmas tree clippings, and other clippings from evergreens in our yard. And finally, hung two fresh garlands (one fir garland from Home Depot, and one Cedar garland from Fresh Market) with nails into our Hardie siding.

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ADDITIONAL SOURCES

• Paint Colors : Door, Sherwin-Williams Tricorn Black | Siding, Benjamin Moore Collingwood | Trim, Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace
• Front Door : 84 Lumber
• Barn Light