Tan on Tan on Tan (And Baby Ferns)

Guys. I have a tan house. With tan trim. And a tan door. That's a lot of tan.

Especially when you consider that we were working with a dirt lot with little vegetation to be found? Sad, colorless, monochromatic house. I mean, it's really a lovely house, and I still pinch myself as I drive up to it... I live here! This is my home! But all the tan hurt my brain a little bit. I wanted something that looked welcoming and cheerful...
Obviously a bright color door was just the wink that our house needed, don't you think?

So I told my husband I was going to paint our front door something cheerful, and his response was, of course, what? Why? Whats wrong with the color it is?
But I plowed ahead, undeterred. I polled my friends, I gathered swatches, I taped stuff to the door and stared at it for days... And I decided on a really nice plum color that I was quite excited about, then I made the mistake of asking my husband what he thought of my color choice and he just sighed and said, Please don't paint my door purple.
Okay, first of all, it's plum, not purple. And it's a LOVELY color!     ...but I decided to go with something a little less bold, because in the grand scheme of things a door color is not a HUGE life commitment. So I thought I'll ease the hubs into it, and then we'll punch the color up a notch next year if I need more...

So I selected a lovely green called "Baby Fern" that was somewhere between an apple green and a muted ferny color. I put on the first coat... oh man, it looked tinkerbell city. But I remembered advice of some of my fav DIY bloggers, Young House Love, when they say the middle always looks crazy. This was not the end of the vision... this was the start with only one coat of paint. So I didn't panic yet.
It took three even coats for full coverage. I painted slowly and carefully and made sure to allow adequate drying time between each coat because I wanted the door to look smooth and streak/brush stroke free. Once it was done...

(Oh, Hai Charlie!) I was pleased with the result! Much happier.
But remember the crazy in the middle part? This is still the middle. Yes the green door is happy and brighter, but just the green door on the tan house with the dirt yard was honestly not a HUGE improvement. This still the middle... it's coming, it's coming, it's coming! And the more finished the yard became, the more the door makeover made sense-- Even to the husband and my father who weren't believers in the Baby Fern magic.
Oh, but also, while I was in the business of painting doors and distributing magic, I decided the back of the house needed love too...

Because this guy didn't even have any trim to boast! Saaaaaaad. But not to fear, a few hours and a few coats of paint later....

...and he was boasting a brighter outlook on life as well. Actually, ignore the bottom right corner of that pic where there's a sneak peak of beauty to come. (this pic was actually taken a few weeks later, oops.) But I was happy all the way around with what a quart of Baby Fern exterior paint did to perk up my house.
A few weeks later I was chatting with one of our neighbors, and she commented on what a transformation the exterior of our house had been through. She specifically mentioned how much she loved the happy green door, it made her smile!
It makes me smile too!
But this isn't the last you will see of that front door... more magic to come! What about you? Anyone else painting their door this fall???

MAKE THIS: New Old Door Shelf

Many many months ago I saw THIS picture on Little Birdie Secrets Blog and knew I must have a corner shelving unit made from an old door. So I searched Craigslist and found someone gettin rid of some old doors. He even delivered then to me. Awesome.

My project was well on it's way, however I needed some help becuase I am not wood-working and nail-gun kind of crafty, BUT my Dad is. He said he would be delighted to help me. He didn't have time that very day... so the door landed in our basement where it has been sitting for anout 7 months now.
Until this weekend when my dad appeared on our doorstep telling me that this door project was on his "Before Christmas Bucket List" (my dad actually said that, He is pretty much adorable) and he and Z ran to his shop for the afternoon with my old door and a picture.

They came back wiht a shelving unit that just neeed a new coat of paint. (Actually some sanding during their project exposed several shades of beige, yellow, and a color somewhere between mint and gangreen. ew.) So we put a couple coats on in the backyard. Just flat black, to match my red/black/white kitchen.

I am really into antique keys and doorknobs right now too, so imagine my delight to find a door with a pretty antique glass handle, an old-school key hole, and a dad who understands my obsessions and does his best to work around my desires even as he is shaking his head thinking it's silly.

Once it made it to it's final resting place in the kitchen we did a little bit of touch up painting... then moved it to the corner.

The plan for this puppy all along has been COFFEE BAR. Okay maybe not a complete bar... but my husband has this $200 coffee machine that we just don't have the counter space for (remember how my kitchen is teeeeeeny?) So I made sure the shelves could hold that coffee maker... along with our pretty red and black mugs, french press and other coffee accoutrements. Well, eventually it will be a tad more decoratively (is that a word?) appealing than this (and, you know, without the dog's water dish in the middle of the floor right in front of it... ) but we just started throwing stuff, ugly packaging and all ont he shelves. I really really like the way it turned out. It looks OH SO cute in my little kitchen.

Thank you Daddy and Z-- the handy men in my life-- for making my cute little idea a reality in my kitchen! :)

I linked to...


http://www.pollywantacrafter.com/2010/11/craft-link-party-9.html