I took a leap of faith this weekend and finally dove into repainting the front door. Again. I posted about our original door ages ago. Here’s a quick recap:

When we bought the house the entry looked like the photo below. Nothing terrible. But nothing special either. It also happened to match all of the other front doors in the neighborhood (burgundy, navy, hunter green). We also weren’t feeling the black kickplate. It was cutting off the door and made everything feel sort of shorter.

About 6 months after we moved in (and 3 months after we had O) I got the wild hair to paint the door teal. I wanted something brighter, bolder, and unique. Teal is one of my favorite colors so why not? (Side note: I once lived in a purple Victorian with magenta trim and teal accents as a kid. I’m not afraid of color. My parents still had a purple front door until last summer. Color crazy is in the family.) I also removed the kick plate since I figured I’d be able to reattach it if we changed our mind. But then I realized it was a brass and had been spray painted black… removing the screws prompted it to begin to chip and peel. Happy accident? I think so. Below is the teal door sans kick plate.

For a while I just stood back and admired the door. I loved it but something was missing. A few weeks later Molly and I grabbed some black trim paint on a whim when we were out getting other things. It took two coats but it was the best decision ever because it really made the door pop and the house feel more cohesive with black shutters, light fixtures and trim. I posted about the trim here. PS- You can see the giant half dead tree that we just had removed in the pic below too.

Alas, I was ready for change again. Hubby insisted that the teal door had really grown on him and had urged me to reconsider. But he went out of town last week and so I had a little paint fun. Of course, I knew that I may have to paint it back to teal again if this blew up in my face. That’s where the leap of faith came in. I popped into Ace on my way home from work and chose a paint color on the spot. Perk: The guys there know me now and gathered around to help me chose a color to pop against the black trim. With their help, I chose Mill Springs Blue by Benjamin Moore. It has a sort of washed-out mint vibe. I had it color matched to a paint and primer combo quart of Clark+Kensington outdoor semigloss. I was looking at the lighter swatch “Covington”  right next to it but Molly gets the credit on selling me on a slightly darker tone (via text) and going with the Mills Springs Blue.

I did the project in stages over the next few days. After all, this was done after work, dinner, O’s bath and bed so I usually only had an hour before sunset. Basically, one day I did a new coat of black on the trim while Molly scraped and repainted the mailbox. Then the next night I wiped the door down with vinegar/water and then liquid deglosser that I had left over from the sofa table project and I did the first coat of my new grayed out minty green color. As you can tell below, the two colors are very different. At first I worried that this may be a disaster.

But after the first coat I was really loving the cooled down effect of a softer color. O liked it too.

The second coat stole my heart. Seriously perfect. Although the front stoop is a bit bare (planters are on my list), I’m really feeling our new mini-makeover.

Boom! Here’s a close up of the pop effect the black and mint have together. Yummy.

Yes, I still painted the inside of the door. Its just a tradition now! I think that the cool tone of the soft green really meshes with the rest of the inside decor which is mostly grays, creams, and some sea-glass tones with pops of white, wood and yellows/oranges.

Above is the view from the corner of the family room at the banister/half-wall and below is the view from the kitchen entry where it meets the hallway at the top of the steps. Now I think just need to get something for above the door but I’m blanking on ideas.  Thoughts?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Paint can make some really amazing changes for a reasonable cost.