Front Door Makeover

Last week was a very busy week.  Along with finding a new china cabinet I completed a project I have been wanting to do for some time.  I admit I was spurred into action to repaint my front door with the wonderful drop of cooler temps and a hardy dose of front door envy.    After seeing so many of you transform your doors into something you are proud of I decided it was time for me to just do it!

This is how my front door looked prior to the new paint job.  It is missing the door knocker in this photo because I took it off to repaint it with ORB.

It was a nice tan color that really complimented our house very well.  I have been wanting to repaint the front door black for sometime but have been putting it off because this door was painted with oil based paint, and I totally despise oil based paint.  When we bought the house it had green doors that I changed to this color and they were oil based paint, so rather then take the time and effort it would take to go to latex then, I just used oil based paint again.  I vividly remember it was a night mare!  Oil based takes forever to dry and you really have to have just the right temps for it to apply effectively on an outside door.  I vowed never again!

Thus every time I thought I wanted to change the color to black I hesitated because I wasn't ready to face the process.  Last week though, I decided it was high time to bite the bullet and do the ground work!

I am so glad I finally did!  Here is my door all primed and ready for latex now!  I have to say that this step was far easier then I had been imagining.  I guess with the weather being just right it made all the difference.

I also decided to prime the sidelights too since I don't think I have ever painted them since living here and wasn't sure if they were oil based or not.  I let it all dry overnight, then repainted both the front door and my sidelights the next day.  Here is my front porch now, finally finished and ready for the seasons with a fresh coat of paint.

What a nice sharp contrast that black is.  I just love it!

I have left my door handle and lock brass for now.  I would like to either change it out or repaint it.  I painted my door knocker with ORB as a tester to see how well the paint will hold out before I try it on the handle.  You can just barely see the door knocker in this photo.  It is hiding behind my witch sign.  My wreath has seen several seasons already and really needs to be updated but I didn't want to tackle that this year.

For Halloween I take the lazy way out and just hang this little wooden witch on my fall wreath.  Then afterwards I take it off and it's fall again for the rest of the season.

My front poor is a mixture of fall and Halloween right now.  I really don't go all out for Halloween, but I do have a few pieces that I have accumulated over the years, and consider them classics.

My large clay jack-o-lanterns always greet our guests on the way up the stairs.  I also like to put Mums on the opposite steps but just haven't made it out to the garden center yet.

On the left side of my front door, my old washstand got a little fall fix up.

I have a mixture of old Indian corn and faux corn in the window basket.  I would like to find some larger faux gourds, and pumpkins and such to also add, any ideas where?

Of course my sassy Roo wanted the fall fix up too!  You know he has quite easily gotten into the habit of expecting me to give him special attention each season now.  Be careful what you start!

On the right side of the front door a little fall is mixed in with a little Halloween.

I added this bench recently after moving the planters down at the end of the steps, I am loving how it is another great place to add vignettes.  My iron topiary looks great without the old faux ivy leaves and is a great compliment to the large iron topiary I moved up from the back yard.

They both got a little fall treatment and look wonderful next to my grapevine pumpkin and the electric jack-o-lantern.   But look, I think I may have some trouble going on here.  It looks like an old witch must be around.  Surely that stuff doesn't belong to me!  Ahhh,hhaaaa,haaah,hee,hee!  Cackle-cackle!

It's a Metamorphosis Monday, and things are changing fast.  Please be sure and visit more friends for more changes!  Thanks for visiting today!  Have a great day!