DIY // Front Door Color Pop

It’s taken me months, but this weekend I finally committed to a door color. If you recall I was debating on one of the four following colors from the Martha Stewart Living collection at Home Depot…

On Friday I made a decision (with Jared’s help) and Saturday I bought a full gallon of one of these hues.  If you are like me, buying a can of paint is super exciting.  I can’t keep it sitting unopened in my house.  I HAVE to open it immediately and get to work, which is what we did Saturday night.  I don’t recommend doing this by the way.  You’ll see why later in this post.

While you can paint a door while it’s vertical, it’s not recommended, especially if you are going with a bold or dark color.  You really want to be able to load the door up with paint, which you can’t do if it’s hanging.  Plus, it’s much easier to sand the door down if it’s laying flat.

After a good sanding to knock off the old gloss and smooth out some bubbling, I used painters tape to edge the windows and sides of the door.  I don’t typically  rely on painters tape when I paint walls.  I find edging with a brush and a steady hand to be more accurate, but in this case the tape was necessary.

And now for the exciting part!  The color is…

Butterscotch!  When I opened the can Jared remarked it looked like a big can of pumpkin pie filling.  As with most bold colors, it looks totally different wet than dry.

We finished the first coat as night was falling.  As I noted before, this probably wasn’t the wisest time of day to start a project like this.  We hammered sheets over our doors and went to bed.  In the morning, they were STILL tacky.  Luckily, I managed to get a second coat on and let them dry just before the rain started.

Somehow, the two of us managed to get the heavy wooden door back up on the hinges ourselves.  I’m super pleased with how the door turned out.  Check it out…

Wahoo!  It’s so warm and friendly!  I think we’re the only orange door in the neighborhood too.  It’s going to be beautiful in autumn and will look lovely surrounded by greens this winter.  I still want to change out the knocker and handle at some point.

So what do you think?  Did we make the right choice?  If we get tired of it by next summer, it’s an easy enough change to make.  Maybe I’ll try one of the other three colors we considered.  But for now, I’m loving this happy hue.  Let me know if you have any questions about the color or the process.

And in case you were wondering, photos of the completed house exterior is coming soon!  Very soon!  You get a little sneak peek today, but that’s all.

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