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A Front Door Refresh, And One Of My Favorite Tools

My front door has been spooky, and not in a good, Halloweeny-kind of way. {Look at the furball trying to be scary. We all know he’s just a giant teddybear.}

From the street the entry didn’t look too bad, but up close….frightening!!!!

I haven’t really been motivated to put much effort into the front entry, since we have big plans for it eventually. (Read about our grand plan to add curb appeal to our home here.)  We keep getting sidetracked with other money-sucker projects (and the occasional family adventure) so the renovation of this sad little space is on the back burner for now and in the meantime, it’s been looking more and more Sanford & Son as time goes by.

Here is where it started when we bought the house – ho hum. Typical colonial style front door with the pineapple pediment. Poured concrete steps. Rusting wrought iron railing. Storm door, broken and hanging ajar.

My M.O. for the last three years since we’ve moved here has been to distract guests from this eyesore with a pretty pop of color…..

…..but at some point guests have to actually avert their eyes from the distraction to walk up the steps.

One day I finally had enough of the storm door that we had to bang to shut tight, and then conversely  jiggle and bang to open. Hi! Welcome to our house! Can you just hold on a minute while I break into a sweat trying to open the door for you????

On a whim I had my son help me remove the old storm door, and was left with this trim that had glue and holes in it.

What to do? UGH. It always seems that one project leads to another. Not wanting to spend a lot of money on this front door that will be replaced in the future, I went to the hardware store and walked the aisles, thinking on how I could clean this situation up a bit.
LATTICE to the rescue – cheap, lightweight, and easy for a novice woodworker to cut. Using a palm sander I removed as much of the glue as I could from the existing trim, then covered it with lattice that I mitered, and gave all the trim a fresh coat of white paint.
A fuzzy headed boy was my wonderful assistant for this job. Just a couple pieces of lattice, a little wood glue and a few finish nails were all that were needed to make the front door look about 10,000 times better.

Now. My friends, what I am about to tell you, I wish I had read on a blog 3 years ago.
If you are renovating a house yourself, 
INVEST IN A PAINT SPRAYER!!!!!
After 3 years of painting every single room and surface in this house, I finally bought a paint sprayer and it is without a doubt 
ONE OF MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE TOOLS!!!!!
I bought this one, a lower cost model that was $120, and so far it is perfect for my needs.
Once I got the hang of how to use it, I found it to be very easy.
This is not a sponsored post.  I just really can’t believe how awesome my paint sprayer is, and wish I had used it for so many projects! Since I bought it, I have stained our deck and railings, painted the garage doors and garage trim, and painted oodles of furniture starting, with the bar cart.
It’s NOT for every single project – many times a brush coat is necessary. However, as a longtime DIYer, here are a few things I think a sprayer is amazing for:
Stair spindles – one of the most tedious things to paint EVER. Painting mine was the bane of my existence, oh how I wish I sprayed them! (PS you can see my stair reno here.)
Chairs with spindles. 
Anything with spindles. 🙂
Wicker furniture – spraying is 1000x better than brushing, so you can get into all the nooks and crannies.
Cabinets.
Bed frames.
Brick – again, all those nooks and crannies.
Paneling – wish I had my sprayer when I did my mom’s basement!
I bet you can guess what I painted my front door with! With a Saint Bernard as a family member, it’s necessary to freshen up the front door with paint on a frequent basis. Once or twice a year I touch it up, but occasionally it needs the full monty – a full sanding and thorough paint job.
The sprayer I bought does not overspray very much – the spray is very controlled. However, preparation is key.
Have you seen this trick of using tinfoil to cover hardware when painting? It was perfect for the whale’s tail door knocker (which looks a little demonic covered up – maybe I should have left it for Halloween?)
A combo of tinfoil and painters tape on the door handle and plate. I used a razor to cut around the tape around plate for a perfect fit. All the trim got covered with newspaper.

When using a sprayer, the paint is diluted with water to thin out the consistency, so I sprayed the door twice. Since I used water-based paint, these thin coats dried really quickly – maybe 20 minutes or so.

And voila! Much better.

The finish with a sprayer is SO smooth – no brush strokes, and barely any drip marks that are so common when painting a paneled door.

You may have noticed that one of the railings is missing….the day I took down the storm door, I also pulled out the railing which was completely rusted and leaning. If only it’s mate was rusty too, I would love to get rid of it!

However, I’m happy with this quick and easy refresh, and it has me thinking I could stand to live with our front entry as is a little longer. In three months when there’s no end in sight to this……

perhaps we spend our “front door fund” on a trip to someplace like this????

{via}

AHHHH that is much more attractive than a front door, now isn’t it????? 🙂

I’ll be back tomorrow to show you a cute little piece of furniture the sprayer helped bring back to life. Have a wonderful Monday, friends!

I’m linking up with Marty’s Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life, be sure to visit her wonderful blog for oodles of ideas!

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Comments

  1. Dana Frieling says

    I'd definitely be distracted by your pretty flowers. I have a sprayer sitting in my garage waiting for me to take the time to learn how to use it. You've inspired me…so many projects! Your door looks totally refreshed.

    Reply

  2. Vel Criste says

    Wow! You were right to fix that door and I really think you did a fantastic job! Glad the snow didn't come while you were spraying the door! We have a sprayer too, which I've never use, just my hubs, so kudos to you on just the mere using of it!!!!

    Reply

  4. Nancy C. says

    Thank you for this post. I have just painted my front door black, and now we need to replace the door hardware. I have been wondering if the door hardware needs to match the light fixtures, and seeing that yours doesn't answers my question. It looks beautiful. You did a great job. (And BTW, I love your "typical" colonial front door. I live in California, and a colonial front door would unusual here.)

    Reply

  11. pam {simple details} says

    Wow!! You and your partner did an awesome job, it looks very New England! You know how you feel about sewing machines, that's how I feel about paint sprayers! Maybe I'd be sold if you did a video for us! 🙂

    Reply

  13. Jenny says

    Girl, I hear you! I looooove my paint sprayer – my best DIY investment to date! I'm trying to knock out my front door redo before Old Man Winter arrives too – great minds! 🙂

    Your door looks fantastic! There is something about classic black front doors that I can't resist! Well done.

    Reply

  15. NanaDiana says

    The flowers are so pretty, Lisa. The front door is looking mucho better! And, that last picture-well, that is where my heart lies! Hope you have a great week- xo Diana

    Reply

  16. Nancy {at} powellbrower at home says

    Great job and I know it is so rewarding to fix something that has nagged you for so long. Your flowers on your porch are soooo beautiful. I even HAVE a sprayer but I have never used it cause I think it will be a pain to clean.. I know, dumb. Gotta read the directions and dust it off. Those pictures of the beach are already pulling at me. Good luck with the winter weather this year!
    xo Nancy

    Reply