Thursday, May 3, 2012

Front Porch Makeover:: Before and After

Last week I painted the inside of the front door black, click here to see the before and after.  It was so nice to finally get a coat of paint on those orange-y oak colored doors!  
My next project was to beautify the other side of those doors and make our front porch look a little more welcoming.  We come in through the garage so I hadn't noticed how neglected it was looking until we started working on the flower beds in the front. 
Here's a pic right after we bought the house.  That's the original 1970's avocado green paint on the trim, shutters and front door. And those two bushes were the only landscaping in the front. 
Sorry about the quality of this photo.....it's an iPhone picture of a picture. ;)
Shortly after moving in we took down the shutters, painted the trim a creamy off white color to go with the brick and painted the front door dark brown.  Or what I thought was dark brown but it turned out to be more like chocolate brown with a green hue that I lovingly referred to as baby poop brown.
Ok it doesn't look that bad in the picture. 
So the first step was to paint the front door black.  I sanded down all the flat panel pieces which is what you see in the photo above. 
I put the first coat on last Tuesday while the boys were at school. 
And here's what it looked like after painting the sides which took me two hours.  
It takes along time to paint all those curves next to the glass! 

It looked like this for the next 5 days due to high humidity.  
In the meantime, I planted flowers in my planters.   
 And here it is after two coats of black paint!  
I love how it looks so nice and clean and less baby poop-y.

I added a new Ballard Designs Geometric indoor/outdoor rug I scoured for $19! 
They still have them on sale if you want one! 
 Here's a closeup of what I planted: lambs ear on the left which was free (I transplanted it from my flower bed in the backyard), purple Coleus ($1), and white Geraniums ($1 on clearance).  
Not bad for $2!!
It looks so much better!
Now I won't be embarrassed when we have company over and they come in through the front door. 
BEFORE
AFTER

I hope you enjoyed my latest before and after project, I'm really happy with it.  I just hope I can remember to water those flowers!!!
Linking up to the parties on my sidebar.
~Beth

10 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks Comeca for always leaving nice comments on my little projects! :)

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  2. Wow, what a difference, it looks great!!!

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  3. Great transformation and what a difference paint color can make! The baby poop brown comment made me smile. :-) Our home is also a 70's special with a front door very similar to yours, AND is currently brown. I can't wait to start painting...thanks for the inspiration!

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    1. Hi Sharla!
      Thanks for stopping by by the ole blog and commenting on my front door. It's so nice to meet a fellow Texas blogger and yes, our front doors look almost the same!! I can't wait to see how it turns out!
      I'm so jealous that you have horses, my daughter and I want a horse sooo bad!
      ~Beth

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  4. Nice to meet you! Was my blog linked up in Kelly's Friday blog hop??? If so that's news to me. Hahaha!

    Loved going through your home make-over posts. We're moving in to a 70s home (maybe in the same area???) with the same door and I was just thinking how it'd need to be painted black ;)

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    1. I thought that's how I came across your blog or maybe someone else had you listed on their's??? Great, now I sound like a stalker! ha ha.

      I love the home you're moving in to and your post about the woman being there when you went by with the kids. It actually made me tear up!
      ~Beth

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  5. Love the makeover! From the little you showed our houses are very similar in front. We only have a single door, no windows on the side, but we have a great big window to one side (that's the school room) and the other window is our girls' room. Glad to meet you! What area are you in in dfw? If you're not comfortable saying on here you can email me at talesfromthenuthouse@gmail.com
    How old are you'd kiddos? Mine are (almost) 5, 3 1/2, and 2 1/2

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    1. Sounds like my house! My daughter is 5 and my boys are 2 but everyone will be turning a year older in about 2 months, yikes!

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