Around the House

 With Spring always comes the desire to spruce up our house. 

Actually, who am I kidding?  I'm a designer, that desire is constant!

Regardless, Spring seems to be when we do most of our work.

I mentioned earlier this week our new kitchen accent wall.  I had originally planned on painting the wall behind our oven a great orange color.  But the more I thought about it, I decided to do the window wall in a light, gray blue.

But to appreciate the after, you have to see the before.

During

After! We LOVE it.

I love how it makes it feel like the wall and sky are all one.  I am all about natural light.

(Ironically these photos were taken at night but you know what I mean ;) )

But now I really want new countertops...

(We used Tinsel Beam by Valspar)

Our next newest addition is a rug in the living room. 

Last week I caught wind that Rugs USA was having a 75% off sale. (PS it is still going on...)

 I had been toying with the idea of a new rug lately and this was just the push I needed. 

I am BEYOND obsessed with it.

It is SO bright and amazing.

But now we need new pillows...darn  

Floyd is also a huge fan and hasn't stopped laying on it.  The moment I unrolled it he promptly laid down on it.

Thirdly, a few weeks ago I put up a new gallery wall in the stairwell.

Sorry Mom, I totally spray painted those candle holders from my grandparents...

I love gallery walls and I really love walls filled with friends, family and travel pictures. 

One of my other most favorite ways to spruce up your house in the Spring is to paint you front door...a super bright color is even better!  It is wasn't a sort of big undertaking, I would change ours every season. 

DIY : How to Paint a Front Door (in 5 steps!)

Remember way back when I teased you guys with the idea of painting our front door?

Well it happened (forever ago it feels) and I've yet to blog about it.

(oh the horror!)

So without any further adieu...the painting of the front door.

(please excuse my various outfits in these photos, this was not a quick process and took a few days to complete.  Also I was headed out the door to go shopping in one of the final ones, clearly not in paint clothes.)

 Items needed:

Paint (duh)

Primer

Rubber roller

Tape

Sanding block

Small sponge brush

Vaseline (what?! I'll explain later)

Patience (optional)

Wine (not optional)

Four legged (sleepy) general contractor 

Step 1: Sand, clean and prep the door with tape.  Don't forget to cover your hardware!

Step 2: Paint door with 1-2 coats of primer.  We only did one coat and looking back we really should have done two.  Our door is metal and really absorbed a lot of the paint.

*Tip: use the end of the rubber roller to get the paint the indents and details of the door.

 Step 3: Allow primer to dry completely.  We left ours overnight to ensure it was really dry.

 Step 4: Begin painting! Use the end of the roller or the small sponge to get into all the nooks and crannies.

Be sure you let the paint dry completely between coats! Because of the nature of our door (metal) it really showed roller marks, especially if I started another coat before the first was totally dry (not that I did that or anything...). 

We ended up having to do 4 coats of the red.  I think this was due partially to the red paint, the metal door and that we should have used a second coat of primer.

BUT, I still love the way it looks...just fyi for next time, right?

Step 5: Here's where the Vaseline comes in!

Even if you think your door is 100% dry, this can come in handy.

Smear a small amount of Vaseline around all of the edges of the door before you close it.

(this was 3 coats in, we did one more after this)

 This is so that if the paint is the least bit tacky (or it's humid out) it keeps the paint from sticking to the weather stripping.

Isn't that a handy tip? I can take 0 credit for it because my boss filled me on that BUT it worked like a charm! 

Any questions, feel free to ask!

What do you think?