Front Door Project Progress

Matt and I have several little projects going on around the house. One is the front door.... trying to change it up, make it a little neater with more curb appeal. Our house is brown and pretty plain and hidden among (ahem!) A LOT of pine trees. We love it, actually, but after 18 years it was time to change it up a little. And - as usual for me - I forgot to take before photos!

Here are the inspiration pages from B&HG DIY magazine, Spring 2012 edition. I liked the pop of color used on the door, the pretty doormat, the plants, and I especially loved, loved, loved the hanging initial planter!! I liked other things about it, too, but those were the main things I decided to try to add to our front door area.

Step 1: Paint the door from red (which I loved) to a bright, happy Olympic yellow coneflower (which I love, too!). We also replaced the old storm door and painted the railings black to match the storm door frame and the existing lights. The black may be too much.... still trying to decide but it's easy enough to go back to brown if need be.

Step 2: Added plants in colorful pots up the stairs.

Step 3: Recruited our fantastically talented DIY-er neighbor and friend "D" to make our "F" planter. Always up for a challenge, D pulled it off better than I could have ever imagined! Here he is on our porch with his primed "F". (Love him!) Yes, that's chicken wire that is removable to hold in the dirt/moss.

Step 4: Painted the "F" with the same paint we used on the front door, then Matt & I packed it with sphagnum peat moss, and planted the little succulents. Then it was time to wait for the plants to take hold and get real comfy in their new home. We planned to wait a week or so but it turned into more like a month due to other projects. :-)

Step 5: So, ta-da!! Here it is! (And you can see one of mine and Matt's most favorite material possessions still hanging front and center on the door - an old fish door knocker saved from a friend's house who thought it was rather ugly. Maybe so, but we think ugly often mean "has character!")

We had a slight mishap with the "F" taking a tumble and I need to fill in some holes with new succulents picked up yesterday at Lowe's. We're just hoping they live in our rather shady front door area. Still lots we (ahem - I!) want to do to make our front door more welcoming, but this is huge progress. If I waited until everything was perfect to post, I'd never show it to you!! So, here's our Front Door Project Progress to date! 

Have a wonderful day, bloggy friends!