the domino effect

We painted the front doors. Yep- there's technically 2 of them. Our front door obviously faces the street, and our carport door that goes from carport to the laundry also faces the street.

I had shared that while we were painting new and old siding on the house that I was suddenly faced with the challenge of a front door color. I have ALWAYS wanted to paint these doors, but I knew new siding would be coming and I didn't want to jump the gun. So here is where the domino effect comes in... tan siding was painted gray-blue shutters didn't work with gray, so shutters need to be changed. Because the shutters and the front door were the same color that means the door color needs to be changed, and because the carport door was changed, the laundry room needed to be painted. YUP when I feel like I am up to my eyeballs in paint it is NO JOKE. (sneak peek at the laundry room)
I was wrestling between 3 colors I really liked for the front doors- yellow, black, or aqua. We have now decided to paint the shutters black- call it a childhood dream? I always wanted a gray house with black shutters. Classic? Maybe a little. With so much being talked about whimsical front door colors I was immediately on board.

Our old front door color? Yawn.

Plus the front door was really showing some wear. The paint was chipping from the intense western sun that it's exposed to everyday.
The carport door was in much better condition because
#1- it never sees sunlight.
#2- we painted it when we installed it 2 years ago. The front door was that color before we moved in (over 4 years ago).

When I saw this article in Better Homes and Gardens (Sept. 2012) I knew bright it was. I must admit I was more sold on a yellow than any other color, BUT a yellow front door with black shutters... I just couldn't get past feelings of bumblebees.
Black doors are really in right now (especially for interior doors), but that just seemed boring and not our style. I did entertain the idea of painting the front door black and the carport door yellow (because there are no shutters or anything black in the carport), but I still wasn't sold on a black front door.

So aqua it was. I found a color on pinterest I liked, but unfortunately Home Depot couldn't figure out how to color match it. It was called "Crystal Aqua" by Valspar. I guess that's what I get for finding a paint color on pinterest! So I just went to the paint chips and grabbed a few that I thought I would like. "Sweet Rhapsody" by Behr ended up being the perfect mixture of aqua and brightness. (Also I swiped the paint chip before I read that magazine article. Isn't it weird how close the color is??)

Like when I look at it all I think about is a giant sprinkle on top of birthday cake ice cream. Yum.

It also crossed my mind to paint the front door aqua and the carport door yellow. You honestly can't see the carport door from the road. But I figured that if on the slim chance someone really strained their eyes to look at the 2 doors simultaneously, it would look a little too rainbow bright.

I did give the back of the carport door a coat of white paint. Although it is "trendy" to paint interior doors black,  I also need to remember that we live in 1400 square feet of "every inch needs to be used wisely". Dark doors would close the living room (where the front door leads into) and the laundry room (where the carport door leads into) in. I just used semi-gloss white interior paint tinted to "Moon Rise" by Behr <--- gorgeous creamy crisp white!

I used Behr exterior semi-gloss paint on the outside of the doors. I am sure the color will fade with time (esp. on the front door). I do plan to add vinyl letters/numbers to it like I did with the old front door ( I peeled the vinyl off before the before and after picture).
I think I'll go with black or brown vinyl this time too to accent the new Oil Rubbed Bronze hardware!
Oh yeah did I mention all I did was spray paint our old ones??
and I couldn't resist spraying the key... it just makes it blend so well!
I am absolutely LOVING this color! It seems like I become more aware of things when we are doing similar projects to our house- like when we were planning on getting a new roof all I did was look at roofs as we drove around. Now? All I notice is front doors. And there are alot of boring front doors out there!!

Will I eventually get tired of the aqua? Maybe. All it takes is a quart of paint and an hour of work whenever my feelings toward it change! When Josh saw it he was like "Wow. That's not a color I ever imagined that you'd pick!" That's his way of saying he really liked it ;)

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