New Front Door! And New Colors!

I absolutely loved our original wood front door. It was pretty and let light in without giving up too much privacy. But our beloved Angus destroyed it due to his absolute hatred for our mailman. Sadly, Angus died about a year ago, but that meant that we could get our new door that we needed desperately.  We had it installed by a contractor who worked on our addition - we loved his finish work so we knew he was the right one for the job.

Handy Hubby then did a bunch of coats of paint on the front - we ended up with Sherwin Williams Loyal Blue (after a brief stint with SW Bosphorous which I did not like at all).  And here she is looking all pretty for fall. I love how the orange and gold pop against the blue. So pretty!

But on the inside, I decided to jump on the painted door train. Wow. I'm glad I did!

It's the perfect way to introduce a bit more gray into our living room.  The color is Sherwin Williams Serious Gray (which we also used in my son's room). Also, that entry rug is from HomeGoods! 

Winter Wreath

Winter is a daunting decorating task for me. I really like Valentine's Day (especially now that we have kids), but the other aspects of winter don't really call to me. So, what to do with the door. I pinned some door decor ideas on Pinterest (see that here). The greens and whites seem to speak to me.  I started searching high and low for a wreath that fit the bill but of course the stores all have spring and Easter wreaths out (it's January people!!!). Nothing just green. So, I was determined to make something. I always have a grapevine wreath ready for customizing in the attic. I went to Michael's expecting to pick up a bunch of sprigs but found nothing that fit the bill, or they were $4.99 per stem. No thanks.  Finally, I wandered into the garland section. Aha! Lots of green. Grabbed a pussy willow stem for some white and was on my way.

About 10 minutes after I got home, I put together this wreath.

I won't insult your intelligence with a tutorial. Just wrap the garland around and tuck in the ends. Voila.

Happy Tuesday!

Wreath Re-Hanging

I revealed my front stoop on Wednesday but it really bugged me that it was hard to see the wreath. This has always been a problem - especially since we added the roof over the porch which makes more of a shadow and reflection over the door.

I "had" to go to the Container Store for some Elfa pieces and I found this.

So cool - 2 strong magnets that hold through glass. No nails, glue, wire, etc.

I love the sun on our house late in the afternoon.

Here's a close-up of how it works.

Wish I had thought of this!

Linking to: Southern Hospitality, Between Naps on the Porch

Fall Front Stoop

I love decorating our front stoop for fall. No idea why. Maybe it's the trick-or-treat factor, but that's a whole other level.  Although I don't love fall (because winter follows closely behind) I do like fall decorating.

I showed you the family room mantel on Monday and today here's my front stoop decorated for fall.

Honestly, I've gone back and forth with the configuration and landed on this after a bit. It may not stay the same once the jack-o-lanterns join the fray. 

The wreath was from Home Goods (I think) a year or two ago. I'm thinking about hanging it on the storm door but haven't quite figured out how that will work yet. I'll keep you posted.

That gas meter is irking me. So ugly and matte gray against the brick. Hmmmm.

How is your fall decorating going?

Linking to: Thrifty Decor Chick

Banning Plastic Ugliness

From the title, you would think that I am throwing away the kids outdoor toys! But no... I'm not sure we would survive without that kind of plastic ugliness! Instead, I am talking about this plastic ugliness which is haunts our driveway. 

The black and white vent is for our tankless hot water heater, and the white one is for the high efficiency furnace, both housed in our basement utility/storage room. This kind of stuff doesn't bother a lot of people because it's part of the house. It makes me crazy though. 

So Handy Hubby goes out for a quick run and I grab the can of plastic spray paint before he has even turned the corner. Same can from this project last month which got me thinking about other stuff to remake.  I used some old boxes from our recycling bin to mask off the surrounding area. The black one had a rubber flange which made it easy to slide stuff behind it. I made sure not to spray directly into the intake (thus the blue tape).

 

And now... voila!

I think it looks loads better and I won't have to cringe at the glaring white tube sticking out of my house. Of course now that patched grout stands out a lot more. It's not quite as obvious as it looks in the picture but it's definitely different. Any ideas on what I could apply to darken it only slightly?

Quick fix for an ugly problem

We had an ugly little problem which detracted from our home's curb appeal. Most people probably didn't notice it but I noticed it every time I pulled in the driveway or went out on the front porch. It was this...

Can you see it?  Here's the close-up.

It's actually a pipe connected to our basement sump pump which pumps the water out to the street. It's ugly. And white. Which is not a nice contrast with dark brick.

I was tired of it. So, I picked up a can of this -

available here

Of course I didn't want to spray the surrounding brick so I rigged up a shield with an old box which was headed for the recycling anyway.

I also taped off around where the pipe goes into the house so the brick there wouldn't get too much over spray. Sorry, I forgot to photograph that part. And apologies for the darkness of these pictures. I did this at about 8 p.m. last night when the temperature finally dipped below 90 as recommended on the paint can.

And now we have this...

So much better and I won't think about how ugly it is every time I pull into the driveway. We have a few other pipes for our downspouts in back which I may give the same treatment so they blend in a bit more. Unfortunately the plastic paint doesn't come in tons of colors so it's harder to find a good match to the dark green-brown siding. Brown/espresso may be the best option because it at least blends with our brick foundation (which goes all the way around) and mulch.

Did you do any quick fix projects this weekend?

Linking to -

House Tour Room-by-Room Link-up Party: Front Porch, Stoop, & Door

Summer will officially arrive this week, although it has been here weather-wise for quite a while!  So, it's time to get those front doors and porches ready for the good weather. I love walking around the neighborhood admiring everyone's door colors and wreaths. Now I get to cruise around my virtual neighborhood and see all of my blog-buddy's doors and porches with this week's house tour link-up party!

I've done quite a bit of work on our curb appeal this year. We got our flag out for Memorial Day weekend, of course.

 A few weeks before I realized we had never filled the holes and repaint the spot where the flag bracket was prior to the renovation. Woops.

 I got out some spackle and fixed the holes and Handy Hubby (with my Handy Dad looking on) sanded it down and repainted before Alex's birthday party. Considerably better now!

I had added some tickweed perennials as well as some liriope grass to fill the border. I also added a couple of knock-out roses which aren't flowering yet. Maybe they are deciding whether they like their new location and whether they want to stick around and put on a show.

 I also filled my urns with new plants for summer but they still need some more height so I need to get some spiky plants to define them a bit more.

Not sure if I ever pointed out the view from the street to our screen porch. I love waving to our neighbors walking or driving by when we sit out there.

Here's a shot of our mailbox which caused me a lot of heartburn to find. Most mailboxes are horizontal but we didn't have enough space between our shutters and door frame. I finally found this one online. No idea where because it was more than 5 years ago!

 Here's the wreath that my mom made for me about 3 years ago while we were renovating.

 I love the yellow and purple with the fun poppy accent.

Now it's your turn - let's see your front door, front porch, stoop, walkway, or whatever other curb appeal you have to show-off. As always, torn up and in-progress posts are more than welcomed! Please don't forget to add my button or link to your post or blog.



And here's my party button!

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Spring Wreath and SPRING DECOR LINK-UP PARTY!

When I held Kim's shower at my house a few weeks ago, I decided to get a jump start on a spring wreath which could do double-duty for the shower and for early spring.

Here's what I started with: $5 grapevine wreath from A.C. Moore; 5 pink silk roses ($1 each special at A.C. Moore); fishing line; and ribbon.

I started by sliding the roses into the grapevine wreath, one at a time and staggering them so they look like they are growing up the side of the wreath (sort of).

I trimmed the ends of the silk flowers.

I added some ribbon - toile to match the shower theme, but with some pink wired ribbon under it to keep it from being limp.

Now, it's your turn. Link up your spring decor ideas - crafts, floral arrangements, mantels, vignettes, etc.

p.s. Congrats to Katie on winning last week's giveaway! More details here. 

Halloween Spooktacular!

I am fairly certain that a few of my young neighbors are avoiding our house right now because it looks extra creepy for Halloween!  My 4 1/2 year old daughter is obsessed with Halloween (as am I) so I really wanted to take it over the top this year.  I absolutely love it!  Here are some day pictures:

 

 And some spooky night shots (sorry about some of the blurriness - I need a tripod!) -

I was totally inspired by Mrs. Limestone's over the top Halloween decor last year.  I followed her advice on the skeletons from Oriental Trading Company.  I used heavy duty fishing line (60 lb capacity) which I picked up at my local hardware store.  The chain hanging from the second story window was purchased last year for our pirate ship wagon (ok, so maybe this isn't the first year I went over the top).  I also bought a large bag of "cobwebs" from the Halloween store for about $8.  This stuff is incredibly cool and realistic - especially at night.  My daughter loved playing with it and decorating the fence in the backyard.

Our pumpkins are carved but they are safely hiding on the screen porch from the squirrels who are particularly hungry this year judging by the other pumpkins in the neighborhood.  

Now we just have to wait for trick-or-treaters!

Exterior Update: Bye Bye Brass Ugliness

It took a while, but I finally convinced Jim that we should remove the HIDEOUS brass light fixtures from the front of our house.  We had the new black hanging fixture under the little front porch (very inexpensive from Lowe's and possibly temporary if I find something I like a lot more), but those 1970s rusty brass fixtures just had to go.

This is the best picture I could find of these ugly things.

So, when my dad was here for a weekend (he LOVES projects thankfully), I turned him loose on those hideous fixtures.  They were so disgusting and rusty that they went straight to the trash (very unusual for yard sale selling me).  Of course, that left some wholes in the house with scary wires hanging out.  My dad actually surmised that the wiring was pretty dangerous and had been done in a very amateur way - particularly on the right where the previous owners likely added the second light at some point.  We covered the holes and scary wiring with some plain metal electrical covers (required by building code) sprayed black.

Better, but the black made them stand out too much especially with the other black accents.  I then convinced Jim to take them down and spray paint them a flat brown so they blend better with the front of the house.

Sooo much better!

Now we just need to get our flag up for the 4th!