While we’re still working on the plans for the back door / carport turned patio area, this week we’re turning our focus on the front door. Way back in the day (almost 2 whole years ago!) we conquered Phase 1 of our curb appeal makeover by painting the shutters and doors and removing a gangly tree from the middle of the yard…

Its due time for Phase 2, don’t you think? As we mentioned last week in this post, we bought two faux topiaries for the front porch. We love the tailored look, but they are really showing up the rest of the porch, so it’s time to get moving on Phase 2.

First on the list: removing the storm door. Since we bought the house, this thing has been a thorn in my flesh. It’s rusty, loud and ugly. At one point, it was red (parts of this original color are showing) but then painted hunter green back in the 80’s (or at least that’s how it looks). It had to go. At first, we were kind of worried about this being a bigger project than DIY newbies such as ourselves could handle because we didn’t know what we’d find under the storm door frame. Greg was pretty certain it was attached to bare wood, and we were concerned it may have been rotted. So every time we talked about doing this project, the idea of having to get new trim and possibly re-framing the outside part of the doorway made us pause. However, there was only one way to find out…

First of all, sorry for the nasty iPhone photos. Forgetful me lost my “big camera” charger and had to order a new one. Thankfully, it will be delivered tomorrow. Okay, back to what I was saying… Greg got up one morning and found the courage to start taking the frame of the storm door apart to see what was back there. No harm in looking, right? As it turns out, the storm door was just attached on top of the molding around the doorway. There were just a few screws holding the trim on, and about 10 more holding up the door. So he decided to give it a go and ten minutes later the door was off, there was no rotted wood and the front porch was already looking better. All of that and Greg was still in his pajamas, ha!

The only problem was that there were several unsightly holes left behind from the screws that kept the storm door in place. After a bit of Googling (a DIY newbie’s BFF) Greg ran to the hardware store and got a tube of natural wood filler. He filled the holes, scraped the surface for a even finish and let it sit for a few minutes. Lucky for us, the filler ended up being an almost perfect match to the almond paint on the trim. That’s when we got all excited and  patted ourselves on the backs. Yeah, Greg did all of the work but I got a pat for moral support. The color isn’t a perfect match, well, not perfect enough for my slightly OCD self, but it will do until we get around to painting the door trim to freshen things up.

And here it is…

Pretty easy peasy, right? All of that fuss over nothing. I guess you can say this taught us a lesson for future DIY projects. In the words of Nike, just do it. With small projects like this, there’s really not much to lose.

Now that the storm door is out of the way, we’re able to get a better visual of what we want to do next. With this new perspective, we’ve started shopping around for other porch-related upgrades. On our list of things to upgrade are the overhead lighting, the doorbell button and a spiffy new doormat. As for the list of things to add: a door knocker and a peep hole.

The planters (which we spruced up here) and door hardware are ORB (oil-rubbed bronze). I’m usually a fan of mixing finishes, but since this “space” is tight, we’re going to stick with ORB for everything. This, with the red door, black/brown shutters and leafy green topiaries… ah, yeah. Our kind of front door… finally!

So, here’s what we’re thinking…

Lighting – Greg and I both really like this light (from Wayfair) because it’s lantern-ish but not too expected. The curved glass panels on the top will help cast light towards the ceiling of the porch, not just the ground. Coming in at just $42 plus a 10% off coupon code, it’s a great deal! I clicked the “Buy” button on it last night, and we can’t wait for it to be delivered.
Door Knocker - I’ve been in LOVE with this Woodpecker door knocker from Anthropologie for what seems like forever. It’s quirky, fun and the oil-rubbed bronze finish will tie in with everything nicely nicely. I seriously can’t wait to get this little guy on our door! He needs a name… 
Doorbell – For the doorbell button, we went back and forth between the one pictured and a more detailed one (here). We ultimately decided to go with the one on the mini mood board because it was simpler, and we didn’t want it to take away from the freaking awesome Woodpecker doorknocker.

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As for the doormat, we want to go with something modern and graphic so the whole set up doesn’t look too traditional. These are the ones on our short list. I like the two on the left and Greg likes the two on the bottom and we’re both “ehh” for the one on the top right. Which one do you think will look the best? We can’t decide!

These improvements are what we’ll be up to this weekend. Once this is done, then we’re gearing our focus back on the carport-turned-patio. After all, amazingly awesome fall weather is just around the corner!

PS Check back here later today for a bonus post!