Full Frontal

I blame the mailbox... not my design sense and the fact that I got the color wrong three - yes, three times.  First I painted it turquoise with a black lid and black medallion.  It seemed too sleek... too Chanel.  Then I painted it turquoise with a white lid and white medallion.  Just too crisp and jarring... too much white.  Then I painted it all turquoise with a white medallion.  The turquoise was too bright... it looked like a piece of candy stuck on the house.  Then I dulled up the turquoise, sanded off the edges so the black came through a little... and then it was right... I think...

So now it's time for the before and after pictures of my front door entry.  Remember?  I have been talking about it in my last post and here.  Well it's time to see if I could add some charm to this old house exterior. 

Here it is before.  Old house.  Weird steps.  I wish I would have taken the picture before we got our ucky black mailbox down and started changing the light, but that's when I thought of it.  Remember, I like color and first started with a possible pink door... no.  Then I debated between lime green and turquoise.  Well, drumroll please...

Lime green it is!  And having worked in a paint store, I knew I would need to bring down my lime color many shades from my original choice on the paint chip or it would be way too intense (hmmm... why didn't I remember that with the mailbox)... as it was, I still had to grey it down even more after the first coat until it was right.  The flower chair has grown a bit since my last post!  I made the window valance out of Waverly Sweet Spot fabric.  The door paint is a softened up version of Benjamin Moore's Kiwi green and don't you think Larry did a superb job painting it?  I made the daisy thing out of coiled grapevine from the craft store and a shallow basket from the thrift store.  The light is called the Petra Outdoor Downlight - it's cheap from our local Menards, but I liked the shape.  On the box the glass shade looked white and frosted, but when we opened it up - it was urine yellow!  I put it in the stationary tub in the basement and sprayed a stripper on it and with a toothbrush, the icky yellow came right off and left a beautiful frosted white.  You already now about the polka dot pots and the flower chair... what else?  Oh, the green flower in front is iron and rusted and I love it.  I bought it a number of years ago at The Garden Room in Shorewood.  If you live around Milwaukee, you should check it out.  Very cool store!

So that's it.  My front entry makeover!