Refresh Your Front Entryway

I recently refreshed my front entryway and I finally feel that happy curb appeal everyone talks about.  

Now it has my personality, its clean, and has enough room for all my seasonal decor and flowers I will add (what color do I use?)!

Are YOU ready to refresh YOUR outdoor front entryway?  It might be the perfect time!  Your front door is seen from the street every single day, and its the first thing that friends and family walk up to when they visit.  Keep it stylish and clean to be most welcoming!  

So where do you begin and what do you concentrate on?  Outdoor plants come and go, but the manufactured items you invest in for your front entry way are here to stay so get them in good shape!  These items include:

• Front door
• Outdoor lighting
• Door mat
• Planters
• House numbers  

When you have the items listed above in good shape you can have fun adding seasonal and holiday accents!  And plenty of plants and flowers!

Lets Break Down What I Changed and Why:

Don't forget to paint the trim around the door!  It made a huge difference for mine.

More Ideas To Refresh Your Front Door Entry 

1.

DOOR COLORS THAT WILL ADD INSTANT LIFE

REDS

Red painted doors should NOT be pigeon holed into one style category.  As seen by this photo, it can be used in more modern and rustic looks; not just traditional!  Love it!

Remodelista article

BLUES

Choose from bright teals to beautiful shades of indigo!

 

    Kylie M Interiors article

Southern Living article

GRAYS

Grays are popular, not just inside the house, but on the exterior!

The Papermulberry blog

The Hampshire Door Company

Home Talk has a list of grays that are popular for exterior paints from Benjamin Moore (see below).  I have used the Kendall Charcoal and love it although it is a little lighter than you would expect.  ALWAYS SAMPLE YOUR PAINT IN AN AREA WHERE YOU WANT IT BEFORE PUTTING ALL THE WORK INTO IT IN CASE THE COLOR IS NOT WHAT YOU EXPECT.

2.

DOOR HARDWARE

Invest in new door hardware.  Make sure the finish coordinates with your outdoor lighting and house numbers/letters.   Add a door knocker with character for a unique twist that says 'I have humor' to guests that arrive.

Fabled Fauna Door Knocker from Anthropologie

I love Anthropologie door knockers!  They are just the cutest assortment of animals.  

3.

FRONT DOOR MAT

Outdoor front door mats do not need to be boring.  This little detail can add great curb appeal!  I love mats that coordinate with the front door.  It shows the home owner put thought into it.  

hometalk

Check out how adorable this DIY door mat looks!  Get the step by step directions to make it HERE!

Pottery Barn Becca Reversible Indoor/outdoor Rug

This colorful rug is perfect for a covered porch, and so in tune with the coral trend!  I just stopped by my local Lehigh Valley Pottery Barn store and saw this in person....its so fresh!

4.

LIGHTING

Bring in a charming lantern style outdoor lighting with seeded glass.  Keep the size large in scale to illuminate the front entry. 

Allen + Roth Castine light collection

This light from Lowes is a great value.  It has a lot of character.

5.

PLANTERS

Use of planters are key to any front entry.  Regardless of your style, pots can add warmth, color, texture and bring nature right up to your front door!  

Pottery Barn Park Hill Lantern

Consider mixing pots with lanterns to adorn your front entryway. Use outdoor battery operated candles and set them to turn on at sunset!  Pottery Barn has some great options even though it is late in the season (yeah PB!)

If your entry is not proportional, add a cute substantial light and multiple pots in varying heights on one side.  This will balance the empty space next to the door.  Coordinate the pot colors with the door color!

lemonstripes blog

Doesn't this entry make you want to step inside!  The planters are nice and tall and the stairway is clear of clutter!

Leeannthornton

6.

HOUSE NUMBERS

You should be able to see your house numbers/letters from the street.  They should be large and in a spot that is easy to spot.  How many times did you roll your eyes when you could not find someones house because the font of the house numbers were too small to read from your car.  

I visited Lowes today and snapped a photo of their various styles of house numbers.  As you can see, I found quite a few!

Please share any ideas and photos of your own front entryway!  

5 Minute DIY Projects To Create A Fall Front Porch

Here are a few 5 minute projects that will add instant festive fall appeal to your outdoor space!

'No glue, no fuss, no mess is included in these quickie DIY crafts'

I gave my front porch some quick cozy appeal by adding some fake nature!  I love these ideas because they are easy, inexpensive, and can last all winter!

THE WINDOW BOX

The flowers in my window box were beginning to die out, so I added some real and fake little pumpkins and gourds.  Now my window box is full of fall color!

THE FRONT DOOR

I quickly crafted a wreath using a natural twig grapevine wreath I purchased from Wal-Mart for a few bucks and added fake grasses and leaves from the Dollar Store.  I did not use any glue; I just pushed the ends of each stem into the wreath.  I then wrapped twine around the top of wreath and looped it around my door knocker.  Took 5 minutes!

Here's all you need:

One natural twig grapevine wreath (craft store, wal-mart)

A few bunches of your favorite fake grasses, leaves, or flowers (craft store, dollar store)

PLANTERS

The flowers I had in my planters died, so I replaced them with a fake pumpkin and surrounded it with fake leaves and grasses! 

The fake pumpkins I used were made of foam so I placed a wooden dowel in the bottom of the pumpkin halfway and pushed the rest of the dowel into the soil in my planters to keep it from moving.  

Here is what a wooden dowel looks like.

You can pick up the pumpkin, fake grasses, leaves, and dowels at a craft store or Wal-mart.  This is another quick DIY project!

These 5 minute projects can be done in one evening, and your kids can help you out too!

Watch this video!

DIY: Stencil An Outdoor Planter

Design a unique welcoming planter for your front porch, backyard, or apartment doorway (yes, even if your front door is inside a building you can still make your own statement).  This project is fun, inexpensive, and can make a major impact to your home.

Supplies you will need:

1. Planter

I purchased this 15" high planter from Target.  Home Decorator also carries a nice one in two large sizes and two different finishes.  You can find a wide assortment at your local home improvement store and craft store.

2. painters tape

3. fine tip paint brush

4. wide tip paint brush

5. outdoor acrylic paint (see tips below)

6. paper plate

7. stencil (see tips below)

8. optional accent acrylic paint color

Paint Tips

 You want to use outdoor acrylic paint that is meant for metal, wood, terracotta, concrete and stone.  You can find these paints in your local craft store.  For this project I picked up a Plaid Folk Art Dimensional starter kit that contained six small bottles.  The yellow I used is called 358 Lemon Custard.  For my accent color I used 356 Licorice.  

Stencil Tips

I purchased my Plaid FolkArt bird stencil from AC Moore.  I adore so many of their stencils.  

CLICK HERE to see them all!

Use a stencil that is flexible like this one so you can easily configure it to the object you want to stencil.

Step 1

Find a nice sturdy bright space to do this project.

Using your painters tape, adhere your stencil where you want it on the planter.

Step 2

Squirt some paint onto your paper plate 

(for this project I squirted out a quarter size at a time)

Step 3

Using your fine tip brush, paint around the outer part of the stencil as shown.

Step 4

When paint is dry, peel stencil off.

This is what it will look like.

Step 5

Fill in the outer part you painted using the wider brush.

Let it dry and do another coat.

Stencil is now fully painted!

Embellish It

Add an accent color to bring it to life. 

Using a fine brush and black outdoor paint, I free handed the veins on the leaves.  For the birds eye, I dipped the back of my paint brush in the black paint and softly pressed it onto the painted stencil. 

I love how this came out!  I am going to try it again on a pair of smaller planters for the backyard.  

This is a fun way to give a front or back yard a mini face lift to get it brighter and more welcoming.  Birds are a great theme to use.  There is something so peaceful about the shape of the bird.  The mat is from Target (I couldn't find it on line but it is in the store).


Tip: Red and yellow accents, are two great colors that pair well with all of natures greenery outside.

Adding a graphic to your planters will allow them to stand out more.  You can also stencil on your house number, initials, or a special message if you are really creative!                                                                                      

Optional application: There are many ways you can apply the stencil for this project including using a foam applicator or stencil brush instead of a paint brush (I love using paint brushes best because you have more control around the edges).