Jason's New Front Door Color

This isn't a very exciting post but seeing how we are knee deep in packing over here I figured I'd show you the new paint color we chose for Jason's front door.  Below you can see the bright red that is was to start with. (Sorry for the blurry cell phone picture that I took from the car - it's the only one I could find with the door painted red still).

First I removed all of the hardware from the door. I started taking it off and then my dad drove by and helped by finishing while I started painting the door. Although we did have primer from the kitchen cabinets I decided to skip that step and just paint the door. I gave it two coats and was pleased with the coverage. I may add a third one when I am up there this summer but seeing how we have a TON of other projects that are much higher up on my list, if it doesn't really need it then I won't bother.

 

As you can see from the photo above the previous owners did not remove the hardware when they painted it red so there was red paint all over the lock and handle. Even though we would have preferred replacing the hardware with oil rubbed bronze, we decided to save money and keep the original hardware. If this were the only project we were doing we would have gone ahead and replaced the hardware but with the entire house needing a lot of work we are trying to reuse whatever we are able to. Last spring I painted the hardware on my parents hutch to give them the oil-rubbed bronze look and I may do that at some point with this. In order to clean up the existing hardware, my brother-in-law, Josh, brought over some of the stuff below for us to spray on the hardware. (Sorry, again these are iPhone pics taken late at night. I do most of these types of projects when the girls are in bed.)

I forgot to take a before shot of the handle but here it was after it had been sprayed and had been sitting there for a couple of hours. With just a little bit of scraping I was extremely impressed with how easily the red paint came off.

Yes, the lock part is shaped like a heart. Very masculine. Jason's favorite part - haha!

Although the red came off easily there was a lot of "patina" left but I like that better than a bright brassy look, anyway.

And there it is. Jason's new door!

 

 *Paint Color - Templeton Gray - Benjamin Moore's Exterior Paint in a Low Lustre Finish 

This was good practice for me seeing how one of the projects I plan on tackling at our new house will be painting the front door and shutters. I hope you all are having a wonderful week!