If you follow me on Instagram, you know I’ve wanted to paint my front door for a while now. The front door on my first house in Georgia was a plum-purple set against salmon-pink siding, but I was in the mood for something a bit brighter for BLB. Lucky for me, Modern Masters had the perfect color in mind… :-) 

One of my favorite things to do while running or walking my dog, Ralph is exploring different neighborhoods. Whether new or familiar, I love admiring each house individually, their “faces,” and as mentioned in my Black Southern Belle feature and recent blog post, Southern Hospitality, their unique curb appeal. But what is that exactly…CURB APPEAL.? Whether the house has columns, steep steps, gables, brick, stone, siding, stucco, shutters, beautiful flowers or a well-manicured and landscaped lawn, curb appeal is whatever gives the outside of the house character and charm. It’s the first sentence or greeting a home gives you when you walk by. During one of my last runs, I wondered…What does BLB say to pedestrians and folks driving by each day? What expression is showing on her face? What emotion is she giving neighbors and visitors on my street? My house was born in 1948 along with the rest of the neighborhood, located in the heart of San Antonio, Texas. She has an old soul, but a fresh face and new organs thanks to the seller who took the time to flip her over the past two years. Though she looks like one of the newest kids on the block, she is actually one of the veterans of the community. I love the color scheme of the exterior paint and accents, but BLB’s white door just wasn’t doing it for me nine months after moving in.

I decided earlier in this summer that I wanted to paint my front door yellow. With so many paint brands and colors available, I selected a paint brand that specializes in front door paint: Modern Masters Inc.! Modern Masters is the world’s number one supplier of high-end, specialty water base paint products currently available in over 4,000 retail stores across the country and world. I first heard about Modern Masters when featured on my cousin and design mentor, Cheryl of Dwell by Cheryl’s Instagram page (follow her if you don't already...super talented and wonderful person!). She blogged about her own front door makeover after painting her front door a garnet red called, Ambitious and adding a beautiful new brass pineapple door knocker at its center (if you follow me on Instagram, you know I was OBSESSED with the knocker more than anything! LOL #pineappleproblems). She also used a red-orange color called, Cheerful on her back door. I took a look at Modern Masters’ website first and saw the extensive array of products offered to refresh any home’s walls and furniture. Then I stumbled across their nifty Front Door Paint App, available for free, both in Apple and Android app stores. The app allows you to capture a photo of your door and instantly apply one of their various door paint colors to your door to view. You can also apply the paint to an existing photo in your phone’s camera roll or photo gallery with the click of one button. That’s right! No more taped up paint samples to ponder over for weeks and no sample purchase and application necessary! Just take a photo, apply the desired paint color and they’ll ship it right to your front door!

I was pretty torn between a few colors at first before narrowing it down to two. Confident was more of a maize or honey mustard yellow, very similar to the West Elm curtains and assorted Target and Joss & Main pillows in my living room. I thought that this color would go well with the interior of my living space, the first room you see when walking through the front door. Happy, on the other hand, was bright and JUST right! The Crayola yellow color made a huge statement and grabbed your attention instantly. Happy also complimented and contrasted well with the dark grey/green/blue siding (whatever color it is LOL) on the exterior of my home as well as the crisp white trim and black iron railing on my front porch. Ultimately, this color answered the question I asked earlier: What emotion will this new color added to my home’s curb appeal give neighbors, guests and I alike? Happiness. :-) Bright and bold happiness. That’s what I want to feel when I leave and return home each day. Decision made. And so, the project began!  

When the paint arrived in the mail, I received two quart-size plastic jars of the Happy non-fading, quick-dry paint from Modern Masters. Excited to begin, I headed to Lowe’s for a few prep and paint supplies and went right to work!

The paint went on smoothly and dried quicker than expected. After a few coats on the front door dried, I fell completely in love with the color! So much so, I contemplated painting the inside of the door as well. However, I’m always tempted to switch up the color scheme of a room and I didn’t want too much yellow displayed in the existing living room palette. Instead, I decided to also paint the exterior of the back door to give the patio in my backyard the same amount of personality as offered on my front porch. Once painted, I went back and touched up the trim of each window and door frame in a bright white paint. I debated painting the window frames Happy as well, but they’ll remain white for now. Should I change my mind, I’ve got an entire quart of the Modern Masters paint left in my detached garage!

September was quickly coming to a close and I knew with the update doors should come to festive fall décor. After replacing the 3M Command strip and outdoor hook on my front door, I also replaced the yellow wooden “Hello” wreath with a new fall wreath found in Marshalls for $16.99. The Marshalls and HomeGoods stores in San Antonio have some of the best furniture, home accents and seasonal decorations in town. I also spotted a new ceramic pumpkin and squash to add to my steps for October and November. To finish off the front porch's fresh fall look, I added a new Threshold "Welcome" door mat found on Clearance at Target for $9 and a pot of yellow autumn mums from the local H-E-B grocery store.

 And VOILA! The here are the final Before and After shots of each door of BLB!

I hope you love BLB’s new exterior door colors and fall decor as much as I do! This is pretty much the easiest DIY I’ve experienced with BLB since moving in and the project has added some much needed personality to both entrances and curb appeal to my front yard. Trust me, if I can do it, so can you! If interested in updating your own front or back door like I did, check out Modern Masters’ Front Door Paint product line, color palette options and DIY video tutorials, and don't forget to download their Front Door Paint app before getting started!

Be Bright. Be Happy. Happy Fall Y’all!

ACG

Design Deets:

Door Paint – Modern Masters Inc.

Wreath – Marshalls

Door Hanger Hook – 3M Command

Front Door Mat – Target

Back Door Mat – Lowe’s

Ceramic Vegetables – Marshalls

Lanterns – Marshalls

Outdoor Pillow – Marshalls

Professional Photography – Becca Paige Photography

iPhonography – Me :-)