colorful front doors

We had a family build a home just about a block away from us a couple of months ago. Their house is grey and white with bright orange/coral colored double front doors. I love it. The inside of their home is just as bright and welcoming.

I love it! I painted my door a subtle green and thought I was being so unique. Ha! So I have found pictures of some door colors that are amazing...and I think this whole bright colored door thing is rubbing off on me. Playing with color is risky, but when done right it is amazing, when done wrong it's tacky. So I will try to mimic my new neighbors and do color the right way...imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?
I'm a green person and often find myself gravitating towards greens so it is no surprise I love all the green doors here. One of my faves is the bright lime/almost yellow green door in the second set of pictures below. I also love the deep purple. So regal.

Love all of these doors. I need to play with color more, that is my goal for this new year.

I love the yellow...hmmm.....any ideas on cool doors?

my 2 cents on curb appeal

My sis is selling her house in AL and looking at b-e-a-u-t-i-f-l-u-l homes to move into near Birmingham. Good thing I am not the type to get jealous of my sibling's successes, cause I'd be very jealous. ;) Her and her husband are in the process of selling their home (pictured below) and because she lives in the best school district in her area they have had a number of showings. But no 'bites' yet.

So I put together an affordable before/after picture (BELOW) of how she could give her home more curb appeal. I just barely got photo-shop and am still teaching myself the ropes, but hopefully it is enough to help you catch my vision.

OOPS...ignore the weird arched things above the posts. Not supposed to be there.

TIP: drive around your neighborhood, or even better your "dream" neighborhood and take ideas from homes you like and apply it to your home. You do not have to live in a half-million dollar home to have it look clean, sophisticated and appealing.

Below I put together the products I would use that are inexpensive but make a big difference.

TIP: When buying plants my mother-in-law has always taught me to buy in 3 or 5. Also, most people make the mistake of spacing out their flowers too much so that they are more vulnerable to drying out. Plant flowers close together because once they start growing together they strengthen and shade each other's root systems.

TIP: when planting pots in front of entry way have 3 tiers or heights to give interest and dimension. First, plant the ornamental grass in the middle, then plant your 2nd tier with petunias, geraniums, mums etc. then your bottom tier are white alyssum or plants that waterfall over edge.

LAST but certainly not least, it couldn't be a house I had anything to do with, without a decorative wreath on the door.........

Why did I spend so much time doing this?....I have NO idea, but I sure enjoyed doing it.

...a girl can dream...

Steve and I really want a pergola in our backyard one day along with a fence and many other things. Here are some beautiful outdoor pergolas. And as I titled this, 'a girl can dream'...with an emphasis on "dream". ;)

front doors part 2...

There are so many beautiful and inspiring doors and entry ways that I had to post more. The doors below have bold accents of color and texture with plants, flowers, foliage and wreaths.

The contrast in styles of the doors above and below are so different yet equally beautiful and inviting.

I just found how I want to decorate my front porch next Christmas. The bright green accents above are so striking.

Once again, an a-typical door color that looks just perfect. The blue is a beautiful shade and I especially love the red rocking chair to the corner for another burst of color.

Love the bright white trim above and how it just bursts against the gray/blue color of the house.

The Americana style front door above is so welcoming with it's American flag, rustic wood door and bright yellow flowers. If I walked inside I would image french country decor with lots of old wood grain furniture.

The doors and entry ways above and below are so elegant. These are the style of doors that I would choose for my dream home.

A front door...

...says so much. There is nothing more inviting than a beautiful front door and aesthetically pleasing entry way.

The best thing about a front door is that you do not have to have a lot of money or be building your dream home in order to create an appealing entry way to your home. With some paint, plants, affordable hardware, light fixtures and elbow grease anyone can make their front door ooze with character and class.

I love finding doors with bold colors that enhance and elevate their surroundings. There are 'tried and true' front door colors such as white, black, red and green. I recently painted our front door green. But I love it when someone uses a very a-typical color for their front door like yellow or the minty blue color shown above.

These European front doors are amazing and I would probably give my right arm to live in any one of them...seriously, any offers?

I love the pop of red. Not only is the door red but they added red light fixtures and pots. Just looking at this front door makes me want to take a peek inside and look at how wonderfully the rest of the house is decorated.

Simplicity goes a long way. The clean earthy colors above make me think that when you walk in the door someone would hand you some hot cocoa and fluffy goose down slippers.

When, (and I say "when" in order to throw out those positive vibes to the universe) I build my dream home I think I would chose a gorgeous thick, tall solid wood door instead of a painted one. But the wonderful thing is that no matter where we go we can always buy a can of paint and create character with whatever door we have.

my green door

Before: (above pic) Since we moved in I have wanted to paint our front door. The white door was fine and so was the screen front door, but let's face it, the screen drastically stifled my ability to change the look of the front of the house through paint color and hid my festive seasonal wreaths. Oh, and we never used it.

Phase 2: (above) For inspiration I drove around the neighborhood looking for the color door I liked. Our neighborhood is very diverse. Within a few blocks radius there are houses ranging from $175k to $700K. I found a gorgeous huge brick colonial home with black shutters, deep red brick and white trim like ours. They had a gorgeous green door and it looked amazing, so that is when I decided to paint our door green. I went to home depot and decided on a Martha Stewart Sea Grass Green color.

Well after painting it (above), putting my wreath up and looking at it for a few weeks as I'd drive by I decided I didn't like my door color at all. It was too limey green and not a rich green.
So I took the can of paint I had left over and mixed in a little blue, grey and off white from other paint I had around. I got the color in the pictures below. It looks much better and not so light.

Below is Phase 3:

more changes to come:

-white door trim

-changing the brass door handle to a distressed nickel long handle

-adding a coordinating kick plate

-adding a black hanging lantern instead of the flush one we have now

All these projects will have to wait until after Christmas, but for now I am pleased what we've done so far! And really that's all that matters when you do a project, you liking it.

Fall in Utah, actually in our front yard!

This is the ivy "forest" in our front yard. I was shocked the first time I noticed that the ivy was changing color. ? I am still befuddled by it. Growing up in the Bay Area California we didn't really experience Fall like you do here in Utah. Where I grew up, there was mostly evergreens so even though I have been here in Utah for over 10 years I am still awe struck by Fall here.

The part where we cleared the front yard for Perennials is the perfect spot for a spooky graveyard. My mother in law bought me this beautiful bird bath and together while looking through Halloween Decorating magazines came up with the pumpkin bird bath.

Of course, I had to put the crows out. ;) And can you believe my potted flowers by the porch are blooming still...no, flourishing!?

Here are some berries in our backyard, I have no idea what they are. But no joke, they are fluorescent red and purple....I am amazed that this color exists in nature.

Last but not least we have a bazillion grapes. Delicious, juicy grapes. I need to go pick them today. And below is our window flower basket I added leaves and pumpkins to.

Happy Fall to one and all!

(I totally did not mean for that to rhyme)

another before & after curb appeal

My cousin (well actually, my cousin's wife, but she is a doll and I love talking with her so I'll call her my cousin) has her own Interior Design Firm in Salt Lake City called Cailtin Creer Interiors. She is so talented and her business has just boomed, and after seeing her post last week it is no surprise!

Last week she posted before & after pictures of her house and I cannot stop thinking about what an amazing job she did, so I had to post it for all to enjoy! :) You can find the pictures of her house here.

Yes, there is most definitely a charm that old houses possess and I love to day dream about fixing up cute old houses I see that have good "bones". I am a firm believer you don't have to have a $500,000 house in order for your house to have charm, character and richness.

before (during) & after PART I

BEFORE & DURING

The above picture is what our house looked like when we moved in....WAY overgrown and that small pine tree out front was a flash back to the early 70's and needed to go. So we called in the troops, our families. And here is what we accomplished in 2 days...

we cut down the pine tree, yay!

3 types of ivy consumed the entire left side of the front yard. With the help of our families we cleared out a patch in front.

We also cleared the corner piece that was also completely taken over by ivy.

below is what our yard looked like as the snow melted and all the ivy lay dead and flat.

AFTER - PART I

we planted tick seed (yellow tall flower) and English Lavender in our little corner piece along with some ground cover. There was already a small patch of ground cover in front so I just continued it all around the edges. Lastly, we put down mulch.

Here is what it looks like in the front now. It just feels cleaner. We planted boxwood shrubs, hostas, lavender, belle flower, korean lilac and couple other shrubs.

The garden flag is from Alabama. I just love it. Rozzie sent it to me last year for Mother's Day.

I love how close the mountains are and I love our grove of trees out front.

to be continued....

we still have to paint, put up flower boxes, change light fixtures oh, and get a new garage door....I busted ours...

...Thank goodness for a nice husband who didn't even get fazed by my serious mess-up.