Summer Front Door Refresh

 I love porches and doors that are full of charm and character and lots of vintage details.
They just seem friendly and welcoming and invite you to come on in  and sit for awhile.

Our front door faces the East and the sun brightens the front patio each morning
and floods the house with it's warm sunshine.

When we first bought our home I envisioned a red door and so I painted the front door
 a dark, cherry red. 

It was fiery.
It was bold.
It was a little sassy.

I loved it.

 But when we put new siding up and painted the house a different color the red just didn't fit as well anymore
and so the door became a matte finish navy blue color. It has stayed that way for probably 5 years.

This months Lowes  project was a mini front porch refresh to welcome Summer and 

I knew just what I was ready to freshen up :) so I made a list and headed to Lowes.

 I started in the paint section where I picked up a can of Valspar Gloss Black
 and also a can of Valspar exterior white.

Our front door went from navy blue matte finish

to a fresh crisp gloss black. 

I love it.

 I also gave the window boxes on our house a fresh coat of gloss black as well
(I'll share more about how we made the window boxes and their new look in a separate post)

 In a crazy inspired moment
 I made the dentil moulding that lines the fascia boards to match the moulded trim
above the door.  They were so simple to make- but yes- it was very time consuming for sure
 and I think my husband thought I was a bit crazy

as I sat there cutting all the dozens and dozens of 1x2's  at 2" intervals until
 I had enough to go around the.whole.house.

 But the addition of that trim made a huge difference in the look of the house for very little cost

and a fresh coat of crisp white paint was all it needed to make it stand out even more.

I'm not usually a brass girl, but brass & black? 

I have to admit that I love it.

 I wanted to put brass finish house numbers on the door to match the brass door handle.

I found tons of options in different finishes and sizes 

but these numbers were perfect in size, shape, etc.- they just weren't brass.
But I had an idea of how to fix that and now- they have the look of brass and I LOVE them!
 I love the simple but elegant look they add.

I purchased several extras of them for another refresh project that I am working on as well.

I also picked up a new door mat with a charming monogram in the center (love it!)

 and a cart full of plants for the front porch pots and window boxes

Our patio is has two concrete areas separated by several coved steps- it's nice but it's a lot of concrete.
A lot of concrete means you need A lot of pots and containers of plants to soften the area up.

I love topiaries by the door and these little boxwood are perfect
I love boxwood and especially in topiary form.
 I have several of them actually and love them to put them in urns just about anywhere.

 We  brought home a lot of flowers for the window boxes.

Depending on my color mood, I plant the window boxes differently each year

but one of my favorite flowers for them are geraniums.

 Several different shades of red & hot pink geraniums from the garden department were perfect

 and we filled in the gaps with bacopa and trailing verbena.

Lowes also had the most gorgeous red geranium hanging baskets 

and I also used a hanging basket for the front door decor as well. 

 I simply took one of the baskets and bent it flat on one side to make it into a door basket
and then hung it on the wreath holder.

Such a simple refresh for our front porch area but I'm loving how it turned out.
Now if I could just talk the husband into wiring for that second porch light for me...
yep... I'm working on it
 ;)

Stay tuned for a little something fun for you with Lowes coming up very shortly!

I was compensated for this post as a member of the

 Lowes Creative Ideas Network of Creators and Influencers  but the designs and opinions are my own.