Painted Front Door Makeover

Happy Halloween friends!  We don’t get any trick or treaters on our street so I figured I’d use this frigid gloomy night to get a long due blog post shared.  Today I’m talking about my painted front door makeover project.  This project was actually completed two months ago.  I just haven’t had time to write up a post due to work travel, and the builders challenge.  The best part of this project is that I transformed my front door with a single quart size can of paint.  At the end of the post I’ve provided an unsponsored review of Benjamin Moore Aura Waterborne exterior paint.

Elegant Front Door Inspiration

As with most of my projects, I started by perusing Pinterest  to get inspiration and figure out what I like.  Below are three images that grabbed me on Pinterest.  What I learned is that I like dark colors and I also like the frame to be the same color as the door and side lights.  As much as I would LOVE to put in an entirely new beautiful front door like some of the ones below, that’s just not in the budget so a can of paint will have to suffice for now.

Source from left to right: fantahouse.com hgtv.com homestolove.com.au

Before – Front Door

Here is what I was working with when I started my project.  A few years ago I painted my front door and sidelights blue but it started to fade and desperately needed a refresh.  The photos below were taken last year (spring 2018).  This was also before I invested in right sized planters for my porch.  The little pots below look so dinky!

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will make a commission if you click through and make a purchase.  Thanks for the support!

After – Front Door

This is what my door looks like now!  The color is so much better and painting the trim the same color as the rest of the door makes it look higher end even though it’s just a builder grade door.  I used Benjamin Moore Aura paint and my favorite Shortcut Angle Paintbrush

FYI, there are great tutorials for the neutral fall wreath and the DIY fall door mat.

What’s a makeover without a side by side before and after photo?

I’m seriously amazed at how different the door looks with a single quart size can of paint.  Going with a darker neutral color and painting the trim the same color as the door and side lights made my front door look so much more elegant and expensive.  It was a super easy project too.

Benjamin Moore Aura Waterborne Exterior Paint Review

Years ago when I first painted my front door I read a ton of reviews on the best paint for exterior doors.  Several of them mentioned the Benjamin Moore Aura exterior paint so I gave it a try.  Now, I know that I mentioned in my intro that my door had faded over the years but that’s because the sun beats on my front door for pretty much the entire day.  My front door is too hot to even touch during the summer and the bricks on the front of my house hold the heat for several hours into the evening.  There isn’t a paint in the world that would outlast that kind of daily abuse!

All that said, I really liked the way that the Benjamin Moore Aura paint went on.  When it was time to paint my front door again I didn’t think twice about what paint to use.  This time I used Benjamin Moore color 1609 (Temptation) which is a dark gray in a semi gloss finish.

I would definitely recommend the Aura paint.  It has a really nice viscosity and is much thinner than other paints that I’ve worked with.  This provides a smoother finish and less brush strokes.  I bought a quart size can for my front door and with two coats I used less than half of the can.  That means that if four years from now there is some fading on my door, I’ll have enough paint to put another coat or two on it and get me a few more years out of it.

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Have you been thinking about painting your front door?  What color would you paint your door?