New Front Door Paint

Hooray, we are finally able to check off addressing our ugly front door from our to-do list.  It was on our yearly list of goals for our home.  From 2014.  Better late than never!

We really have been meaning to get to this since we moved here 8 years ago this April.  When Modern Masters offered to send us some of their front door paint in exchange for our honest opinion, I figured it was finally time to tackle this door.  Note: I received one quart of paint in the color of my choice and no other compensation.  Here is the before:

I was never against the style of the door.  The problem was, it was made of a faux wood-looking material that looked nothing like real wood up close.  I remember thinking to myself , "totally changing this door" as we walked into the front entryway of this house with our realtor for the first time.  Then, we got busy with a million other projects inside the house.  Enter Modern Masters Front Door Paint to finally transform our fake wood door.  

I chose to use the color Elegant from the Front Door Paint Collection.  There are 24 never fade colors to choose from.  There is a perfect color for every home and they even have an app that lets you see what a particular color would look like on your home.  Front Door Paint is available at selected Lowe's and Ace Hardwares as well as online via Amazon or the Modern Masters online shop.  

It took just two coats to cover up all that icky faux wood-ness.  This paint was great to work with and I especially love the satin sheen in the finish.  It is just beautiful and makes a great first impression for our home.  

We already had the brass door hardware, including the brass kick plate.  We decided to keep it all brass since it matches the brass in the window.  We added some new house numbers to the front door as well.  I asked my husband if he thought it was too redundant to have the house number both next to the door AND on the door.  As an emergency responder, he said there is no such thing as too many house numbers.

We decided to remove the front glass storm door because we never really used it.  Plus, it was just another large piece of glass to clean dog smudges off.  Not my favorite chore.

I can't wait to see what it looks like once all this snow melts.  For spring, I have purchased a yellow forsythia wreath for the front door that I think will pop with this new black paint color.  

Forrest is ready to get inside out of the cold to take a nap by the fire.  I am loving our "new" front door.  Just like the name of the paint color, it adds an elegance to our home that I am thrilled with.

Craving Spring

We have had a bitter cold winter here in the Northeast.  It hasn't been nearly as snowy here in the NY area as it has been up in Boston, but it has been freezing cold.  And I am over it.  So, on a recent sunny day, I took a trip to Trader Joe's and bought some pretty flowers to remind me that spring will get here.  Eventually.

Trader Joe's in my favorite source for affordable fresh flowers.  I purchased two different bouquets of assorted flowers and put a few of my favorites in this cluster of small glass vases.  I corralled them all on a galvanized tray.  Aaahhh...spring on my coffee table.

I used the rest of the flowers for a bouquet for our master bathroom.  While I was out, I also picked up this clock at Marshalls for a shelf in the bathroom.  Now I will know what time it is when I am rushing to get ready in the morning.

As I am typing this, they are talking on the news about the "Siberian Express" which will be bringing yet another mass of frigid air to our area.  From Siberia!  Let's turn off the tv so we don't have to listen to that.

Oh, and just don't look out that front window at all the snow outside.  Let's just stay in here and pretend it is Spring.

Which reminds of a picture I recently found on Pinterest that I loved because it reminded me of my pups.

source

I couldn't agree more!

My Corner Office

Hello friends!  Today I am sharing a few pictures of my office space.  Our house has four bedrooms and we have three kids.  That means my "office" is actually a corner of our family room.  It works well most days.  Except when all the kids are home from school and I have work to get done.  I repeatedly tell Billy (my husband), "our next house will definitely have an office/craft room!",  but the fact of the matter is, our next house will probably have all of those things because the bedrooms won't be full of kids.  And I realize that maybe this little corner in the family room isn't so bad after all.

Kitchen Command Center

Like in most families, the kitchen is the hardest working room in our house.  Sometimes it feels like a full time job just to keep up with everyone else's schedules in my house, let alone my own schedule.  As my family's needs change as my boys get older, I try to pause and consider what is working for us in the house and what isn't.  I decided to remove our kitchen desk because no one ever actually sat at it anymore.  My kids tend to do their homework at the kitchen island.  However,  I still needed a place to keep some of the important things that had been on the desk.  I ended up creating a kitchen command center on the cabinet side of our refrigerator.

Embroidery Hoop Photo Mobile

We have been getting our fair share of cold and snow in the northeast the last couple of weeks.   On a recent snow day, I was feeling some major cabin fever and decided a fun project was just the remedy.  I had seen the idea on Pinterest to make a photo mobile from embroidery hoops a few months back and I bought all the supplies needed on a trip to Michaels.  And then the bag from the store got stuffed in my closet and forgotten about.  Does that happen to you too?  So when I found the bag during my big January push to organize everything in my house, I was happy to have everything I needed.