Painting the Door Red

The weather this past weekend was something we all really needed, because damn, people were grumpy.  Could you believe I was one of them?  Yeah, I can too.  By noon last Friday I was spittin' cuss words like it was my job, yo.  

Thanks for finally visiting our great state, sunshine.  It was about fricken time.

So, I bet you have been dying, DYING to see what the outside of our house looks like if you have been following our lovely splitty blog. Without further adieu, I give you Our Piece of Split House--

Sexy sunshine rays. 

Pretty f*cking typical, huh?  Eh, the flag gives it a little pizzazz, I guess.

Yep, that is her, the money eating little stink of a house on a hill.

Here is another angle of the money-glutton house, just for your viewing pleasure--

So, the snow pretty much melted like, oh I dunno, a week ago?  The weather this year was absolutely heinous.  Notice the beautiful salt boarder that frames out our lawn.  Sick.  I apologize for the sadness, and more importantly, the pine cone wreath on the door in the middle of May?  WTF.

Since the weather was SO NICE, me and the hubby made a pact, with the DIY project devil, that the only thing we are focusing on this summer is the OUTSIDE of our home.

The Shit List:

• New Deck
• New Patio Furniture
• Paint the door something other than yellow.
• Refreshed home numbers
• New Threshold
• Power wash everything but your mom
• Landscape rock
• Obviously putting down fresh dirt and grass seed everywhere.  Thanks Gretzky.
• A new outdoor garage light-- Surprise Shane!
• Landscape lighting
• Organized garage (half-way there)
• Plants in planters
• Eh... the list will grow.  You make book on that missy.

Alright, so we have a pretty good start, er idea as to where we need to start on these projects.  Without taking weeks of PTO, we've been slowly crossing off items on our shit list.

Last night we purchased some used Ikea Applaro patio furniture for $50.00.  Could we have purchased brand new patio furniture for $600.00?  Sure.  But why?  Obviously I enjoy a challenge.  If it fails miserably, I am only out fifty smacks.  The wood was pretty weathered, but nothing a good sanding wouldn't fix.

We ended up with two of the recliner arm chairs, so for four pieces, and all seat cushions-- which we are replacing-- I really can't complain on the cost.  I am trying to decide if I want to stick with wood tone, or if I should lean more towards a bright red bench with accented chairs... hmm...  more to come on this project.

Patio furniture aside, it was time to tackle the front door.

Can you see me?  Har har.

Needless to say, the door needed a little work.  Besides that pine cone wreath needing to go, the chipped black paint above the door frame, and the gorgeous exposed wood, complete with caulk below our door wasn't making our entrance very welcoming.  On second thought, maybe we should leave it this way.

My absolute favorite color is yellow (see yellow sweater in reflection), so knowing I had to part with this door color was a little sad, even though it looks pretty dreadful.

After getting over the fact that I will no longer come home to an unusually colored door, I started sanding the shit out of the window above the door as well as the door itself.  I used my trusty Black and Decker Mouse sander to really get in there and ended up with this---

I used a wire brush to clean up the extra debris floating around.  I guess the arch used to be green at one point?  The wood was still in pretty good shape, and we wanted to keep it that way.  I went out and purchased an outdoor mold resistant primer to put on both the door, and the window arch.  I didn't do much protecting when it came to the glass, and probably ended up with more paint on the window then the arch itself.  You can take great care when painting around your windows, but if I can take 1 minute to scrape off dried paint, you better believe I am going to take this route instead of taping.  Taping is the worst.  This is how the front looked after primer was added---

Our front stoop was a dirtball in another life.

You can still see a bit of my beloved yellow color popping through to say hello.  I think it is a sign that I shouldn't get rid of it, or something.  Once the primer settles, I am getting an additional grey primer to put on the window arch.  Why, you ask?  Well, when you are planning on painting something a dark or bright (red) color, you should use a grey undertone to avoid multiple coats of paint.  I made the mistake of priming our door white, which means that my first layer of red paint on the door turned out to be pink.

And because I am blogging at work (oops), I don't have a photo of our pink door.   I will make sure to post part two in the next couple of days.

Step by step, day by day (name that classic TV show), our piece of split is coming together.  It certainly isn't as shitty as it once was.  To be completely honest, among all of my complaining, this house is our home and I just love it.

***UPDATE***

Here is a little sneaky-peeky for ya.

**UPDATE**
Long overdue photo of our red door.