The red door

The door is red.

No, I'm not talking about communism. I am talking about my front door. It has been painted a deep brick type red as well as the matching house numbers I hand painted. It was fun for me but not so much for the dog. Bentley after having just being bathed was banned from going outside until fully dried. As an alternative to being outside with me he laid by the door breathing heavily into the doorjamb and whining as I painted away. Don't worry, I am not heartless; when he was finally dry and as I began my second coat of paint I allowed him outside with his 8 foot leash caught in the door so he couldn't run off. As a thank you he rolled in the grass collecting all the sand and dead grass on his back that he could.

Painting the door ended up taking a long time (most of the afternoon) for being such a small space. It's a careful job as inevitably people stare at that before they even get to come inside. It's all about first impressions! I used a small foam roller made for doors, trimming and cabinets specifically to not leave streaks. And with such a deep red, many coats had to be applied to ensure even color all over.

The numbers were fun to paint. Positioned directly under the outside light to the left of the door they can be seen even at night. I brought a pen out and drew out the shape and size of the numbers to get an idea before I began painting. I had to thicken them to make them appear bigger so they could be viewed from the street. This took a few tries to get right simply because they seem bigger from close up while painting. So I would stop, walk to the street, and stand at the street for a moment to decide, "the top curve of the 9 and the straight long line of  the 1 should be thicker..." In the end I liked the results and found it relaxing to pretend to be an artist!

Here is the segment of the blog where I give the money saving tip!  
        Two words: oops paint -- Most Lowe's and Home Depot stores have an "oops paint" section in their paint department. It usually consists of small shelving tucked away in a corner or near the paint mixer counters. These shelves will hold any paints that people brought back because they just couldn't get the color quite to their liking. Though, as they say, "one man's trash is another man's treasure!" In this case since the paint is already tinted (and they do not allow changes) it is quite cheap! A $20-25 gallon is usually $5-8 and a $12-15 quart of paint will cost you only $1-5 (Home depot tends to be cheaper for these will the gallons for $5 and the quarts $1. Lowe's varies between brand for oops prices.)

These paints are especially good if you are not sure of the color you want. As in my case with the front door. I often stop by Lowe's or Home Depot on my way home from work in search of any great bargains [see "An Open Door" posting]. So when I peeked at the oops paint and saw a pretty red I figured for $2.50 even if I get home and hate it on the door I can afford to repaint the door and now I have an extra craft paint.