Something Blue

It’s no secret that I’m a neutral gal when it comes to house décor, but I do like to play things up with interesting accessories from time to time.  Enter the exterior of our house.  (Is that an oxymoron?)  Clearly we played it neutral with our new stucco…

We also stuck with white trim—although we love how fresh white trim pops in such a clean and crisp way.

But doors present a whole new world of possibilities—hmm…that could get very philosophical.  The door within…the door to your heart….  The point is that doors can be punchy and fun, or they can be handsome and stately.  Since our house is small and doesn’t offer much in the way of interesting architecture—unless you just happen to love boxes—we figured that dressing up our front door would add a bit of splash to our otherwise plain Jane exterior. 

Choosing paint colors can be overwhelming, which is why I started pinning my favorites on Pinterest.  Check out my inspiration.

Honestly, I love love love the deep earthy tones of the last door (not to mention the awesome and super functional entryway—is anyone else drooling over those brick floors and plank walls?).  It just look so sleek!  But I also have been swooning over blue-grey tones.  Maybe it's because they evoke nautical themes, or maybe it’s because they are so playful and pretty at the same time.  Whatever the case, I printed a few inspirational doors off the color printer at work (shhh…) and then tried to find close matches at Sherwin-Williams, Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Ace.  The good news is that blue-grey tones are super popular right now (at least that’s what I tell myself), so there are a myriad to choose from.  The hard part was narrowing down our options. 

For about two weeks, twenty or so paint swatches graced our doorway.  In the end, we went with Slate Tile, by Sherwin-Williams.  I actually had Lowe’s color-match it to their Duramax paint in semi-gloss, which allowed us to use quality exterior paint for only $15 buckaroos. 

Right before we painted, I began wondering if we should stick with a clean white door, but my mom encouraged me to try something different—and I don’t regret it!

We feel like it gives the front of our house a bit of distinction and helps to ground the neutrals.  Doesn’t our door look dapper?!  (Unfortunately, it looks a bit cold and stark in these pictures, as all the leaves have fallen and everything is beginning to look wintery.)

By the way, I’ve been listening to Christmas music for about a month now.  Yep, I’m one of those rebels who doesn’t believe in waiting until after Thanksgiving to break out the Christmas spirit—one month is simply not enough time!  Is anyone else out there a closet Christmas music listener?  Please tell me I’m not alone!