Bold colours, wilder wreaths and hot numbers are just a few of the ways to spruce up your front door in the spring.
It’s easy in summer to make a great first impression at your home’s front door. Put out flowers and planters and your work is done.
But in spring? That’s more complicated.
Here, says stylist and crafter Marianne Canada, host of the HGTV Crafternoon web series Canada and two other designers — Andrew Howard of Jacksonville, Fla., and Brian Patrick Flynn, designer of the HGTV Dream Home 2016 — offer advice on making a home’s entrance inviting and stylish, no matter the season.
Bold Colour: All three designers suggest painting your front door a bold colour that delights you. With little expense and just an afternoon’s effort, you can give your home’s front entrance a major facelift.
“And if you get sick of a bold or dark colour, so what?” says Flynn. “It’s only a quart of paint to recover a super-small surface.”
For houses with dark brick or siding, he suggests a deep, rich colour such as forest green.
Canada agrees.
“My house is almost black,” she says, and the front door is painted a bright teal with white trim.
Fresh paint is also practical.
“Front doors really should be painted every one to two years anyway,” says Howard. “I also love painting doors in a high-gloss finish, or painting the panels one colour and the rail and stile another.”
And don’t forget your home’s other entrances.
“I like painting secondary exterior doors bold colours,” Flynn says. “In my previous house, I painted the side entrance door bright violet and it became an excellent conversation starter when guests would come over.”
Wilder Wreaths: “A lot of people think fall and winter when it comes to wreaths,” Canada says, but you can hang them year-round.
On her door, Canada has a DIY wooden sign (just “a slice of wood,” she says, that’s “still got bark on the edges”) painted with chalkboard paint so it can hold any message or picture.
“Mine says ‘Come on in!’” she says.
It’s the perfect place to let kids draw spring flowers or write their own welcome messages.
“Occasionally, if my kids make a wreath or something at school, I will put it up on the front door for a week or so,” says Howard. “They can proudly show their friends when they come in.”
Hot House Numbers: “Gone are the days when people would just buy those reflective sticker numbers and put them on their mailbox and call it done,” Canada says. We’re now seeing “beautiful house numbers … and going oversize.”
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