Front porch update

In my last post, I mentioned we were giving our front porch an overhaul. The painting of the front door happened a few weeks ago when the weather was so hot your-skin-melted-off-your-face when you walked outside. Perfect timing for an outdoor project. Go us. Which may explain my aversion to re-living the experience to post about it. But I love the results, so here goes.


Here's a reminder of the house before:

We started off by painting the front door. And before we even start problem #1 arrises. Here's how the conversation went:

Me: "honey, how are we going to paint the front door without letting the cats out (no screen/storm door) or without letting all our precious gold, I mean a/c out?
John: "hmm, I hadn't thought about that. Maybe we need to postpone until cooler weather".


*Don't tease me with a project we can't do until weather decides to cooperate. I WILL find a way. I WILL do it. And you can't STOP me. Hello, my name is Elizabeth, and I have a problem with gotta-have-it-now syndrome. :)


Me: "oooooh, no. We're doing it. I'll find a way."
So I put my thinkin' cap on. Dangerous I know. But I found a solution!


There's this magical  product you can buy at the hardware store (at Lowes it was with the weatherstripping supplies) that saved us. Window/Door film. I know, sounds crazy right. Totally worked! It's made to put over drafty doors/windows to prevent seepage and save you moolah. It's pretty much saran wrap that shrinks (when you heat it with a hairdryer) and creates a barrier between you and the outdoors. Woo-to-the-hoo. Best part, It's yours for only $7. Here's what the box looks like.

And here it is in action. Double-plus: it made us realize we really like the natural light and now we want to install a storm door too. :)

But it got the job done, and three coats of paint later, and the door looks great. Here we are making progress after the first coat. By the way, the color is Valspar's Front Door Red. Original I know.

Now it's on to the dab-blamed shutters. They sure gave us more than 1 reason to curse. But that's a whole other post. Coming up next.