I really wanted to make the front of the property stand out and to give the world and any visitors a sense of our family style.
The previous owner had put in new double glazed windows and doors, he had also put a clear glass door on the front of the porch creating a doored area to our actual wooden front door.
As you can see it was painted black with mismatched ironmongery. I took the door off the hinges, removed everything from it. We spent a couple of days with any one that passed by looking straight through into the hallway, but it was definitely worth it. I considered getting a new door, but I liked the original features. The patterned glass to the door matches the surrounding glass, which once cleaned let in a lot of light, making the hallway look airy and bright.
I researched online and asked in my local B&Q what would be the best paint to use for this. I settled for a ‘Rust-oleum Canary Yellow‘ and matched it with black ironmongery. The paint was brilliant because it was a paint and primer in one. It covered the black with one coat, but I gave it two to be safe.
This paint is also available in a spray version too.
After painting and replacing all hinges, letterbox and lock, I found a black hello decal from ‘etsy‘ which seemed ideal and just set the door off nicely. From the original dated door to the new fresh yellow one in just 2 days.
On purchasing the house there was also a name plaque attached to the the wall. ‘BLENHEIM HOUSE‘. It was green and faded with peeling paint. I also painted this with the same yellow and sprayed the plaque with a rust-oleum metal look paint. I used a silver sharpie to touch up the letters and suddenly I had a yellow and black theme going.
I also found a bargain yellow metal pendant light shade for the porch from ‘Tesco online’ which was a matching yellow. I looked at various house number plaques too, from solar light up ones to every metal known to man. The house already had a plaque on the wall and there wasn’t anywhere to actually attach a number to the outside door as it was glass. After lots of Pinterest and google searching I found a brilliant company called Purlfrost that sold custom window stickers, so I ordered one for the front high window. It was so easy to order online and I thought it would be a lot harder to apply, but was super easy.
As you can see we had a standard victorian exterior light outside the front as well, the on switch to this is in the porch, which was a little inconvenient. It was around this time that we heard from our neighbour that nearby garages had been broken into and burgled. I was a little worried about crime and may have gone a little overboard. I mean we have two front doors that potential criminals would have to get through from the front of the house, so already thats quite off-putting.
I bought a sensor bulb from Tesco, which was a lot cheaper than I thought it would be. I decided to pop this up in the outside light, at least that way it would switch on at night and deter criminals. I also thought it would be really handy for when returning to the house in winter when the nights get dark. I decided to look for a funky yellow light for outside, but could not find one anywhere, especially within my budget. It was obviously a luxury as the light worked perfectly, I just didn’t like it. I liked the barn style lights, I found a black plastic one for under £10 from Tesco online and again with my favourite ‘Rust-oleum canary yellow spray‘. I took it apart and sprayed all the pieces.
The result was fantastic and I have had so many compliments on it. I know it doesn’t exactly scream victorian terrace, but it does scream style!
Helloyellowdoor 