The difference a door makes

For the last few days I’ve been working on two commissioned projects (one involves 3 paintings!) that I can’t show because they are surprises for the recipients, so I thought I would show our newly refurbished and rejuvenated kitchen door, thanks to my Dad!

This is what this door looked like when we first started restoring our house. You can see where the old porch roof used to be, above the transom. That collapsed years ago, but we do plan to rebuild it, too, before we’re done.

And by “we” I mean Dad.

The day before Dad came to take the  door to work on it, I saw this picture in the May issue of House Beautiful. I love that blue door! I showed Paul and he liked it too, so then the idea was to do a kind of “cottage chic” look for the kitchen, like in the magazine photo, starting with painting the door that beautiful turquoise-y blue.

Daddy did a GREAT job (as usual) bringing this 100-plus-year-old door back to life. It had been badly beaten by the weather since the old screen door got blown off last year, and every time the door was opened and shut, more little chips of paint would fall off. Plus the doorknob had gotten so loose that the outside knob fell off almost every time the door was shut. Very Green Acres.

But just look at it now! (By the way, Daddy also restored the old screen door, and is now putting the newly cleaned and painted screen guard on it, so we will be putting that in soon.)

Dad, Mom and I put the newly-turquoise door in yesterday, and now Paul and I really like the look of the turquoise door with the terra cotta colored walls, so we’re going for a “southern farmhouse chic goes to sunny Mexico by way of Santa Fé” feel for the kitchen.

A happy kitchen!

Here’s how the door looks from the inside. Just a note: the plant with the little purple flowers is real; the wildflowers in the tall pitcher are fake. When it comes to flowers, I like mixing it up with the real and the fake. Twice as many flowers and only half the work. And nowadays, most times the silk flowers look just as real as the real. And if you look really close, you will notice the can of Febreze peeking out from behind the purple flowers. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Febreze is a household essential in a family with seven dogs. And three cats.

And my next kitchen rejuvenation project will be painting the cabinets. Here you can see where the 1990’s French blue is peeling off to show the 1940’s light green.

I’m loving the fresh feel of our new door ... I just can’t stop looking at it. Here’s how it looked while I was making dinner (tacos!) last night.

Notice how great it looks with the cover of the new art supplies catalog that came in yesterday’s mail.

And I love the way the orange-y light shining out the transom at dusk complements the blue. Very inviting. It says, “Time to put away your gardening tools, brush yourself off, and come in for a glass of iced tea.”

At least that’s what it says now that it’s starting to be summer. I’m sure that in the winter it will say, “Wipe off your boots and come on in for some snickerdoodles and hot chocolate”!

Thank you, Daddy!