Yellow Door

Ever since seeing the Young House Love blog paint their front door the perfect shade of sunny yellow, I have wanted a yellow door.  I finally convinced my husband that it was time to paint our front door yellow and that I would do all of the work :).  I sent him the tutorial from Young House Love's blog and one day he surprised me with all of the supplies.  Here is what we were going for (photo from Young House Love blog)

Our first step was to take off all of the hardware.  This is probably where my husband was thinking, I thought you were going to do all of the work ;).

Our trusty little helper was on hand to dig through all of daddy's tools- check out that look of concentration.

Then, I got a big grin out of her!  She was so happy to be getting a yellow door.

Here is what we started with- a boring, ugly, chipped front door.  Ok, it wasn't that bad, but it looks so much better as a yellow door!

Once the hardware was removed, it was time to sand.  We decided to sand the whole door, rather than using a deglosser.  This is where I got my first taste of work.

Luckily, we borrowed an electric palm sander which made this task much easier.  Ps- it was really cold the day that we decided to paint the door (probably not our best move).

This is what the door looked like when we were done sanding- not all of the maroon paint was off but it was sufficiently scuffed.  After it was sanded, we wiped down the door with a dry cloth, then a wet cloth and waited for it to dry.

Now it was time for the paint.  We went with the same paint that Young House Love used- Valspar Duramax Full Sun in semi-gloss.

First coat of paint going on.  I had worked up a sweat by this point and decided to take the hat off.

Finishing up the first coat of paint- ecstatic and a a little nervous with the coverage.

And this is what the door looked like with the first full coat of paint.

Our motto was thin and even strokes.  We let it dry a full 30 - 45 minutes and then Wes put the second coat of paint on.

Next up, I did the third coat (must not have gotten a picture), then Wes did the fourth coat.  Yes, a fourth coat and we still had a ways to go :(.

Next up, me doing the 5th coat which it is now 5:30 or 6 in the evening.

And in case you are wondering, this is how I kept track of how many coats of paint went with each picture- pretty genius if I do say so myself.

After this coat, we decided it needed one final coat of paint.  Wes put the last coat of paint on as it was nearing dark and we called it a night.

Here is a close up of the yellow color.

I have to be honest, at my first I doubted my decision a little bit.  I texted the picture to my family and it got mixed reviews (putting it mildly).  But I knew that I did like it better than the maroon :). Wes was able to to deadbolt the door while leaving off the hardware in order to let it fully cure for the night.  Once I woke up the next morning, I was smitten with the results (not caring what my family thought).  It is a nice pop of color that our exterior needed.  Wes put the hardware back on and it started looking even better.  Here is a close up with the hardware on.

And a picture from a little bit further away.

And here is the view from the mailbox.

It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I am enjoying my yellow door and the pop of color it brings to the yard.  I am glad I stuck with my gut and just went for it :).