Heeey! Here with some porch freshness today: a new door color (same old door), a new doorbell button, a fresh coat of exterior paint on the wood and eaves, and the removal of a handrail. It all adds up to a much cleaner look!
Why am I painting the same weird scrolly old door again when there is a new door taking up space in the garage waiting to be hung? Umm, mostly because I’m crazy. Secondarily, because I have a hunch the new door is gonna be a long time coming. Hanging doors is one of our most dreaded house jobs and I foresee it continually dropping to the bottom of the list. Considering that, I was ready to move past the coral, which was only supposed to be short lived. The color was fun and all, but certainly wasn’t doing the house exterior paint color any favors. I tried out a bright turquoise this time around, a color that seriously brings out the best in the tan exterior. It’s the same color I used on our backyard mosaic wall: Behr Water Park.
We finally switched out the old doorbell button for this starburst repro from Rejuvenation and rewired our long chime doorbell so that it actually works again! (Read more about them here.) How cute! How loud! It was disconnected for so long to address some electrical iffies that we all forgot how boisterous and wonderful our chimes are. The back porch doorbell only warrants one ding, but ringing the front door button produces an entire song! This massive beast, made by Rittenhouse, is 4.5 feet tall and is one my favorite original fixtures in the house, even though kids constantly crash into it when barreling down the hall (…or intentionally slam it when they are pissed to get a rise out of me…totally works). 
Losing the handrail along the wall has been a huge but subtle improvement. So subtle that I think I’m the only person in the world who actually notices. But trust me, when you do notice, the streamline hits you hard. The before:
As for this plant, it’s not gonna make it, is it? This south facing corner spot is a certified killer. The heat radiates off the walls, killing all life. Any ideas internet? I’m going to try a full-on spiky cactus next, but I fear even that will burn in these conditions and, as a bonus, also possibly impale someone???
I think changing door colors might be my thing. It’s like a quick and cheap outfit change for your house. Better, right? (Though side by side this looks like a gross baby shower.)
The end. Thanks for reading! (Itching for more, more, more door talk?…go here for a mega-post on vintage door hardware. xoxo)
SUBURBAN * POP 
So. Much. Better. Love the new color. Definitely fresh. And the long chime doorbell and button plate are awesome. Nice work. I hear you on the door-hanging delay. Not fun. We took our front door off to sand/paint. We made the mistake of switching-out the hinges. It then took us an entire day to re-hang it. It’s a black art. As for the plant, we have barrel cactus and agave sitting in scorching west-facing sun. They love it. We do have some snake plants outside, but only in north-facing planters.
LikeLike
Thanks so much fogmodern! There is too much pressure with exterior door hanging. I can see our door swap spiraling out of control over several days as we change hardware and knob heights and replace hinges…and then what? Tape plastic over the door opening for a few nights?! Haha! Thanks for the info on your plants. I’m going to give those both a try!
LikeLike