Making an Entrance - Sprucing Up Your Entryway

If your home is like ours, we have two entrances. The front door,

and the door near our driveway. The latter is used about 95% of the time by us and our friends.

Creating an inviting entrance for yourself is so important for falling in love with your home.

Think about it this way: How many times do you go in and out of your home through that one doorway? How many times do guests go in and out of that doorway? Do you follow me? So, it is you who should be welcomed home to your lovely home first and foremost!

This is what our family entrance looked like a few months ago:

How I lived with that ugly brown aluminum door for 3 years, I will never know. And let's not even talk about that little red CPI security sticker!

Lucky for us, a neighbor sold us her full view storm door when they added a garage onto their home. Had they not, I probably would still be scouring the Habitat ReStore. Or at least I would have painted the old door to match the house or use a more inviting color than doo-doo brown.

After I installed the storm door, I made sure to repaint the threshold as well. What?! You can't see behind "Doo Doo Brown" above, is this?

Niiiiiice. Gold threshold with silver metal showing through. Not exactly my favorite rustic look. The easiest way to repaint it would have been to remove the threshold and spray paint it in the yard on a tarp. But, those screws weren't going to budge for me. So, I masked off the entire doorway...

...storm door, floor, and...

...the mudroom to spray paint  one piece of threshold brushed nickel. Okay, call me crazy, but I was on a mission to make my entryway more inviting for myself. And I wasn't about to get brushed nickel on any other surfaces.

Much better, don't you think? And I can honestly say that after using automotive primer and then the Rustoleum Brushed Nickel metallic paint, the threshold still looks like new!

But, I didn't stop there. I added a kick plate in matching brushed nickel. And replaced the door sweep as well. And splurged on a new door mat. {Love my new mat!}

Finally, looking beyond the doorstep, I add some pumpkin topiaries, plants, wreath or other decorations (depending on the season) to greet you – errr, I mean me.

My good friend has this adorable planter near her side entrance (that she uses about 95% of the time, too.) It is the perfect place to switch out plants, or other decorations depending on the season.

So, that takes care of the exterior, but don't neglect the inside! I added a new coat of paint to the inside of the door (that my sweet departed maniacal dog had left claw marks all over it.) I was so anxious to freshen it up, I didn't even tape off the windows.

After the paint dried, I used a razor blade to score...

...and then scrape off the paint.

And as a final, welcome home, I hung my message center just inside the door.

I'm so happy to be home!

 

So, what do you think? How does your home greet you? Does it welcome you with open arms or is it more of just a brief, "hi?"

A few products you might like for your entryway (commission links, click to view details):

Presto Chango Christmas Wreath

Sneak Peek at my Christmas Wreath

I am getting a lot of mileage out of my white base wreath I bought at Target several months ago. With it I've been able to make a Magnolia Leaf Wreath for the fall.

I made a Feather Wreath for Thanksgiving.

Now it was time to give the wreath an injection of Christmas spirit. I removed the feathers, but left the green nuts on it. I had a green fabric leaf wreath that I made out of some floral filler stalks. All I did was twist 4 of the stalks into a circle shape and secure with a few pieces of floral wire.

I set my white base wreath inside the green leaf circle.

To secure the two together, 1) I fed some of the base wreath twigs under the leaf wreath and 2) twisted them over to hug the green leaf wreath.

That couldn't be any easier! No glue, no mess.

I compared two different ribbons next to my wreath and ultimately chose the black and white one.

Tied a pretty bow and stood back to admire.

Hmmm, I like it, but it just wasn't feeling Christmasy enough, so I quickly tucked some red floral sprigs with teeny bells on them into the wreath and gently curved them to match the shape of the wreath.

Now that is more like it!

In less than 10 minutes I have my Christmas wreath! This base wreath has been the best $10 I've spent all year!

I'm going to try to use this wreath all year and will be sure to share the transformations with you.

Sharing this project at these FABULOUS link parties:

DIY Showoff  Project Parade

Skip to My Lou - Made by You Mondays

Between Naps on the Porch - Metamorphosis Mondays

Mad in Crafts - Mad Skills Party
Tip Junkie - Handmade Projects Tues.

Coastal Charm - Nifty Thrifty Tues.

All Thingz Related- anything related Tuesdays

Creating a House of Grace- Twice owned Tuesdays

I'm Topsy Turvy - Topsy Turvy Tues.

Blue Cricket Design - Show and Tell Wednesday

Domestically Speaking - Power of Paint
The Tshirt Diaries - Upcycled Wednesday

Fine Craft Guild - Tutorial Link Party

Somewhat Simple.com - Strut Your Stuff

Shabby Chic Cottage - Transformation Thursdays

The Virginia House - We Can Do It Cheaper

Fireflies and Jellybeans - Show Off Your Stuff

Decor Mamma - Frugalicious Friday

In the Fun Lane- Fresh Coat Fridays

Miss Mustard Seed - Furniture Feature Fridays

Tater Tots and Jello - Weekend Wrap Up Party

Funky Junk Interiors - Saturday Night Special 

A Little Knick Knack - Everything but the Kitchen Sink

  Shabby Nest - Frugal Friday

Feathers in my Wreath

I bought this basic white base wreath at Target a few months ago. I knew it would take me through several seasons.

Case in point, my magnolia-fied wreath from September.

Well, I stripped out all the dried magnolia leaves and was determined to give it a new look for Thanksgiving. When I think of Thanksgiving, I think of turkey! So, turkey, pheasant, and peacock feathers seemed like an ideal filler for my plain wreath. I also threw in some other feathers I had in my décor stash.

All I did was tuck some feathers into the wreath. Played with the placement of the feathers until I liked the look.

Then I added a dark teal satin ribbon.

Not bad, but not very exciting. I wanted to add some color, so I grabbed some green potpourri nuts and gave them a fresh coat of spray paint (Rustoleum Apple Green) to freshen them up.

Then, I put a small dollop of hot glue on the backs and pressed them onto my wreath. My goal is to continue to re-use the wreath, so I used the glue sparingly.

Now, that looks much better.

Then I hung my feather wreath up and my door is festively decorated for Thanksgiving.

After Thanksgiving, I'll be haulin' down the Christmas decorations. I'm trying so hard to keep the kids from dictating our decorating with inflatable santas, elves and more. Personally, I prefer the classic white lights, some greenery and a red bow to top it off.

Mag-nolia-fying a Fall Wreath

I promised you that I'd be embracing Autumn. Well, I've been a busy girl and have been switching out the summer decor for some more seasonally appropriate reds, oranges, brown and greens.

Here is a little sneak peek from my mantle:

My Ballard Design Knockoff Pear has already found a spot to sit.

I promise to share more with you soon. (That is if you really want to see more.)

For those of you dragging your feet in the sand and hanging onto summer, feel free to enter my beach in a bottle giveaway from the Painted Cottage! A winner will be chosen at random on October 1st!

In an effort to spend less and store less, I've been trying to buy just 2-3 wreaths that I can switch up and tailor to meet the season. So a few months ago, I bought this little white bud wreath from Target (I think? Correct me if I'm wrong.)

It will be my springboard or base wreath for many seasons to come. The neutral white color works well with all colors and I can add other natural elements and ribbons to change the color palette.

When I saw how Kate, over at Centsational Girl, made a beautiful wreath with magnolia leaves, the light bulb went on for me.

 Centsational Girl's Wreath

My neighbor has a beautiful magnolia tree, so I asked if I could steal some of its fallen leaves. I filled a grocery bag with the ones that looked most interesting to me. Then brought them home, rinsed the dirt off of them and laid them out to dry.

After they dried, I started playing with them, and found that I could gently tuck them into the grapevine base frame. I fully intended to hot glue them in place, but they held tight and stayed on their own! I think they were so happy to be offered a second life that they gladly cooperated.

I tied a cotton ribbon (leftover from the tie on a stack of washcloths from Target). I just threaded it through the loop that came with the wreath.

And here is my super easy mag-nolia-fied fall wreath.