Making an Entrance

Many of you know I've moved into my own house. I have big plans. I also have slightly more realistic plans. Part of that realism involves knowing I can't afford to buy a new front door simply because I don't like the color of the existing one.

The previous owner, for some inexplicable reason, put a brown door on a white house already sporting four (five?) shades of grey for roof, trim, sidewalk/stoop, and foundation. Black metal porch railings suggested to me that this could be, should be a black door. I did some research on painting fiberglass front doors. It's not as difficult as I once thought. It can't be sanded, but must be washed down with acetone instead. (Wear rubber gloves!) It needs to be primed with one of those primers that bonds to anything, and then you can use normal exterior paint. The panels get painted first and then the cross strips and last the edges -- just like a regular wooden door. And just like a regular wooden door the brush strokes should follow the "grain" of the "wood."

Here (above) is the door primed and ready for it's top coat. Already it looked better. The white primer would need two top coats of the exterior paint to get coverage.

Between coats of paint I was raking red rubber recycled tire mulch out of the flower beds. I think it defies logic that we should put shredded tires in our garden soil because we do not want old tires in the ground in landfills. Playground (protective) ground-cover? Okay. Recycled rubber roofing? Wonderful. Non-biodegradable shreds in my soil? Why? Why would anyone do this?

Anyway, back to the door -- the final coat of paint is finally dry. My front door is finished and I had to show you.

Now that's an attractive "new" door -- even if I do say so myself.