Sooooo, I may have mentioned one or 100 times how much I love our new “French” doors in the family room/kitchen. They aren’t really true French doors because only one opens. Originally I wanted two operational doors but after some research we went with the one fixed, one opening version. I heard the double door versions have more structural issues (after time) and they are also more expensive. Plus, in my head we would have these gorgeous days with both doors wide open, but in read life all four animals would be gone forever and our house would be full of wasps. SO.
We LOVE the look of them from the inside, that’s been established:
But I have been so excited about the outside too. :) I have a series of changes I plan to make out here and the first one was the easiest. This is how this area has looked all winter:
I always say I’ll clean up everything before it gets cold and then it gets cold and I don’t do it. These planters stay out all year round and have held up fine, other than some fading from the sun:
I got these years ago at Garden Ridge (I think)? I wanted to clean them up and make them pop again, so spray paint to the rescue, duh!
They are plastic so I grabbed this spray paint that works on all surfaces:
I find most spray paints work on all surfaces, really. But some do call for a primer on plastic, so look for that.
I didn’t do much prep – just wiped them down a bit and then sprayed:
HUGE difference right?
I’ve been dying to start planting this spring and haven’t had time because of the indoor projects. It was nice to finally pick out some flowers!
Here’s one of my favorite tips when planting – to avoid using tons of soil and to keep our planters from getting too heavy, I fill them with the plastic containers from the plants first:
It fills up the space that would be full of heavy soil and still gives the roots room to move around. Also, you can smush them down easily to make everything fit just so. I’ve done this for years and it always works great!
After about ten minutes of spray painting and ten minutes of planting this spot looks so much better already!
Ignore the deck that needs restained and the peeling paint on the trim and all the other stuff, OK? Focus on the flowers. :)
I had a light installed when we had the doors put in and I wish I would have had them do one on each side. Our old door just had one and I thought I wouldn’t mind it, but I do. It won’t be hard to add another one someday I guess.
I tend to go with reds and purples on the deck and patio – I just love how the look together. For containers the saying goes “thriller, filler, spiller” -- I went with tall grass in the middle (it has some purple tones in it) for the thriller, geraniums for the filler and petunias for the spiller:
In a few weeks the petunias will trail out of the planters a bit more. :)
I have used spray paint numerous times outside and everything holds up great – don’t be afraid to try it!
I’m on the lookout for a longer outdoor rug but it has to be really thin so the door clears it:
I have more plans in mind for this spot that I’m excited about! They are on a very, very long list of items that we need to take care of outside this spring. It’s so wonderful to have these outdoor spaces but they are a lot of work!
Here’s a before and after cause they always remind me that I got something done:
Occasionally I open the one door for a few minutes but I have to watch the cats like a hawk. Or a hawk will really get them. No kidding.
I’m looking forward to our first warm season with the new door!:
A few of you have asked about it over the past few months – I went with an out swing so it didn’t take up room inside the house. So far it has worked out great – even in rain and snow. We don’t have any kind of overhang so in the winter we had to shovel there occasionally but that was no different than our old door.
These come with special exterior hinges for security, so no worries there either. I do like the added support in the middle too – they are nice and secure have held up great so far.
So have I convinced you to try spray paint somewhere? I hope? It’s so easy to refresh pretty much anything, even outside! It’s a gorgeous day so I’ll be outside cleaning out the beds. :)
**I shared some of my other outdoor spray paint projects and some quick tips here!