I see a [front] door and I want it painted black…

First off, why is that song called “Paint it Black” instead of “Painted Black”??  Anyone?  I always thought the lyrics were “Paint it Black”…

Anyway, last week I decided it was high time to paint our front door.  Since we moved in I have wanted to rid the exterior of the 90’s hunter green.  So naturally, I chose to go black, since I prefer it to blue, red, or white.  I would happily have painted the door spring green or yellow, but I figured black was something Michael and I could live with for a long time.  And I figured people would tease me if I painted it oil rubbed bronze! :) 

I picked up a quart of oil-based Rustoleum black in semi-gloss (which turned out to be quite shiny, but pleasantly so!).  I prepped the door by sanding trouble spots (drips, scratches, brush marks) with a rough paper (100 grit) and then finished it off by sanding the whole thing with a scouring pad, just to take the gloss down and give me something to adhere the paint to.  Then I wiped the it down with soap and water.  Next came the painting… I used a brush for the first coat and a roller for the second, but in hindsight, I should have rolled the first coat, too.  It took two coats to get the sheen even.  The first coat had a lot of shiny spots in it, but after the second coat it all seemed to be the same degree of shiny.  The hardest part was keeping the door open so it could air out and dry while preventing the cat and dog from escaping!  I set up a lovely barricade that involved a screen door, a fireplace screen, a chair and a piece of foamboard (to cover the top of the fireplace screen)… too bad I didn’t take a picture of that!  But I managed to keep the cat away from the wet paint and the open door to freedom. :)

Here is the result:

I love it!  The black is so classy and elegant.  So long green door!!!

  

 

Now, as you can see, I still have a lot of work to do before the black door can really shine.  I have to paint the shutters black.  And repaint the white trim and threshold surrounding the door.  And I have to do something about that worn out faded black storm door.  This one:

Blech storm door.

In my neighborhood wanderings I have noticed that some houses have storm doors that match the trim.  Some have gray or black ones, and some have other colors that seem to match nothing.  Since we won’t be doing that, I have narrowed it down to either white or black. 

Originally I was thinking the storm door should be black.  That way it would blend in with the front door and almost disappear.  But then after seeing all the white ones that matched the trim, I thought, “I have white trim… maybe that would look nice?”  And that is where you come in.  You must help me decide whether to paint the storm door white or black.  Here is a bit of photoshop magic (ahem… just pretend it looks like magic and not like I don’t know what I’m doing) to help with the decision:

A. Black Door

B. White Door

What do you think???  Do you like the black door or the white door better?

CAST YOUR VOTE NOW! 

Thanks for stopping by!