Picked A Yellow-Green Front Door Color, from the workbench

Mmm, pickles. That will make sense in a minute. But first we will show you what John’s sister Emily’s front entryway has looked like for the past three years that she’s lived in her remarkable casa (which you can virtually tour here).

And here is the after, thanks to a new color on the door and some semi-transparent stain on the deck that leads to it (oh yeah and some pumpkins).

Here is how we landed on the door color and the stain hue. First I came over with a bunch of paint swatches and we held them up to the door to see what would work with the smoky gray color of the house.

We easily narrowed it down to a few go-tos (Cornichon, Lagoon, Duck’s Egg, Egg Yolk, and Sultana – all by Martha Stewart).

Then after a bit more deliberation both Emily and her hubby Todd chose they enjoyed Cornichon the best by far. And I must say I agreed. They truly hoped their house to look hip and a little funky, so they appreciated that it was not an obvious color that could be found on many doors. It also looked truly strong with the house color as well as with deep wood tones (since they also planned to go dark with the wood deck that leads to the door).

With the front door color narrowed down, it was time to select the exact hue for the deck, and we all chose on something rich and brown but not too opaque (a semi-transparent stain by Behr called Premium Plus Deck Stain in the color “Wood Chip”).

After all those decisions were reached, it was time for the deck to get power washed, stained, and then for the door to get two coats of semi-gloss latex exterior paint in our go-to Cornichon color by Martha.

We think it truly gives off a confident “how YOU doin'” vibe that feels cool and welcoming. And Emily and Todd could not be more pleased with the outcome.

So we thought we’d share that swift curb appeal makeover with you folks in case you are debating a new front door or deck color. It truly can make all the difference, right? And now Em and Todd are excited to complete the transformation with a few more details (like more planters, cool house numbers, and a big modern welcome mat). Gotta enjoy a makeover that makes you excited about things like doormats and planters.

Are any of you folks getting ready to paint your house’s exterior or otherwise turn up the dial on your home’s curb appeal? Tell me all about it. Oh and I promised the title would make sense so here ya go: cornichon, the name of the front door paint, means pickle in French. And thanks to my 9th grade French teacher I was in the know from the moment we selected it as our go-to swatch (thanks Madame Cruger-Langer!). Snookie would be proud.