How we gave our old doors a quick + easy update.
I almost titled this post “Third Time’s a Charm”, but I felt like you might be getting tired of hearing about all of the repainting I’ve been doing around here lately – though, surely not as tired of it as I am of actually doing it. Like that ceiling I painted out four separate times in the study (read more about that here if you missed it), these doors took a few tries to get right. Three to be exact.
The door started as a bright white, which was never really my favourite. I guess I’ve just always gravitated towards a warmer colour palette. I hummed and hawed over the new colour for weeks and finally landed on Chocolate Velvet, which I painted our office in and absolutely love. I held the little swatch up next to the white and the oak and felt like it would be a lovely, warm colour to bridge the gap between the two.
I wanted to love it, but something about it just wasn’t sitting right with me. I think that rich brown just played up the the datedness of everything around it. I gave it a fair shot and waited a few weeks to see if this beautiful colour might just grow on me, but in the end decided I needed to bring in a colour that would feel a bit more modern to play off of all of the elements around it that have a bit more of a dated feel. Black had been my first thought when I first started thinking about painting out the doors – I love the way it contrasts with all of the oak and white all around our main floor, but I was worried it might look too harsh. I tested out several different options before finally landing on Nightfall, a beautiful off-black colour with cooler tones to help balance out the warmth of that white and oak.
I really loved the way it played off of the oak and white and that it was a bit of a softer look than a stark black would be but, I just couldn’t get over how blue it looked in so many different lights. I definitely wanted more of a black look rather than the deep navy blue I was catching through much of the day. It felt like I was on the right track, but not quite there yet.
With a whole lot less thought and deliberation this time around, I decided to just take the leap and try out my favourite go-to black to see if I maybe liked that option a little more. Within a week, I had my paintbrush out yet again and was painting out the doors around our main floor with a very dark, bold black. As I was painting, I still felt really unsure about my choice (I honestly can’t seem to make a decision to save my life lately), but as it dried, I grew more and more sure about that bold black. So sure in fact, that I decided to paint out the oak trim around it the next day!
And it turned out that was the ticket my friends! Painting out that trim made all the difference in the world for me. Add in a shiny new doorknob and I was head-over-heels in love. Who knew I’d ever be able to love a dated old door like that! Just a bit (okay, a lot) of paint and some new hardware to really dress it up and this old, dated door was suddenly a modern standout in this new/old home of ours.
I loved it so much, I couldn’t help but carry it through our dining and living rooms spaces as well!
I love the way it adds a modern, yet classic touch to these spaces! And now that I’ve finally got those doors behind me, I can’t wait to start tackling a few more ideas from this list – those light fixtures will be the next to go!
What do you think? Did you love the 90’s look of all that oak and white? Or are you more drawn to this bold, yet timeless black? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
Wishing you SUCH a lovely day my friends!
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I can't wait to hear your thoughts!