Before and After: This Front Entrance’s Curb Appeal-Boosting Refresh Cost Less Than $300
Giving your front door a facelift is a common home project for the start of fall. There are so many cute autumnal wreaths and doormats out there to put the finishing touches on the project, after all! At the start of Community Month on Apartment Therapy, we’re featuring this fall front door revamp with pumpkins and a new paint shade to boot — and best yet, it was a project completed by one neighbor for another.
DIYer Madison Bess (@blushingbungalow) revamped her neighbors Jacob and Elyse’s front door in a project that cost $283 total. “Jacob and Elyse helped me whenever I needed, and of course they kept me entertained the whole time, too,” Madison says. “It was so fun.” (Hooray for great neighbors!)
“Before redoing this front porch, the cement was cracking, and so was the paint on the door,” Madison says. “A front porch is the first thing you see when you walk into a home, and it wasn’t doing the inside of this beautiful house any justice!”
Thankfully, paint came to the rescue for both the door and the concrete porch. Madison says Jacob and Elyse already knew what color they wanted for the door, so that step was easy. They chose a slightly greener hue than the blue before; the new paint is Behr’s Aspen Valley.
“Always always sand and prime before painting a door!” Madison advises. And new hardware made a big difference in addition to new paint.
“I love to add a touch of vintage in every space I work on, so this door knocker was a must!” Madison says. Her vintage-inspired, statement-making knocker was $18 on Amazon. She also swapped out the dirty flush-mount light from before for a Moravian star-shaped one.
Next, Madison addressed the stairs. “I power washed the front porch and then painted it with concrete paint, using painter’s tape to create the line design,” she explains. “The stripes leading up to the door added a touch of fun and detail to the space.” Madison used Behr’s concrete paint in Ultra Pure White and Gravelstone to create her white and tan stripes. Her proudest project moment? She eyeballed the lines, and they ended up turning out totally parallel. (If you’re more risk-averse, make sure to double-check various points on your lines with a tape measure to make sure that they remain parallel and don’t start to get closer together or farther apart.)
Madison completed the look with layered doormats from Target, mums, and pumpkins, of course! Overall, Madison (and Jacob and Elyse!) are super pleased with the fresh front door. “I love how all of the colors worked together in the end,” Madison says. “I wouldn’t change a thing!”
This piece is part of Community Month, where we’re sharing the best ways to connect with, strengthen, and celebrate the communities you live in and belong to. Head on over here to see it all!