Before and After: A Drab Entryway Gets a Colorful, Welcoming Transformation

First impressions are important, and that’s especially true when it comes to the entrance to your home. Your front door sets the tone for anyone entering your house, whether it’s your guests coming over for dinner, or just you after a long day at work.

But Gemma Gear (@thatssogemma), an interior stylist and blogger known for her love of vibrant colors, cringed every time she walked up to her own front door. “The front of the house was miserable and lackluster,” Gemma says. “The walls were cracking, the path was mucky and the front door was boring. It needed a lot of love.” Nothing about it reflected her personality or the cheerful interior of her home, so during the UK’s shelter-in-place earlier this year, she got to work. “I have a very colorful house, and I wanted the front of the house to reflect that too,” she says.

Gemma started with making repairs to the concrete areas, filling in the cracks and then coating it all with some fresh white paint. Next was the front door, which she decided to repaint a cheerful, bright yellow. She sanded it down, repainted, and replaced all of the door hardware and house numbers with black finishings for a modern look.

For the walkway, she found a cost-effective alternative to laying new tiles: stenciling. Gemma used a power washer to get rid of any dirt and debris and then applied a layer of white base coat of masonry paint. “Once that was dry, I stenciled on a black geometric triangle pattern for a punchy contrast,” she says. The bold design took time and patience, but certainly paid off by adding that extra pop to Gemma’s new front door. “I just love the fact that every time I get home, I have a smile on my face,” she says. “It’s a house to be proud of now, inside and out!”

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