Mr. Prof designer home

I love organization, and I enjoy keeping on top of things when it comes to our home.  But my computer is a mess.  I have all of our pictures scattered randomly on three different computers.  Because of this, I have a hard time finding photos when I need them.  Especially “before” photos. 

Anyway… as I was doing some picture rearranging today, I discovered this before picture of our front door. It also shows the original white aluminum trimwork. Yum.

And here is the after taken today (Bailey asked to pose again):

Looks nice and bright on the outside, but beginning this week, that pretty door will lead inside to destruction and mayhem and hopefully not death. 

It’s finally come time to replace the floor joists on the second floor.  Which also means the whole ceiling for the first floor, since they are one in the same.  MAJOR work that my husband and boys are oddly excited for.  Testosterone=destroying things with sledgehammers.

They replaced some of the joists already (above picture) soon after moving in, but found out a little too late that the size of the boards was not up to code.  Those pesky codes.  But we love the inspectors.  LOVE.  THEM.  (they might be reading this) So all the new has to come down along with the old:

For the last ten months this was our living room ceiling.  Might not have been so bad if it wasn’t for the insulation billowing out the sides. 

We’ve also been cohabitating with some old (unoccupied) wasp nests attached to the old joists.  Unnerving?  Yes.  Needless to say, I’m happy to see it all go.  And happy that the girls and I will be “vacationing” at my parents house until it’s all over.  Yeah, we’re wimps. 

If you remember, our new front door was the first find for our new farmhouse.  We bought it off of craigslist for $100 before we even closed on the house.  Here it is before:

I originally painted it “Laughing Eyes” (by Ace):

But once installed, it still looked too blue.   I knew I wanted to paint the porch ceiling blue and Laughing Eyes was not giving me enough contrast.  Here is our ceiling in the process of being painted (not close to finished):

In the end, I decided upon Coventry Gray (Benjamin Moore) for the front door color and I’m happy with it:

It took us until now to post pictures because it took us 6 months to finish the project.  (and it’s still not even done… see the unpainted door jam?)  Since one thing leads to another in this renovation process… it wasn’t just a matter of swapping the new door for the old.  Oh no.  Since it was a different size, there was gaping where the siding met the new door, which required us to change the siding.  We replaced the aluminum siding with Hardiplank and painted it Cottage White (Behr). 

We could only afford to replace half of the siding of the house (it wasn’t in the plans after all), so currently we are sporting a two-tone look.  The top half is still white aluminum. I’m hoping the neighbors don’t think it’s for keeps.  At least from the middle down, the house is lookin’ pretty. 

The galvanized lights are from Lowes.  The super simple Swedish wreath is from Ikea.  Doormat is from World Market.  The dog is not for sale.  :)

And the winner is… blue!  I appreciate your votes and comments.  My Norwegian friend, Margitta, from White as Linen reminded me of this post from the Milk and Honey blog.  The gist of it was that exterior and interior colors should coincide.

I snatched this image a while ago from the Sea Cottage blog.  I filed it away as the image that most expresses the pallet I desire for my home.  Do you see a speck of coral red?  Nope.  Blue and Green?  Yes.

After three different stores, a plethora of blue paint chips and three painted-on samples, I settled upon “Laughing Eyes” by Ace. 

Don’t you love the name?  It is the perfect mix for the door… not too blue, not too green, not too light, not too dark.  Just right.  We think! 

We’re under a time crunch now.  I tell ya what, this is my kind of stress.  I’ll take it!  We close May 31’st on the old farmhouse, which means we’d like to have the front door ready to go by then.  Since my husband is very much a “whatever you want dear” kind of guy, it’s up to me to choose the color. 

I posted about the old door we got off of craigslist here.  And by the comments, I could tell you must have been reading my mind. 

My first choice for the door was to strip it down and poly it but unfortunately that won’t work.  We have to change the doorknob to the other side so the door opens into the new living room.  That means we’ll have to patch up the hole on the other side.  Painting is the only option. 

When I first spotted this door from Cottage and Vine, bluish green became by next favorite choice (Wythe Blue by Benjamin Moore):

But then there’s the whole porch ceiling issue.  You see, after painting our current porch ceiling blue, I kind of fell in love with the look, and it’s become a must-do for our new ceiling. 

Blue door, blue ceiling.  Too much?  Maybe.  But then I found these images of  blue doors with blue ceilings:

It works.  It’s probably just a matter of choosing the right blue for contrast.  But is all the blue screaming “Coastal”?

The new house is a very traditional farmhouse in the country.  There’s even a token red barn in the background:

Nothing says classic farmhouse like a red door… my next choice.  I would choose a coral red for a twist. Can’t you picture a sky blue above this door? 

Last but not least is another traditional look.  Black: 

I was against the idea of black until I saw it against a blue ceiling and now it’s in the running:

images from Ekster Antiques

Would you like to participate in choosing the color? I added my first-ever poll to the top right side of my blog so you can cast your vote.  Pretty please! 

Isn’t it ironic? And we didn’t even plan it. Turns out the first project for the new house is a front door! It just so happens that we found this lil’ old beauty last week on craigslist for $100.

That’s just how we roll. We see a deal and snatch it up, then find how we can work it in. And we always seem to somehow.

So… a question for you. What color to paint it? We’re leaning towards red. Would love to hear your thoughts.

And if you missed the post about what house we’re talking about, click here.

I first started this blog because we were planning on building a home, and I wanted to document the process.  But those plans fell by the wayside, and we assumed we’d be in our current home for several more years.  We were *so sure* we’d be staying that we used up all of the collected items (intended for the new house) on this house instead.  Like our front door.  And our laundry sink.  And the bathroom sink and legs.  And the fireplace mantel.  Plus more…

Oh yes, remember this?  It wasn’t so long ago was it?  It’s evidence that we were not planning on moving when we built in this little desk nook!  It’s now turned into this:

We had to cover it up for resale.  Not everyone has the need for a pint sized built-in desk after all.  This old door came out of a friend’s barn.  People will either love or hate it.  Which might not be good for resale either though.  Hmm. 

So the scoop is that we found a fixer upper in a great location, and we’re going for it! 

It’s a farmhouse built in 1930.  One would think it would be oozing with charm inside but not so.  Throughout the years, it’s gone through much “renovation” which we fully intend to undo.  Surely there are treasures to be found underneath all the layers.  Let’s hope!

There is a sheep and horse farm next door so we can pretend it’s ours but without the labor. ;)  Perfect. 

We thought we’d be transitioning back to suburbia for our next house, but it wasn’t meant to be.  Country living has gotten into our bones at this point, and we’re embracing its benefits. 

In a few days I’ll be participating in the Parade of Homes tour that’s being hosted by A Bowl Full of Lemons.  It will be a nice way to exit one door while entering another.  I hope you’ll come along!

An uncommon sight, but one to behold. 

 
Decked out in seasonal decor, our new door is looking pretty festive.  My daughter posed in front to show just how tall the door is.  It’s big!

I bought the swag from Wreaths of Maine, but swapped out the plaid ribbon for creamy silk.  I also stuck in some lighter greenery here and there.  I didn’t intend to be in the picture, but there I am.  Hi!

The iron hares came from my mom.  (thanks Mom!) I like them so much, I’ll probably keep them up all year.  I hung them with droopy linen bows. 

The wax candles are battery operated, and give a dreamy glow in the evening.  This has been my first experience with battery operated candles, and I can’t believe I haven’t tried them them out until now!  They’re my new favorite thing.

The planter baskets came from TJ Maxx.  They are presently on clearance for around $6.00:

The kids cut some greenery from the trees in the yard, and we stuffed the baskets full.  We also threw in some sticks and pinecones.

Welcome December!

It’s in!  There’s nothing like a big gaping hole in the front of your house to motivate project completion.  :) 

The old french doors moved to the side of the house to replace some rotten ones.  

We stained and kept the wood (on the exterior side anyway).  Oak isn’t my favorite wood grain, but when you find a door that’s worth a couple thousand dollars and pay only $150.00 for it, the pickiness subsides.  :)   We took the hanging lantern from inside the house, and hung it over the door.  I love the contrast between the metal, wood, and painted siding. 

Now all she needs is a little dressing up.  I’ll be sure to share the adornments once completed.  Have a happy holiday!

Surprise!  The to-do is done!

Our porch ceiling is now painted a pretty turquoise blue.

I wouldn’t have made the (self-imposed) new year’s deadline if it wasn’t for this boy. 

He and I balanced on ladders and worked together.  When there’s a will (and a 13 year old around), there’s a way.  

It shouldn’t be so difficult locating unique and interesting doormats.  But it is. 

That’s why I’m bubbling over at finding these simple, chunkified mats to wipe the feet with.  And the price is nice… with the half circle being only $14.99 and the round one, $34.99.  Thank you World Market.com. 

On my to-do

Before the year’s through

Is painting the porch ceiling

Blue.