Front Door & Porch Redo

My house is over 100 years old and has been through many changes in that time.  We did an extensive remodel and addition in 2008.  We completely ripped off our front porch and created a whole new one.  What a difference a front door can make on a house!

Here's a little front door & porch timeline and really good memories too!

Our little family in our first home (2005).  Here is what it looked like when we moved in.  I saw an old photo on the tax assessor that showed it in the 50's with wrought iron little columns.  The original house didn't have this porch because half of the current living room was the old front porch.

Here's a good shot of it with me about 5 days away from having Sophia in 2006.  You can't see the roof but it is a little tin shed roof.

This is the beginning of the addition of the new front porch with a pitched front roof instead of a little shed roof and a lot bigger front porch.  The old front porch you couldn't even open the door without standing on the first step.

We added a new door with a glass storm door in front to help with energy efficiency (you can write those off on your taxes).  Plus it gives us another "window" option in our living room which is really dark.  We kept the door the natural Douglas fir color but I have considered a pretty yellow color too.  Here is a photo of a yellow door below.  Looks pretty cool!  Maybe one day in the future ;)

Blueprint Magazine (Martha Stewart)

We got black cottage style fixtures and accented with the grey.  We decided to paint the front porch floor in the same grey as the rest of the trim.  But time has proven that the water based colored stains are not durable on high traffic surfaces.  

Here is our finished porch before changing the porch floor color.

Close up of the porch floor surface

This summer we decided to do something different.  We opted for a black water based enamel paint.  I am hoping that it will be more durable than the stain was.

What a difference a little paint can make!  You just can't go wrong with black.  It reminds me of Charleston Green.  Who knows what that color is??  We also decided to redo our carriage house garage.  Stay tuned for that post.

Here is the Final Look with our new black porch floor and some cute little Montalvo girls!