Follow the Yellow Front Door!

I heart yellow doors!

I have always wanted a sunny yellow front door.  Long before I even owned a house, I wanted a  warm welcoming door colour that reminded me of summer cottages, life in the beaches and Martha's Vineyard even though I've never actually been to Martha's Vineyard!

But with so many yellows to choose from, the margin for error was huge.     I didn't want Parrot yellow nor did I want neon electric yellow.   And here's a bit of advice:  DO NOT  assume the yellow  in the magazine is the yellow you want in person.     Case in point, Benjamin Moore's Yellow Raincoat which I loved in a magazine but in reality, it looked more like the colour of a Blue Bird School Bus.  Not the look I was going for.

So, this past Canada Day weekend I set out to liven up my boring green door.


Step 1:  Pick your yellow 

 I  chose CIL's Cheers Festival 529.  But I had it colour matched by Benjamin Moore

Step 2:  Prime before you Paint

   I started with a green door, and instead of doing 6 coats of yellow,  priming  it white made the yellow go on easier.  I highly recommend Zinsser  Bin Primer which coats everything easily.

Step 3: Panic! 

 After the first coat  I realized just  how sun blazing bright my yellow choice was.   I was  half expecting some backlash.  After all, this ain't Bermuda or Lunenburg!


I decided to live with it for 48 hours but admit I had my doubts.   And sure enough, after living  with the bright hot sunburst for 3 days, I caved and headed back to the paint store to add more white and bring down the intensity.   So my final colour is now custom -  Cheers Festival with some white thrown in.

left: before   right:  after

Step 4:  Breath, relax, embrace.

After 3 coats,  it's definitely still bright but I'm  really digging it.  It says,  fun friendly nice person lives here.    After all, you have never met a mean person with a yellow front door right?

Photo credits:

Canadian House and Home via photographerLauraArsie

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