A little paint goes a long way: a facade facelift...

Let's take a walk down memory lane. This is what the house looked like when we first bought it. Overgrown landscaping and faded paint. Notice the brick red door and the faded burgundy shutters. What a palette. 

We took care of the landscaping last year, so this summer, painting the house was on the agenda. Our house is vinyl siding and some of the trim is plastic, so only the wood trim, front door and shutters needed to be painted. Thankfully we had an old can of the trim paint in the basement so we didn't have to play the "does it match?" paint guessing game. The porch itself was one color but the door trim and window cornices were a lighter color. Basically they just blended right into the siding.  

In an effort to make them pop a little more, I decided to paint the trim and cornices the darker color  -- like how mascara makes your eyes look bigger and brighter. And we all know the windows are the eyes of the house. Or something like that...

And pop they did. It really brought the house to life and to my delight, perfectly matched the window trim. It also made the door the focal point of the porch. 

Now there is a differentiation between the siding and the trim. 

Speaking of the door (and the shutters), we didn't try to match the original color exactly, we went a little more burgundy with it. Antique Burgundy from Valspar was the color we decided on. It had a lot more purple and a lot less red/orange. It even coordinates with the coleus plant. I LOVE it!  Color coordination makes me giddy!  

We are so happy how the colors work together to brighten up the facade. 

Before. Sad and faded...

After. Bright and cheery...

It all feels so much more balanced and coordinates so well with the tree in the front yard.

Home Sweet Home!