Asserting My Personality (via Paint Colors)

I’m sure it’s difficult for all of you to imagine that growing up I was a bit of a head-strong, uh, obstinate, kid. Conversations about my childhood usually include some variation on this theme:

Me: God, I was such a little shit.

Mom: Oh no honey, you were just asserting your personality.

Mothers. You gotta love ’em.

Well, this weekend I was working on the back deck, which meant hours upon hours of staring at this door…

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Which I hate. I hate the hunter green. I hate the fancy glass. I hate the oval, which, by the way, is my least favorite geometric shape. Why? I don’t know, but it is. I hate that the first impression I have of walking into the Liberty House every day is of a door that I hate.

It’s possible I was having an obstinate moment.

The reason I haven’t done anything about the door for the last three months is because I’m planning to replace it. This is a purely aesthetic replacement, since the door works fine, and unfortunately it would mean tearing off the trim (which I also have less than favorable feelings toward) and if I’m going to replace the trim I have to replace the siding on that part of the house because it has a few gaping holes in it. You can see how these things escalate.

So instead of creating a ton of work for myself just because I have an inexplicable aversion to ovals (when I have a very long list of have-to-have’s for the house that need to be done first) I decided the best course of action would be to continue making frowny faces at the door every time I walked through it for the foreseeable future. This might have gone on indefinitely and cost me a lot of  money for botox if it wasn’t for a comment from Michelle on this post last week. She so eloquently referred to the work I had to do to fix up the deck that I should have been tearing down instead as “polishing a turd.” And then I laughed so hard that I fell out of my chair and died.

You know why? Well, one, my sense of humor is equivalent to that of a 12 year old boy, but also? That is exactly what I’m doing. And it kind of drives me nuts because it feels inefficient, but you know what? I just decided to embrace it. I’m embracing polishing the turd.

I can’t imagine how proud my parents are to hear that.

So, where normally I wouldn’t waste time or money on a part of the house I intend to eventually tear down or replace, this new mindset freed me up to do something crazy.

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Instead of throwing a temper tantrum a la the five year old version of myself, I decided to assert my personality another way…

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Yep.  In between deck projects I totally painted the back door in a pair of cutoff sweatpants and a sports bra (which happened to be almost the exact color I picked for the door). So I can imagine that my neighbors are thrilled that girl who moved in across the street randomly paints things on her house to match her underwear.

It’s clear I’m walking a thin line between hillbilly and crazy, but seriously? I freaking love this door. I mean, right down to the make-me-gag gold accents, which now all of the sudden seem to perfectly compliment the awesomeness of that green.

It’s Valspar’s Shadow Valley, by the way.

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All of the swatches on the door were just variations of this color tinted with some white paint I had laying around, but in the end I liked the full-on green the best.

The great thing about a project like this is that there was no possible way to screw it up. There was no way I could like the door any less, and since I was planning to replace it anyway there was no reason to stress over the color. I was actually buying stain for the deck when I turned around and that swatch caught my eye. It was love at first sight, and while it’s not a traditional door color I think it’s fair to say that it matches my personality perfectly.

So I really would love something with more squares eventually, but I’m actually thinking I’ll be happy to have that back door stay awhile now. Imagine that.

If you were going to assert your personality via paint, what color would it be?

 

30 Responses

  1. The style of that door is just wrong for your house on so many levels. Not sure there is any answer to “what were they thinking?” other than “they weren’t”.

    Looks so much better – and I don’t even really like green! Prettiest polished turd I’ve ever seen.

    1. People did crazy things back in the 90’s! There is a lot of “fancy” in this house, which you know they paid good money for… but at least they did it “right”. No shortcuts, even if it’s not my style!

  2. I totally agree with you about forest green, oval window with extra-fahwncee beveled glass (which I’m sure is supposed to look like a flower bud but oddly reminds me of a bug): not my cup of tea. Love that you painted it the undies color of your dreams. It’s really jazzy and makes those gold veins make sense. As to the color I’d pick to represent my personality: it soooo complex and I adore COLOR so I get lost in the kaleidoscope everytime I have to choose. Jo @ Let’s Face the Music

  3. My personal yet entirely correct opinion is that anyone who DELIBERATELY picks hunter green over ANY other color should be made to live in a wet hole full of spiders and chipmunk tails for at least five months.

  4. I find front door colours really hard to pick. I’d probably never choose this one, but now that I see it, I completely love it. Oh, and on the hunter green point? My husband has plans to paint his office that colour. I know, he’s stuck in 1992. Oh well, it’s his room, his choice.

  5. I think maybe a nice shade of grey about halfway between black and white would suite me. Is that boring? If I had to pick another color, it might be blue. Blue is such a hopeful color. Nice job on the door, BTW.

  6. LOVE. Painting our door is on the to do list. I think I’m going to go with red…still workin on the right shade. I hate our side door as well so anything will be an improvement.

    1. As far as reds go, my personal favorite is Heirloom Red (from Behr, I believe.) I’m totally painting the french doors to the study that color eventually!

  7. Hunter Green…at the bottom of the list with Harvest Gold and Avocado Green (70s)…yuck! I love the green you chose…fun…bright…bold…unique! Do you have plans for the porch & railings?

    My current big risk with paint color is that my front door is going to be a periwinkle blue! It’s been white for 6 years.

  8. I agree with you about the door and the new color is a huge improvement! If the oval still continues to bother you you could paint the square area around the oval white so the oval would sort of disappear into a square…

  9. I love the green turd!

    My paint color personality right now would be orange. Out there, I don’t give a crap what you think about me and I will let my opinions be known ORANGE.

    And, oddly enough, I’ve got a virtual stack of orange paint chips waiting to be tested on my front door. Hmmmm…

  10. It’s a very different shade of green compared to what I’m used to seeing. Let’s just say the door will definitely stand out now, but I do have to admit it definitely looks better than it did before.

  11. Ok, I am in the minority and apparently stuck in the 90’s (I’m only 35!) But I have a white house with hunter green shutters and doors. And the doors are not going to be repainted anytime soon because I had my Dad spray them with automotive paint with clear coat on top. They SHINE! They are easy to clean and I can even wax them with car wax! But I guess that is why there are so many different colors to choose from, because everyone has different taste!
    Your door looks great!

    1. Actually, my aunt’s house (on of my favorites) was always white siding with green shutters, and I still think it looks great. A lot of it is how you use the colors and what you compliment them with… faded hunter green and gray? Not awesome! lol.

  12. I too hate those doors. I guess that people buy them because they are displayed prominently at Home Depot, but why? Why are they even manufactured? Why is it cheaper to buy an ugly fancy door than a simple door?
    I personally believe that there should be some sort of taste police. Just as you can’t sell poisonous food (in theory), you shouldn’t be allowed to sell hideous fixtures.
    Anyway, your polished door looks awesome! Gorgeous acid colour just shakes it all up in the best way.
    Thanks for the inspiration.

  13. This could be way too much of a good thing, but when I look at that beautiful chartreuse door colour I just think deep purply-pink — the colour of those purple Wave petunias with the dark centres, if you know what I mean… Imagine that purply-pink colour on your deck railing framing the chartreuse door. Maybe too much, but in summer at least, and tempered by the soft grey surfaces behind, could be gorgeous.
    For something more all-season, maybe charcoal on the railing — with ample bright purply-pink flowers in containers.
    Have fun!

    1. That is the exact color of the floor in that mudroom actually, and I was like… huh, I also maybe don’t hate this floor as much as I did five minutes ago either. It still has to go eventually, but it’s oddly complimentary.

  14. Your’e supposed to paint doors?! One of those finishing touches I never get around to!

  15. Guess I’m stuck in the 90’s too, or at least my husband is. We have a “log sided” house, you know, those 1/2 logs that are supposed to make the house look like a log cabin! When we bought it it was an ugly, faded, rusty red with dark brown trim. We tried to get it down to the wood to stain it and make it look more like logs, but the red paint had stained the wood too much. So…now the siding is dark brown, the trim is hunter green and the front door is bright red. Yep, it looks like one of those toy, Lincoln Log houses! But the inside is starting to look more like I want it to, with my colors! Current favorite is Robin’s Egg Blue, or something close to it. Other favorites are red (my kitchen & dining room), yellow & turquoise (my bathroom). And oh lordy how I LOVE reading all about your critter encounters!

  16. The turd shines!!! 🙂 My husband will be flattered that you enjoyed his favorite expression. We do a lot of turd polishing around here, thanks to the lack of funds.

    Our doors are red – which I like – which the hubs hates but he has no recommendation for a replacement color. So, red it will stay!

  17. I love the door color, but I am probably extremely biased. Green is my favorite color, but I prefer the yellow-greens to the blue-greens.
    And I totally painted my formal dining and living rooms Martha Stewart Living Beach Grass (which is a similar color).

    1. Missiletoe, could you email me a picture of your formal dining and living room? I am considering painting our family room Martha Stewart Beach Grass, but cannot decide if it will look too yellow! Thanks!

  18. Where have I been? Girl, I love this color! I think you and I would get along very well because this looks very similar to the Pear Green color I chose for my (not yet painted) front door. Thanks for testing it out for me ;-D

    Hope to see you next week. No wait, I’m excited to see you next week so don’t let me down or I”ll show up at your doorstep and we’ll have a drill duel!

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