inside out

I think its important that the outside of your house looks as good as possible.  I have a lot of work to do to my gardens but one of the first things I did once I moved in was paint the front door.  It was a wishy washy pale blue colour which was not great.  The colour I went for was grey (shock). It is Night Jewels 2 by Dulux - in an exterior gloss for wood and metal.  I also ordered new door furniture from Door Furniture Direct.  Everything I ordered arrived quickly and they refunded extra items with no issues.  I'd definitely recommend them.  Everything I bought for the front door is quite traditional.  I love original features and where possible will buy items in keeping with the age of the house.

New door handle and letter box from Door Furniture Direct

I stripped the door back to bare wood as far as possible using a heat gun and as a last resort Nitromors (hate the stuff!).  I did one coat of primer in dark grey and then two coats of gloss top coat.  I have since spoken to a friend who is a painter and decorator and he says it is not worthwhile stripping right back to the bare wood - as long as there is no loose or faking paint.  Wish I had spoken to him before doing the door!

At the front of the house there are iron railings.  The integrity of them was intact but they had several layers of thick black paint on them which was flaking and rusting badly.  After speaking to several companies and researching online I decided to pay to get them soda blasted.  The company I used was Soda Blast and they had to travel up from Edinburgh.  They were brilliant and the result was all the railing completely stripped back.  They look fantastic now and all the detail is back which was lost under layers of old paint.  I have since painted with a red oxide paint to protect and prevent rust and one coat of mirror black gloss.  This really needs another coat of gloss but will have to wait until next summer as the weather is too unreliable now.

Railings painted mirror gloss black

There is so much work to do in the back garden but the front of the house is looking a bit more respectable now...