I was tempted to title this post Come And Knock On Our Door. But then I rethought that idea. No offense, I’m just not ready to take my relationship with people I meet on the Internet to that level. It’s not you. It’s me.
Anyway, we got a new front door and sidelight! Super exciting home-owning adult stuff, you guys.
Let’s start with the old door and sidelight, shall we?
The door was maroon with two small windows at the top. The sidelight was a half sidelight. When we first moved in you could walk right up to the sidelight and see right into our house. My Dateline-loving self wasn’t cool with that, so I put privacy film on the three windows. I skipped the door because you’d either have to be really tall or jump to see through the door windows.
The door windows were looking pretty rough. The sun beats on the door all afternoon and being the new homeowner geniuses we were, we would leave our storm door glass up during the summer and essentially bake the door. In our defense, the door already had melty paint when we moved in. But we didn’t make the situation any better. You live, you learn.
One maroon door, well done.
Here’s what the front of our house looked like with the maroon door, sidelight, and shutters.
Our house looked like every other house on our street because everyone either goes with navy or maroon shutters and doors. I was okay with the contrast between the maroon and the beige but I didn’t like how the maroon made our house look heavy. If that makes sense.
And here’s how the front of the house looks now.
As you can see, we ditched the shutters– for now. We took them off and Brad was all “I like it better without shutters”. So I let him have his way.
We LOVE our new front door and sidelight.
I went with a Craftsman style door with a window at the top and a full sidelight. I did this so more light would pour into our dungeon of an entryway.
I decided to go with granite privacy glass on the door and sidelight. I love it because we still get the light in our entryway but peeping Toms people can’t see into our house.
Here’s an up close view of the granite glass on the sidelight.
Now, you might be thinking, “But Chelsea, how do you see who’s at your front door?” Easy, I just peek out our kitchen window, which is only a few feet from the front door.
Here’s what the inside of the entryway used to look like with the old door.
And here’s how it looks with the new door.
The first week after having the door installed I kept startling myself thinking I left the door open because there was so much more light in our entryway. The full sidelight makes a big difference.
You’ll also notice that I upgraded the entryway rug.
In case you’re wondering, the door is a Therma-Tru Fiber-Classic door from Lowe’s. It was pre-finished in the color Blue Willow.
We installed the storm door years ago so I have no clue who the maker is but we got it at Lowe’s. The top glass part slides down and the top part of the door becomes a screen.
And I only had the glass part of the storm door up for photo purposes. During summer we leave it down so we don’t bake the door.
We had the door and sidelight installed by Lowe’s. We wanted to leave this to the professionals because removing an old door and sidelight and installing a new door and sidelight is difficult work and above our expertise. Especially because the new door and sidelight were a few inches smaller than our opening so the installers had to add to the casing.
As a Lowe’s partner, I was provided a gift card to cover the cost for this project. As always, all opinions are 100% my own.
Heather says
September 28, 2015 at 9:35 AMLoving the new door!! Looks great!!
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
September 30, 2015 at 1:46 PMThanks so much!
Laurie says
September 28, 2015 at 9:44 AMLove your new front door! We are getting ready to replace ours as well, did you have it painted by the door company or did you paint it yourself?
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
September 28, 2015 at 3:13 PMThank you! We had it prefinished at the manufacturer. I can paint a room/wall like nobody’s business but I strongly dislike small painting projects, unless it’s touch-ups. When I thought about painting the door and sidelight myself I started to feel anxious because it’s the front door– one of the first things people see when coming into your home. So I decided to leave that up to the professionals.
Kara says
September 28, 2015 at 9:52 AMI’m obsessed with that color! Looks amazing!
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
September 30, 2015 at 1:46 PMMe too! Love it!
Courtney says
September 28, 2015 at 10:39 AMIt’s amazing how much a difference changing out doors and windows can make. I love the color you choose. Not traditional but warm and inviting. And I agree, I like the front windows with no shutters. Also, we have the same door mat! WELCOME!
Denise says
September 28, 2015 at 12:19 PMDoes the sun shine directly onto your front porch? I ask as I have never heard of leaving the glass part down to not bake the door as you say. Wondering if this is something we should be doing too! We recently installed a door from Lowes too, great customer service and we love our door! Which is why I definitely don’t want to wreck it! The sun does not shine directly onto our front door and we have a covered porch over it as well…
Your door looks beautiful and I Love the color!
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
September 28, 2015 at 3:09 PMThanks so much!
Yeah, our house faces west so in the summer months the door really heats up because the sun is beating on it for hours, even with our covered porch. And when you put the glass storm door in front of the main door it only intensifies the situation. I think you should be okay if your house doesn’t face west like ours.
Samantha says
September 28, 2015 at 12:27 PMI love love love the transformation! I agree with Brad, it looks great without the shutters! The new door color is gorgeous!!!
Erin @ How to Nest for Less says
September 28, 2015 at 1:09 PMUmm… that is an amazing makeover!!! LOVE the door style that you picked out too. I think I’m going to have to copy you 😉 Oh, and Brad was right on no shutters. Looks amazing!!
Jill says
September 28, 2015 at 2:24 PMIt looks great!! I like it without the shutters too. We are a year or two away from having to replace our front door for the same reasons that you had to… Was it difficult to replace? Would love a post on the process!
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
September 28, 2015 at 2:47 PMThanks so much, Jill! We actually had Lowe’s install the door and sidelight because that process is above our expertise. I noticed that that part of the post fell off so I added it back in at the end (with photo) if you want to check it out.
Rana says
September 28, 2015 at 3:00 PMI love the new door. I have also never heard of removing the storm door during the summer months. I’m wondering if we should be doing this. I would love to change our door but I don’t think we’ll be doing that soon.
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
September 28, 2015 at 3:07 PMThank you! We don’t remove the storm door– that would be too difficult. We just slide down the top part of the storm door (when you slide it down, screen rolls down from the top, making the top part a screen door and the bottom part glass) so air can flow between the storm door and the main door.
Evelina says
September 28, 2015 at 9:10 PMHow amazing that Lowes paid for your new door! We need a bigger window in ours so badly because our entry area is way too dark. I also love the no-shutters look!
Caroline says
September 28, 2015 at 10:30 PMLooks great! Love the aqua! We have a craftsman style house and this is the exact door that we have (with 6 little windows at the top). The previous owners added the clear contact privacy “glass” and I love it! I get compliments from neighbors all the time asking how we did it and I just laugh and tell them it’s a sticker.
Brittaney says
September 29, 2015 at 3:46 AMI can’t believe how much of a difference that new door makes! I’m obsessed with the color, too. I’m also cracking up imagining knocking on your door and seeing you peek out of the kitchen blinds wondering what the bleep I’m doing at your house. :p Oh and one more thing, that window box. I just can’t deal with all that charm. You make midwest livin look real good.
Natalie @ Being Mrs. Olson says
October 3, 2015 at 12:35 AMSo funny story about those types of storm doors where the screen unrolls/slides. We just bought our first home and the previous owners did a lot of funky things in the house. We were so upset that our doors didn’t have screens and blamed it on their poor judgment. One day I saw the handle/ledge for pulling the screen door and thought it was a sun shade…low and behold, it was a SCREEN! Turns out all of the doors DO have screens. Talk about newbies. Ha!
Pamela says
October 12, 2015 at 4:35 AMI L❤️VE the new look, so much lighter and welcoming! The colour is FAB! So addicted to your website! X x x
Julie says
October 20, 2015 at 10:33 AMGo Chelsea!!!! Beautiful transformation and I love the shade of blue on the door. I must admit, I’m with Brad….I LOVE the “no-shutters” transformation. Makes the house look so crisp and inviting. Great job!!!!
Sam Li says
October 3, 2018 at 7:03 PMI love what you said about getting privacy glass on a front door. I think that modern front doors can be so beautiful and efficient in their designs. My wife and I are thinking about getting a new front door for our small home, and we’re sure to network with a company that provides the front doors we’re looking for.