diy Archives | Ren Smith

Ideas To Embolden Your Entryway (And Enhance Curb Appeal)

As the saying goes, first impressions are everything. Fortunately, transforming the entryway of your home into a statement-making showpiece can be an investment…but can also be done with a paintbrush and a couple of spare hours.

A handful of tips for a DIY-ed door makeover:

Paint a test area first, and monitor it over the course of the day – how the light hits your house at different times will likely dramatically impact how the color reads.
Before starting, sand down any imperfections in the door, and then go over it with a clean wet rag to remove dirt and dust.
If you’re making a big color change, prime the door first (and make sure the type of primer you use – latex or oil-based – matches the type of paint you use).
A quart of paint should be sufficient to cover a primed door. People usually go for a high-gloss paint on trim and doors (and glossy paint is more resistant to chipping, so that’s good), but you do you.
And finally, don’t stress too much about it. Remember: it’s just paint, and paint can be painted over.

And now: some color inspiration.

Mint accents on home exteriors are gorgeous, but can look a little too sweet without the right extras. The copper light fixture shown here adds just the right amount of industrial cool.

Here’s another example of how lighting and hardware selection can take a color to the next level. The gold fixtures shown here take any Easter egg-iness away from this robin’s egg-blue door, and make it chic and elegant.

How amazing is this Art Deco-style door? I especially appreciate that the owners decided to pair the bold color with subtle antique hardware.

This bright, modern look is completely unexpected (and of-the-moment).

The clean black lines of the accent pieces shown here give this yellow door an upscale-country vibe.

Evidence that black and white doesn’t have to be boring. The trick to this: leave the entire house white – trim and all – and the door will make an even bigger statement. The pink rosebushes soften the look and add a subtle dose of color.

Another robin’s egg-blue door, but this one is much more classic thanks to the pairing with steel grey and the traditional architecture and hardware selection.

And finally: this. Obviously this is lovely. If you love this too, surprise:

You can do it yourself. With paint.

Have at it.

How To Make Your Trashed Outdoor Furniture Look Great Again

Changing seasons can be rough on wood.

Rain is a major plus for we Californians, yes, but rain’s advantages run out when it comes to wood furniture that has been left outdoors without covers and/or additional protection. The good news: The fixing-up process requires nothing more than a power sander and some teak oil, and the results are straight-up spectacular. If you have wood furniture that’s seen better days – whether indoor or outdoor – you have to give this simple DIY a try.

HOW-TO: RESTORE WOOD FURNITURE THAT’S SEEN BETTER DAYS

What You Need:

A power sander (don’t use regular sandpaper if you’re dealing with a substantial surface area; a power sander will make your life far, far easier, and you can pick one up for about $25)
Teak oil
A brush or rag to apply the oil

Here’s what the wood we were working with looked like after a couple of seasons of being left out in the open with no protection:

To start, you’re going to use the power sander to sand down the wood as far as you need to go to get a smooth, even surface. The table and benches you see here took about an hour and a half to sand down.

Here’s what you end up with after a thorough sanding:

The next step is the teak oil application. This is pretty self-explanatory – pour oil onto rag or brush, then apply to surface of wood – but there are a couple of important points to note.

First, the way teak oil is supposed to work is that you apply the oil, wait 30 minutes, and then wipe off any excess, but if your wood is in really bad shape, you may find that the oil absorbs completely almost instantly. If some oil remains on the surface of the piece you’re refinishing, be sure to wipe it off after 30 minutes, but either way a second application half an hour or so later is a good idea.

The second important thing to note is that you can’t leave the brush or rag you used to apply the oil outside in the sun, or it will literally catch fire. File that under: excellent information to have if you do not feel like burning down your house today.

Here’s what the wood looked like immediately after applying the teak oil – you can see that it soaked in immediately, but is kind of uneven and dark.

By the next morning, however…

So. Much. Better. It’s like having a whole new set of outdoor furniture for the price of a quart or so of oil. Simple, inexpensive, and effective.