Ever since we painted our front door a cheery yellow in 2015 and since we’ve been swapping out the original fixtures around our home (including the interior door knobs and hinges), I’ve had the plan to update our front door hardware from satin nickel to black. Our recent trim and gutter update (and our entry door handle finally breaking…) finally gave the extra push needed to finish our front door!

Previous front door updates

Since we’ve lived here, our front porch has had a few updates – from painting the original basic builder white a dramatic rich black (which looked great and really popped against the white limestone), to updating the brass threshold to silver to match the satin nickel handle and kick plate, to painting the trim dark gray, adding a stained wood ceiling overhead and repainting the door the bright yellow it is now.

Color tip
If your front door is set back in your porch like ours is, I highly recommend going with a lighter, more vibrant door color that will help the entry advance toward the street. (Not that I’m recommending a glowing neon door, but you can typically get away with using a more vibrant color in this situation since being set back into a darker porch will temper the vibrant color a little bit from the street view.) Not only is it a fun way to add a little fun and personality to your house, but it makes for great curb appeal that helps your home feel more welcoming.

While I loved the dark dramatic black next to our white limestone up close, it made the enclosed entry area look long and dark, and slightly cave-like from the street. It looks so much more inviting now that the yellow door pops forward and brightens the recessed, enclosed entry area.

LoneOakDesignCo-OurHome-Before_exterior front 1.png

New black hardware update

Now that you’ve seen all the ways it has been, let’s get into the latest update – swapping out the satin nickel hardware to a rich high-contrast black that will really pop against the yellow door / next to the white limestone.

Project overview

We’ve used a combination of techniques, including a complete door handle and hinges swap, as well as painting the kick plate and threshold.

Initially we looked into swapping out the threshold and kick plate instead of painting, but the shape of our threshold was hard to find and I didn’t want to run the risk of ripping it out and not being able to get a new one that fit as well, causing potential gaps and cracks where bugs and moisture could get in. We actually ordered a new black kick plate too, but it was expensive and arrived damaged, so I took it as a sign from the universe we were just meant to paint it.

Since the painting, they’ve both held up great, and I’m super happy we decided paint and not replace them!

Swapping out the handle

This one was pretty simple since we opted to go with this sleek, matte black Kwikset handle, which allows you to rekey the door lock yourself without the need for a locksmith.

The new sleek, matte black door handle set really pops against our bright yellow front door.

It’s so sleek and sexy and the included instructions are so great it makes for a really impressive (but easy!) DIY project with just a few tools. And even though it’s beautiful, the best part might just be that we can easily get into our house without fighting with the latch! (Sometimes it’s the little things that really go a long way.)

Wahoo!

Updating the hinges

One at a time (so we didn’t have to completely remove and rehang the door), we switched out our silver hinges for new black ones. Something extra we did was add a cool hidden doorstop so the door won’t open and bang into the moulding in the entry way.

Can you find it below?

Hint: The way it works is it replaces the pin in one of the regular door hinges so you don’t have to mount a traditional doorstop to the baseboard on the wall.

Painting the threshold + kick plate

First, I cleaned the kick plate and threshold really well, vacuuming thoroughly and wiping them both down with paint thinner and a lint-free rag to make sure there was no dirt or oil.

Once dry, I masked off the area with painter’s tape, kraft paper and plastic sheeting. Really the important thing here is to get the tape right next to the metal edge and make sure you cover enough area around where you want to tape to protect the surrounding area from paint overspray.

With it all taped off, I used multiple light coats of quick-drying matte black spray paint – spraying into the nooks and crannies from different angles – to get a drip-free finish. (Don’t forget to spray the top and sides of the kick plate! It may be thin, but you definitely don’t want a thin silver strip looking at you from the top when you look down on it.)

I also sprayed the interior vertical side of the threshold where it meets the floor tile and the door sweep along the bottom of the door (first!) so I could close the door without damaging any paint on the top of the threshold, then opened the door all the way to spray the areas you see in the photos above.

We used a baby gate (or in our case, a doggie gate) and kept the door open pretty much all day to let the threshold cure as long as possible before letting the door sweep scrape on it with the door shut. We set up a box fan facing outward to help the paint dry and keep bugs from flying in all day, making sure to sit the fan on top of our plastic protective sheeting it didn’t blow into the wet paint.