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Holiday

Does Your Front Door Say Welcome for the Holidays? Part 1

By 11/26/2015February 21st, 201732 Comments

When Lowe’s Canada asked if I’d be one of their holiday bloggers and gave me the task of decorating an outdoor entry, I immediately thought of my Mom’s front door.

My front door has a glass and metal screen door that I’m not willing to remove, (I know, how weird is that? But I love that it feels like an extra window anytime of year when the door is open), and I already have some great pots, a new door handle and lighting so I decided it would be more fun to transform my Mom’s front door.

Plus she’s been in Finland for over three months and she’s finally coming home next Wednesday, hooray! I’ve declared that day as a national holiday to celebrate her arrival, I can’t wait!! How fun that it’ll be a surprise for her (unless she reads this blog post before she gets here).

So here’s her door right now.

momsdoor

Her carriage house was built 4 years ago on a limited budget. So she ended up with a front door handle that falls off regularly (not kidding).

And a light fixture that really doesn’t suit the style of the house.

What this door has going for it is the colour! She painted it the same colour as my front door last year (Cloverdale Paint 7669). It was easy, I just gave her my leftover can of green paint.

The first item I selected when I arrived at Lowe’s in New Westminster was a new front door handle!

frontdoorhandles

Out of the four black front door handles on display, I chose the one on the far left. I liked the curvy shape and it happened to be the best price!

canarm

And here’s the lantern I found in the outdoor lighting department!

When I was going through some Pinterest boards to get some inspiration for the decorations, I came across this front entry but my Mom loves colour so this would not be enough for her:

naturalxmas

via Pinterest

I adore magnolia leaves (below)! I snapped up a few bunches at Lowe’s along with some cedar and pine fir boughs in the greenery department for my Mom’s pots.

pots

via pinterest

Corrine (below) took me around on my VIP shopping experience. She said she was a frequent customer and loved the store so much she applied to work there! She loves the people she works with and says they feel like family.

corrinelowe

I chose the classic black urns for my Mom’s front door but there were a lot of other great options including the more contemporary square ones (below).

momspots

When I saw this image on Pinterest I loved that it was just red and white. So I’m doing a similar theme on my Mom’s door in greens to repeat her green door.

redfrontdoor

via diyncrafts

I also chose two pre-lighted garlands here to go around the door. And they had lanterns that were similar to my inspiration picture (below):

marialowes

Maria Killam

The blue sweater I’m wearing I spied at Winners just the day before! It’s so hard to find colour in the winter and I was so cranky when I opened up a cabinet in my closet the other day only to find cream, grey and black sweaters!

During my VIP shopping experience, Corrine noted that I was wearing Lowe’s blue and I laughed and told her it was a happy accident but that kind of thing happens to me all the time. I’ll often show up with a colour that matches everything for a client or be wearing the right colour even though I consciously didn’t plan it in advance.

If this kind of thing happens to YOU, that’s a big clue that you should be in the creative field if you’re not already!

xmastrees

Here we are goofing around in the faux Christmas tree department! (I got the reindeer ears too).

carfull1

Here’s my car full of all the stuff to make my Mom’s front door a thing of joy and beauty to behold! Can’t wait, I’m decorating it tomorrow!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American readers! I love and appreciate you all so much!

And a big thanks to Lowe’s for sponsoring this wonderful surprise for my Mom!

xoxo

Maria

We would love to help you choose colours, select the right combination of hard finishes or create a plan to pull your room together. You can find our fabulous e-design consultation packages here.

Related posts:

How to Make a Man Love Pink (My Mom’s Latest House Tour)

Thanksgiving in the Country

Trendy Thanksgiving Pumpkins

32 Comments

  • Nancy says:

    Happy Thanksgiving!
    What a lovely welcome home for your mom!!!
    Im as excited almost as much as you Hope you post your mom when she sees it!

  • Jane says:

    can’t wait to see it!

  • Alexis says:

    I cannot wait to see your mom’s front door!

  • Kevin says:

    Very Nice –
    Would Cloverdale Paint 7669 front door work on a orange brick house or too clean? I know you get asked those things all the time but I really want a bright color and not black or grey.

    • Maria Killam says:

      I think you can get away with a front door colour being cleaner than usual. Whenever I see it I think it works! Great idea on an orange house! Maria

  • Fran says:

    What a sweet surprise for your mom’s return! Looking forward to seeing the transformation!

  • Allyson Paris says:

    Your excitement is palpable. And contagious! Can’t wait to see the after! Have fun 🙂

  • Janet Toot says:

    This was a fun post. I am looking forward to the “after” comments and photos!! I’ve read Lowes has an excellent lamp and lighting department, but I was surprised to see the tasteful decor items, too.

  • KA says:

    We just painted my parents’ house, and no matter what I tried, she said no to the different paint on the door. She said, “No, I don’t want that–it looks like we ran out of paint!”

    It’s her house, so what she wants goes, but it’ll be easy to do later. At least I got the overall color scheme I wanted. It does look Great where as it looked Good before.

    New patio cover gets installed on Monday!

    • KA says:

      New roof needed before El Niño brought on this project. Your exterior presentation helped me convince mom not to go with her color scheme– I made her watch it twice before we decided on the roof and new trim color. Mom and I overrode dad’s goofy ideas, but he agrees it looks great now, even thought he was grumpy when I said no way to his worst idea.

  • Mary-Illinois says:

    You’re a good daughter. What a nice surprise for your mother. Your love for her really comes across. So sweet.
    I can’t wait to see your completed plan. Your mom is going to be tickled.

  • mrsben says:

    Ah, lucky Mom as so totally sweet of you Maria to do this for her. Love your choice of door handle and lighting however I must admit I usually cut the pointed finial off the latter as for some ‘strange’ reason I just do not care for them. (Hopefully from a psychologist point of view, it says something positive about me …. ha.) Looking forward to your finished project as I am sure it will be beautiful. -Brenda-

  • cheryl says:

    Just wanted to say that the blue sweater is a wonderful color against your face. (I’m lousy with houses, good with clothes!) The whole outfit you are wearing accentuates your great figure and your coloring – it’s a very good look for you!

    Also looking forward to the new front entrance.

  • Cathy says:

    Hi Maria, Another great shopping expedition! Everything will come together beautifully. (As an aside. When you showed the door hardware the first thought that came to mind is that if one has issues with mobility, anything with a thumb latch is difficult to use. I thought BC had made it official that one had to use barrier free hardware. Anyway, all my door handles are now handles and not knobs.) Your mom is going to be so joyful – to see all her babies again and to find the treat of her new entry. Well done! Cathy

  • Lucy Haines says:

    Maria, What an inspirational post! Your mom is so lucky to have such a creative daughter. This time of the year seems to make people happy. You looked like you were having such a good time choosing all of the ingredients to make your mom’s welcome home special. So looking forward to the great reveal.

    P.S. You look stunning in your sweater color!

  • JaneBIVL says:

    Photo of the finished project! Can’t wait to see it!

  • Bill Packard says:

    Great post, Maria. You only made one mistake. Instead of admitting the accident of the blue sweater, you should have leveraged it to your (and the brand’s) advantage. You should have countered, “I wore it as your brand ambassador”. Truly, the pic of you with the shopping cart is better than any Lowe’s ad I’ve seen in awhile. And the pic of you in front of the Christmas tree with the blue lights is a magazine ad.

    • Maria Killam says:

      I know right? That would have looked better on the blog for sure but then it wouldn’t have been the truth and well, I generally just say it like it is. That’s part of my brand too 🙂 Thanks for the compliment. Maria

  • Thea says:

    Question – Are you supposed to paint the mullions on the glass portion of the door, instead of leaving them white?

    • Maria Killam says:

      I think that would look better yes, but the outside is plastic and the mullions are inside the window.
      Maria

  • What a sweet surprise for your mother! I can tell by the items that you picked that it is going to be gorgeous. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out!

  • karen says:

    Looking forward to seeing it. I know it’s going to be gorgeous! Your Mom will be so thrilled and Merry Christmas.

  • Cheryl says:

    That is so sweet of you, Maria. What a happy surprise to greet your mom when she gets home. Three months is a long time to not have your mom next door.

  • Connie says:

    I am still cracking up over “reindeer ears”

  • Connie says:

    oh, and can’t wait to see the door.

  • Veronica D says:

    Hi Maria,
    I usually wear colorful clothes, depending of what I want to see on me for the day. But unconsciously I choose clothes for my girl that matches mine. No I have a baby and I caught myself the other day dressing them in similar colors. It’s cute accident, but it amazes me how our brains react to color.

  • Hannah says:

    Please share where you got those boots! They are awesome and they look super comfy.

  • Rebecca says:

    Love the lanterns! The link for them is not working and I can’t find them on the Lowe’s website. Any more info you can provide to help track them down like the item number? They are exactly what I’ve been looking for!

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