Before & After House Pics w/ new Shutters & Red Door {& a Little Exterior Vinyl Project}

Happy belated 4th to everyone!  We had a pretty good thunderstorm here last night, but luckily, it cleared up long enough for us to squeeze in a little fireworks action! 

In other news, our black shutters finally arrived!  We had them hung while we were on vacation, so I actually had to wait a few days until we got back to see them, and get that front door painted.  I can assure you, the suspense was killing me!  Our old shutters were badly faded.  Happily, they were under warranty, and so we were able to replace them free!  We even got to choose another color if we wanted, which I was thrilled about since we didn't get to choose our original color.  I decided to go with black, as it feels like a classic look to me.  My biggest decision was whether or not to paint the front door red, like I have always wanted.  After going back and forth for a while, I decided to go for it.  After all, it's just paint, right?

So, here is the before picture.  Pretty blah, right?

Check out those ugly faded shutters. Yuck!

And my 4th of July banners and flag didn't really seem to stand out. {Yawn}

And now for the after picture:

And my new red front door:

I picked up the numbers and door knocker at Lowe's.  And then added a little personalization to the knocker, using some white vinyl cut with the Cricut.

I browsed Ben Franklin for a new wreath, but didn't like any of the ones I saw.  So, I grabbed some flowers, a couple of faux artichokes I liked, and this great houndstooth ribbon.  I ripped everything off my old wreath, and added all the new stuff.

And then I got a little carried away.  That's what my 7-yr-old daughter actually said to me as I was doing all of this.  She said, "Aren't you getting a little carried away with the porch, Mom?"  Kids are so stinkin' cute right?

I like the look of the vinyl so much that I thought I'd add some to the rockers as well.

Oh, and the mailbox too.

I guess maybe I did get a little carried away.  But, just wait until you see what I have planned with black vinyl on the garage door!

I hope everyone's having a great week.  I'm linkin' up to these awesome parties: