Why does everything fall apart at once? Â Our oven died right after Labor Day. Â The front door paint started peeling. Â The mailbox rusted over the summer. Â Panes of glass cracked in our outdoor hanging pendant light. Â Ugh.

Front of the house before the fix
Since the dead oven was an unexpected expense, I had to fix the front of the house on the cheap. Â We’ve always had a problem with people finding our house number, so I figured I would fix everything at once. Â Paint the door, add new numbers, new mailbox and new pendant light over the front door.
I was just doing a refresh coat on the front door in the same color (Benjamin Moore Bronzetone), so now to find new door numbers. The old ones are above.
Voila! Â Big 5″ door numbers in a more modern font. Â $5.98 each at Lowe’s.
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My plan was to paint the numbers the color of our house, so I had to prime them first.
I had some leftover house paint in the garage, so that was easy!
Door getting ready to be painted. Â We sanded down the saddle in front to stain it a much darker color to match the door. Â The old stain was too light and got dirty very easily.
My (dirty) cracked pendant light.
I found this pendant light at Pottery Barn on sale for $239. Â A similar look, but definitely updated.
My mailbox. Â Actually, never liked it, but was too lazy to do anything about it.
Rusted and about to fall apart.
The new mailbox is very basic, but I found it in the same color as the front door. Â Perfect! Â New door numbers dry and ready to hang.
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Ok, what do you think? Â Old vs. new? Â Not a huge difference. Â You can definitely see the door numbers now. Â Mailbox doesn’t have the cheesy gold detail. Â The pendant light is similar, but has a more modern feel. Â Door looks fresh with a new coat of paint.
I am very happy with the changes. Â It looks fresh and updated.
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This was a quick and easy update, done in two weeks. Â Wish all of my projects were this easy!
the wry home