How To Update Your Garage Door Entrance

One of the things I was most excited about when we moved into our home was the attached garage because up until that point, we'd lived in apartments with no covered parking.  Being in Utah, we have some pretty cold days in the winter and scraping snow off my car or cranking the heat in my car for a quick errand was really annoying.  Being in Utah, we also have some crazy hot summer days so then there is the opposite issue of trying to cool down a hot car or being worried someone is going to burn their hands or legs on the buckles.  So having an attached garage was just like icing on the cake of buying our first home.

This summer, my husband has been working on our garage.  When we moved in, it was finished only up until the mudding and taping was done, so there was no texture and it wasn't painted.  We left it like this for five years.  In the spring of this year, my husband and dad built some floor to ceiling shelving along one wall (yay!) so that we could move some of the stuff we have in our basement storage room outside.  With that done, my husband then started on mudding, re-taping and texturing the walls before painting them.  It's been a process but he is just about done and the garage is looking so good!

Because we have an attached garage, this is the main way we enter our home, rather than a front or side or even back door.  This got me thinking that since we were going to all the work to make the walls look nice, then maybe we should spend a few extra dollars and make the entrance from the garage to our house look equally as nice.

First, my husband took care of the plywood steps we have leading up to our door (which are open underneath) by cutting another piece of plywood for each side to close it off.  Then he primed and painted them with the same paint we've been using on the walls.  Using some dark grey paint I'd found at ReStore (a local donation center run by Habitat for Humanity) at the same time I found my cabinet door, he painted the steps with a few good coats.

Next, we went to Walmart and I chose a blue-green color that I have scattered throughout my house (most recently on my hallway table makeover).  My husband used a small roller and painted the door, letting it dry between coats.  (The color we used is called Echo Lake Aqua by Better Homes and Gardens.)

A couple of days later I pulled out my Silhouette software and cut the word "hello" out of white adhesive vinyl and placed it in the middle of the door between the two panels.

And BAM!  Check out the entrance to our home from the garage!  I LOVE it.  It makes me so happy to pull into my garage and see the bright door with the happy greeting on it.

Seriously, check out this before and after!

What do you think about sprucing up the entrance to your home from the garage?