Week Two: A Coloured Door

Debby

Curb appeal. That is a phrase frequently heard when describing a home, and refers to the attractiveness of the house as seen from the street.

Not to belittle the value of a meandering path, foundation shrubbery and colourful summer flowers, it’s all about the door for me.

Years ago we did an exterior renovation to our home. The old clapboard was covered with an attractive grey siding, but what really made the change spectacular was the addition of a covered porch. The new porch deserved a beautiful front door and we replaced the old wooden door with a metal one, with a nine paned half window.

The door came in factory finish grey, a few shades lighter than the siding. It was nice, but lacked that POW factor. I wanted to paint the door a standout deep burgundy, but was over ruled. That red door haunts me, one of those things left unfinished, so it is no surprise that I notice front doors, especially front doors with a POP of colour.

On Good Friday I was the adult driving supervisor for my granddaughter. I felt she needed right turn practice, harder in a van than a smaller car, so we headed for one of the newer subdivisions in town and I directed her to keep turning right, as long as possible.

While she drove, I got a good look at how people decorated their front doors, or porches, and as I wasn’t burdened by driving, I got a good look.

We saw yellow doors, dark green, navy and even a pink door, but were disappointed with the sad looking Christmas decorations still in place, looking more than a little worse for wear. It was a purple door, with a wreath of spring flowers that caught my attention. The house was old, very close to the street so no porch or room for much of a garden. But the door was lovely with its matching lanterns and urns on each side.

This house said spring, it said Happy Easter and it said welcome to me. So, of all the doors I saw, in all the many colours, I picked this one for the smile it put on my face and for the memory of another door, forever dull, from another place and time.

Carol

When Debby first told me her choice for this week was “a coloured door” I figured she either had a door in mind or already had a picture of one. But of course she didn’t.

As the week went on I started paying more attention to doors in general and the ones in my neighbourhood specifically. There were black doors and green doors and red doors, but nothing that really jumped out at me.

But then, on the weekend, I happened to visit a local import place called Primitive Designs and they had lots of doors! My first picture was a trio of doors leaning up against the side of one of the buildings. While they had colour, they were rather weathered and faded. The next door that caught my eye was bamboo and although it was fancy, it was also rather colourless.

But I hit paydirt inside the main building. Upstairs there was a carved wooden door that had just enough colour to fit the bill. Intriguing, isn’t it? Who knows what secrets lay behind it….