Garage Entryway Project: The Last of the Painting

Oh dear friends, I can’t begin to express what a joyful feeling it is to have completed all the painting for our garage entryway project. We’ve painting the walls in the garage and in the hall, the trim and doors, the floor, and now…

If you’re new around here, check out the rest of the garage entryway posts here.

The Original Kitchen Cabinets

For our 1950s home and this area of town, an attached two-car garage is pretty rare. We know this and we are so thankful for ours! To our delight, when we first set eyes on the garage, I noticed how many storage options were already available: shelves, pegboards, hooks, and the original kitchen cabinets. I would’ve loved to have seen these cabinets inside (even just in a photo), but it added a great storage solution in this garage space – a brilliant idea by the original homeowners!

I never minded the color, since the entire garage was just a hodgepodge of everything and every color. But once we painted the walls, I just couldn’t go on with the off-white, yellow-ish color. To save on budget, I scrounged my house for some black paint and behold! I found black chalkboard paint (the kind you can draw on with chalk, not chalk paint like I used here).

I removed all the hardware so I could spray paint them. I’ve used Rust-Oleum Flat Black for many projects and I like it! The key to spray painting is to keep the coats light to avoid dripping paint.

Once the doors were off, I experimented with a small roller and just a brush. I wasn’t very pleased with either outcome, but decided to move forward with the roller, only using the brush in areas that needed more specific attention.

If I could do it again, I would start differently. I painted four coats on the front of the doors before I flipped them over to do the back. Once I was ready to hang the doors on the cabinets, all the fronts had paint chipping from whatever they were laying on. Nothing a quick once over couldn’t fix, but it just added one more step.

Also, once I hung the doors, the paint seemed to stick in some places and peeled off. It wasn’t a huge deal, but now has me nervous with how durable this paint will be. At the end of the day, these are garage cabinets and this is such a huge improvement from before!

We love the matte black with the black handles and the way it ties into the area we’ve painted.

The Two Items I’ve Been Patiently Waiting to Bring Out

Gah!!! This wreath! I told myself I would hang it once all the painting was complete. I love the color of the leaves against the door!

Finally, the “mudroom” part of this garage entryway! I was so surprised by the quality of this hall tree (here’s a very similar hall tree): the wood, the metal, and hooks. I love the different components, with the wire shelf on the bottom, a bench to sit on, a place to hang our coats, and a shelf to put baskets on. Since it came with pewter hooks, I decided to spray paint them black to fit our overall design.

Gosh, look at it! I can’t believe we started here and now are looking at this space! Mike and I are loving how it’s coming together, especially knowing the hardest parts are over. Now to the fun stuff!

We’ll be adding the finishing touches in the next week or so, so we’d love for you to follow along by joining our email list or joining our tribe on social media (Instagram & Facebook).

Redeeming Hampton Tribe Facebook Group

One of the things I look most forward to about this group of people is the tribe that it’s forming. Not only do I hope to encourage you, but you guys very much encourage me! I believe community is so vitally important (with real humans in-person more than the Internet), but if we’re going to be a little community on the Internet, why not be a life-giving one?

When I polled you on Instagram a few weeks ago, 84% said that the idea of decorating your home brought you stress. Me too, sisters (and brothers out there). Let’s cultivate this community of “it doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful” or trendy or exactly how you dream it will be. It could be your dorm room in college or your forever home – there is space for you here!

So I’ve created something just for us. It’s a private Facebook group just for the Redeeming Hampton Tribe. To share decorating conundrums, celebrate victories (big and small), and get feedback on the wall color you just can’t decide on.

Bring your extraordinary or ordinary spaces, your uncertainties, and an open mind – you’re safe to explore in our group (and our members need to make it a safe place)!

It’s a small way I want to support you – my tribe! To request to join, follow this link or search “Redeeming Hampton Tribe” in the FB search bar. See you there!