Bonjour, Summer! I feel as though I blinked and suddenly summer is here. It was exactly this time last year that we closed on the beach house. As you guys know my heartmate and I spent the last 12 months doing a gut renovation renovating the interior of the house. Now that the internal renovation is almost completed, we’ve turned our focus to the exterior of the house. So when Nest asked me if we’d like to partner with them to install their new Nest Hello doorbell, it was perfect timing.
You might be wondering why you’re seeing holiday and snow pictures in June?! Well, I promise there’s a reason and it’s not that the house renovation made me crazy – although that’s debatable! No, it’s because I wanted to show you guys the current situ. when it comes to the exterior of the beach house. You see, we hosted a Friendsgiving at the house last November and we were super keen to have the front door painted in time for our first dinner party at the house. The temperatures were already plummeting and so we were running out of time to get the door painted before it would be too cold for it to dry, meaning we’d have to wait until spring. So, we made the split decision to paint the door red as we knew the holiday season was approaching. We’re so glad we did because the red front door made the house look like something out of a fairytale or a Nancy Meyers movie (essentially those two things are one of the same, I know!).
However, the house is primarily a beach house and it comes alive in summer, so now we’ve had time to live with it and start thinking more about our plans for the front yard, we wanted to choose a more suitable front door color. We’re going to completely re-landscape the front yard with new pathways, hedges, flower beds and lawn coming – stay tuned for all the details on that! So as we get the front yard looking how we want, it’s time for us to upgrade the décor and technology for the front door, too.
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Before I dive into talking about picking a new front door color, I wanted to talk tech. This exterior project at the beach house started because my friends at Nest sent me their new Nest Hello doorbell, and it spurred me to start planning our whole front garden and stoop makeover. What is Nest Hello? Well, it is a doorbell that connects to your smartphone and means you can see and talk to people at your front door wherever you are, from your back garden through to the other side of the world. It even has night vision so it works in the dark, too. As my heartmate and I also have our apartment in the city and travel a lot for work the technology has proven to be so useful! I love that to the person ringing the doorbell it works just like a normal doorbell – and inside the house it rings to your existing chime.
The Nest Hello has a Nest Cam inside which is always on. This is great because I can always see outside the door and the app alerts me via my smartphone even if someone doesn’t ring the doorbell but is in front of the door. You can see above (right) what the camera view looks like and how the app gives you different options to respond. You can choose to have the Nest Hello sound a stock response such as “you can leave it” or “we can’t answer the door” etc., as well as drag your finger on the screen to see a wider picture. Or, you can choose to speak directly to the person at the door via your phone. This is perfect for us because we are not always around so we can be sure to tell mail delivery personnel where to safely leave packages etc. Also, when we are at the house, we’re often in the back yard so the fact that the Nest app on my phone alerts me or my heartmate that someone is at the door means we don’t miss deliveries or neighbors who stop by. The doorbell is super easy to install: you just need existing doorbell wiring and a chime. Nest can even have a pro install the Nest Hello for a fixed priced, which is super helpful. Color me impressed!
Talking of color, now that we have the tech sorted on our front door, it’s time for us to pick a new front door color! So here’s the thing: I love a lot of colors! I know, shocker, right?! I love yellow front doors but I feel that yellow reads too Palm Springs/SoCal for an east coast beach house. Blush pink could be a possibility but we don’t have any pink in our house so I’m not sure it would be consistent with the flow of the property. Then there’s the petrol blue hue of the back door (seen at the top of the post) but for a color lover like me it seems a waste to have both front and side doors be the same color, don’t you think?! But I’m so torn because I love that shade of blue! The good news (or bad news, depending on which way you look at it!) is that there’s a stack of beautiful shades of blue and aqua to potentially choose from. What color do you think would work well for our beach house front door, friends?
// Photography by Will Taylor
24 Comments
Excited to see what color y’all settle on, Will! Although I do love a red door!
@Taylor – Me too! I think red works perfectly for townhouses but maybe not so well as a year-round option for the beach house. Decisions, decisions!
The animation at the end is awesome!
@Jusin – Thank you so much!
We installed Nest cameras in our reno last year and it was the best decision we made. Gonna have to get this doorbell now…. can’t be behind the times! 😉 great post Will
@Clara – Yassss! Highly recommend it. thanks for stopping by!
You should paint the door toothpaste green!!!
@HB – Ohhhh loving the bold suggestion!
We love nest in our household too.
Paint the door blue, you have to!
Good luck!
Remi xo
@Remi – SO glad you love Nest, too! And I think the door will likely to a shade of blue there’s just so many to choose from! lol Thanks!
How do you make those animations? The one with the door colors has me perplexed and fascinated… haha
@Quincy – I made them in Photoshop!
The petrol blue of the back door is peeeerfect, love it! I vote you repeat it for the front, too! 🙂
– Mike, http://www.thecraftygentleman.net
@Mike – Right?! I love that shade of blue so much it’s gonna be hard to top it!
Will… you may have posted this somewhere else, but I wanted to pop in and ask where you got your backdoor (did you replace it when you bought the house?) I love a good Dutch door. We are in Western Massachusetts so our weather would be similar to your beach house. How did it hold up in the winter? Is the seal really good? As for the color for the front door, hmm… I’m going to go with Teal, my daughter’s favorite color!
@Jeanne – Love the ideal of a teal door, great idea! Our contractor sourced the dutch door for us during our renovation. It seals really well and we had no problems with it during the previous winter. It’s such a charming addition to the house – we love it!
Hey Will,
One of the color changes in your graphic is aqua. I like that color. That says “beach house” to me. It sucks that your beach house gets snow, but that aqua against the snow would really make your place POP.
@CeCe – It’s funny you should say that because my heartmate and I were talking recently and we both said that aqua was a strong contender! I love that you think it would work, too. Thanks for stopping by!
Cilantro (green) by BM. Love that color and it transcends both summer and winter!
@Linda – Ohhhh that color is so nice. Thanks for the recc.!
Its crazy that it’s been 12 months already since you started it! It feels like yesterday! And you know what I’m going to say… BLUE!
-Didier
http://www.didieryhc.com
@Didier – I know right?! It’s flown by! And I’m feeling your choice, obviously! 😉
I’m shocked that you didn’t pick mint. Every time I see mint I instantly think of you!
PS: When’s the pool party? Can I bring anything?
@Kevin – Haha! Rosé is always welcome. 😉 And mint is still in the running, we’ve not picked the color yet! Love that it makes you think of me! 🙂