Exterior Bedroom Door Plan: A Trellis Above The Door
I generally don’t have any time to work on Wednesdays, but my schedule was a big different yesterday, so I was able to squeeze in about 90 minutes of work. Funny enough, those 90 minutes happened to be during the absolute hottest part of the day when the “feels like” temp was 118 degrees!! š But I was determined to get something done, and I had my sights set on finishing up the mortar on the left side of the door and get it ready for primer and paint.
When I left you yesterday, the stone on this side looked like this…
Here’s how it turned out with the mortar (plus some reworking of those bottom two stones)…
It looks darker than the rest of the mortar because it was still a little wet when I took that picture, plus it’s not painted. But once it is, it will blend right in.
Obviously, I still need to address the issue above the door, but many of you suggested a small trellis or something like that above to door to disguise the issue of the unlevel stone. And that reminded me that I did a mockup of this door with a trellis a while back using ChatGPT. This is what it gave me. š Needless to say, I wasn’t convinced by that picture.
At some point, I also had ChatGPT do this mockup. It was better, but that trellis (or is that a pergola?) is way too tall. I don’t have enough space for that. Plus, it made edits to the doorway. At the time, I didn’t think my doorway could ever look that clean and nice because of the Hardie trim. See how it has trim over the door? My door didn’t have that. That’s one reason I’ve hated that Hardie trim on the door from the beginning.
But I was curious to see how it would look with the new faux stone replacing the Hardie trim. So I did a little editing using my own photo editing program on the picture above to cover the right side of the door with the stone. This is just a photo edit, so this isn’t exactly how the finished stone will look on the right side, but it’s close enough. I also edited the stone above the door to make it look more like I hope it will turn out once I’m finished.
And then I asked ChatGPT to add a small white trellis above the door. This time, I provided a picture of the trellis I wanted rather than leaving ChatGPT to its own devices to create a trellis out if its own “imagination”. I have no idea why it didn’t center the trellis on the door, or why it created more space above the door than what is actually there, but it still gives us a good idea of what this door would look like with a small white trellis.
I think that is PERFECT! Well, the idea is perfect. š I would, of course, center it and move it up so that it fits just over the stones above the door. And since there’s very little space there, those stones above the door wouldn’t show at all with a trellis there. But isn’t that cute?
I also think it’s perfect because my plan for a very long time now has been to build a trellis above the breakfast room windows. And y’all know how I love continuity. I think it would be beautiful to have trellises in those two areas.
Now that just leaves me with one more question. How in the world do I bring the dark blue of the shutters onto this end of the house? The only thing I can think of is to add large dark blue planters (once I get the steps built and get to the landscaping). But if you have other ideas, I’d love to hear them!
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Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
Paint the door dark blue.
I thought the same thingā¦paint the door dark blue.
That was my first thought too!
Could you ask ChatGPT for a picture of the whole front of the house with the door painted the same blue as the shutters and the white trellis? Would it look odd with the pink front door? I don’t have the same eye for design continuity as you : )
Paint the trellis blue?
I like the door white and add blue planters.
Me too!
Me three!
The stone work is amazing! Bravo! Also the trellis/pergola…that is the perfect solution to that area. I must say, as an avid gardener, I have to agree with the blue planters. You can change out your taste/color and variety of plantings through the years as you choose to but the blue for continuity across the front of your beautiful home is a great idea to draw the eye across.
In my world, a trellis is a vertical structure for climbing vines and a pergola is a horizontal structure for creating a shady space under it.
This is all very fluid though because of course you can have vines covering both. But rarely do I see a vertical trellis with nothing on it!
Anyway I love the last AI idea which you can make however you want and itāll be a 1000x better! I like the idea of some dark blue planters on your future porch/landing/stairs there to bring the blue around. Anything else might looked too forced
You are on the right track now. I love the dark blue planters; they will give that feeling of continuity that you crave and some pop of color on that side of the house. I still say make it a lovely patio, level with the door and a small ramp off to the side where the gas main is at, steps going down the front. Nothing huge, just a place where you can sit, have coffee, or mocktail, pet the fuzzy kiddos and bask in the lovely light that comes to the east side of the house in the evening, or first thing on those cool Texas fall mornings. You can use a concrete stain that will make this patio look just the front porch. I love making seating areas all around our house, I’m sure you would love one right off the gorgeous master suite. Stay hydrated and cool.
Cheers to Waco’s Wonder Woman, Matt and the Team Fuzzy!
Amazing work on the “stones”! White trellis and blue planters will be beautiful.
I like the trellis!
I would paint the door and mullions the same color as your shutters and NOT put door shutters on. Those just donāt make much sense.
This will look great! And I’m on team planters. Just enough to give you the continuity but not too much to draw too much attention.
I would say get it built and some foundational plantings in. Not necessarily full landscaping, but whatever large shrubs you want THEN see if you really feel like the blue is needed. It feels like you’re set on the idea that it needs blue without really evaluating the final product. P.S. You’re doing a trellis/pergola…please be very very very careful with what you choose if you decide to plant on it. So many vines/climbers are really very maintenance intensive. Spend some time researching your options (Kristi, research?? LOL, you’re the research queen!) and quizzing your local garden center before making any final decisions.
Keep the door and pergola white, and include some tall blue planters later. That’ll look perfect, plus for some reason, blue is a common color in pots and planters, so you’ll have any easy time finding some!
Oooh, I had a thought! Those two big blue pots flanking the doorway would look great with Lantana shrubs in each. Just get a sterile cultivar (which is most cultivars, at this point, but double check on the internet). They should bloom beautifully, attract butterflies, and be relatively low maintenance.
Love the little trellis. How would you attach that to the stone and will it ever be a problem if you decide later you dont want a trellis there if you’ve attached it to the stone? If you make your porch just a little oversized you can have blue pots and a small blue bistro table with a chair, or just a nice comfy sitting chair with blue patterned cushions.
Looking at your bedroom French door, I see that you could treat it a lot of different ways.
I personally like the idea of the door remaining white, which treats it like a window. I also loved the dark blue shutters on either side, but blue planters would likely have a similar effect and do the job of bringing the blue over to that side of the house.
You might want to finish all the concrete faux stonework on the door, get it painted, and then take another long look at the whole house front, to help you decide what else, if anything, you want to add. While I love the look of the trellis, it will perhaps over-embellish the bedroom door at the expense of your impressive front door, entrance, and porch.
In addition to wanting the whole front facade to look harmonious, I would suggest that you want the eye to be drawn to the front door, rather than going back and forth between the two doors, trying to figure out which is the focal point.
I totally with Christine…give yourself time to see the whole picture before adding extras.
I love the ChatGPT picture. I really like that style of pergola and the blue pots seem like the perfect way to have blue on that end of the house. Maybe two taller pots behind and slightly to the side of two shorter pots if you want more blue. I would suggest making the porch and steps coming from the bedroom door the same as your front porch and steps. You seem to like continuity and I think that would be a better choice than the porch and steps you have coming out of your studio. I’m not sure if you plan to have the removable ramp going from the front or side of the porch or how the ramp would attach or rest on the porch. That may be an issue to consider.
I like and support how 2 pergolas are balanced, and blue pots do seem great. but my Negative Nancy side started doubting details. Getting brackets sturdy on the stone could be problematic like the shutters.
To make it positive, If you are confident on brackets…2 hanging blue pots vs a trellis it ties in flowers for the studio windows. My absurd idea for Blue is (only works if you get gutters soon) is a blue rain chain, I couldn’t stop seeing that so had to share.
The friendly reminder I have is, this all adds projects you shared would be later. So it’ll evolve, because you want to get inside. You wanted private vs more featured. Overall determine what combo of stuff is too much. Define that boundary now, focus on the stones if the rain is nice enough. Do let these ideas brew until fall.
I do not see the point of embellishing that door with anything above it. overkill. It would just draw unnecessary attention to that area (being it is your bedroom just inside the door) when you already are making the front of your house the main attraction. Adding more detail just makes observing eyes dart in all directions. It has to do with seeing the whole of something, rather the piece-meal parts.
I tend to see the whole, but I see it is easy to focus on each separate aspect because you are working on it. Leaving it quiet but adding big blue planters with tall plants place alongside the steps would have a nice effect.
I know the hot weather makes it very difficult to work, so, if getting the entire area cleaned up is hard for you, why not hire a brawny teen to spend the time to do it for you? Concluding the project leaves nothing more to defer until you get around to it.
The house looks great.
Hmm what would it look like if you painted the trellis blue? Maybe aweful or weird but it doesnāt cost anything to do a mockup
Give me a moment. I’m mourning the loss of Jabba!
I love the pergola effect you designed.
Now. Blue Pots. Instead of buying them, consider making them with a concrete soaked towel (from a thrift store) draped over a tall round waste basket. Make one corner/side higher than the other. (Like the whole pot was miter-cut for the top edge). Trim as needed. When totally dry, paint it whatever blue you are using. If you don’t paint the bottom and leave a drain hole, it won’t fill up with water during rainstorms.
Very different from store-bought and also totally custom. You can make it any size. There are a boatload of directions for making “draped concrete flower pots” online.
I miss Jabba too!
I thought you said that some day you were hoing to address gutters for your house. If so, will that get in the way of your pergola. I think if you want color, plant pots are the better idea. At least its easier to change out the plant pots.for a color change
IMHO, while the little trellis looks so cute; I think it will draw attention to that side of your house; so personally, Iād go with blue planters filled with hardy plants that will also blend in with future landscaping instead.
For steps you can buy pre-made concrete steps that are various sizes. We added a decorative wrought iron hand rail.
Chat GPT image of cedar porch and steps:
https://chatgpt.com/backend-api/estuary/content?id=file_000000007a2c822faec06a7538333a49&ts=495826&p=fs&cid=1&sig=3332578fbede7d415eb89c584c1192cd4411a80a6f99dd9efc76e96fa48f40f6&v=0