Moving to Flowood, Mississippi (a suburb of Jackson) from inner-city Houston, Texas, was a life-changer for me and my hubby in 1999. On the first night in our new home, neither one of us could sleep. We sat in the dark living room and discussed our fears, staring wide-eyed at our huge glass windows that had no burglar bars! It was the strangest sensation. It took a while to get used to such vulnerability.
Those first four years were my re-initiation into small town/suburban life in a neighborhood of starter homes and young families. I remembered that cozy feeling I’d had when my own childhood began in a suburb of Houston. In Flowood, though, we could actually leave our garage door open—all day! In fact, leaving the garage door open was the signal to neighbors that we were home and open for company. The open garage door said, “Welcome” or “Come on in and stay a while, y’all!”
Many years later when I began planning my dream home, I had to include a friendship door in the design. Our new neighborhood didn’t want to see what’s in our garage, so I had to figure out another way to display our hospitality.
I believe a friendship door should be cute and not stuffy. It needs color, a pretty wreath or sign, and a few words of welcome somewhere. It also needs a combo lock on it for friends, family, and dogsitters to be able to gain access when we’re away. I found a close example of the ideal door on Pinterest.
I insisted that my builder leave it for me to paint. I chose Sherwin Williams’ Drizzle, a dreamy “torquiosy” blue and then coated it with a dark brown glaze to achieve a look similar to the picture on Pinterest. Then I cut out a cute little “hello” in black cling using my Cricut machine, set out a pretty doormat, stuck an adorable dog from Ballard Designs (a gift from a dear friend) by the door, and I was in business. Oh, yeah, I added a cute lantern above the door for the full welcoming effect.
One day, the owner of my favorite store (Farmhouse in Canton, MS) came to deliver a table and chair that I bought from her. She said that as she and her husband were driving slowly through the neighborhood, looking for my address, she saw the blue door and exclaimed, “I hope it’s that one! I want to go in there!”
Unfortunately, the sun and weather caused the glaze to crackle on the door and a recent power washing (with a capful of bleach) faded the color significantly. Last weekend I purchased some more Drizzle, removed my “hello,” and sanded down the crackled glaze. The door is still very pretty with a fresh coat of dreamy blue, but it will need a new word of welcome attached to it. I’m toying with the idea of putting the house numbers on it and changing the mat to one that says, “hello.” We’ll see!
