I believe Spring has officially sprung in Georgia. The temps have been beautiful and I have officially gotten a head start on some outdoor projects for the year. Every couple of years, I like to give my front door a fresh coat of paint, since the temps are so harsh here, especially in the summer, my door usually looks pretty rough. I actually painted my door and changed out the lights last Fall, and while it looked good, I wondered if I should have painted the sidelights as well for a more cohesive look. So I decided to install some DIY exterior trim.
This was my door last Fall:
Something else always felt like it was missing from this door as well. Like it needed more dimension. But I put all my thoughts to the side and figured I would worry about it in the Spring.
Getting right into it, over the winter, my porch was neglected.
As you can see, I have not touched my porch since Christmas.
So on the very first warm day, I cleared everything off and assessed my vision. Ah! The door had no dimension, and I finally decided to go for the painted sidelights as well. Thats what was missing. So I got to work planning how I was going to execute this DIY exterior trim and paint project.
After a bit of research, I decided on purchasing PVC trim for this project. It is water, insect and milder resistant, and since this trim project is outdoor, I knew this was the best option.
I went to my local hardware store and grabbed some 1×6 PVC trim pieces to line the top and 1×3 pieces for the side.
I started by trimming out inside of the door where the red brick was visible before trimming the side pieces. This added a more clean and cohesive look to the doorway overall.
I used the 1×3 pieces to do this. Attaching with liquid nails and holding in place with duck tape overnight.
After allowing that part to dry overnight, I attached the side 1×3’s directly to the brick using liquid nails. As you can see, it made everything come together.The side 1×3’s covered up the harsh lines of the inner trim pieces that I added the night before, giving it a seamless look.
To cut the top trim around the decorative triangle like piece, I had to play around with my angles on the miter saw.
The angle came out to be about 19.5 degrees. I use a Skilsaw Miter Saw, which I’ve had for around 8 years and still love it. 
After I got the first piece attached. I used a wood shim glued across the back and used my nail gun to nail each piece into the wood.
Both pieces done!
After getting both pieces up, I literally just kept layering pieces of PVC, until it visually got to a place that I loved. I legit had no rhyme or reason I just wanted a really pretty layered custom look.
I added two piece along the top to cover the gap that was left after cutting around the decorative triangle piece.
I painted the sidelights using Tricorn Black by Sherwin-Williams. Since the trim was a bit weathered, I had to take the necessary steps to ensure the trim was properly prepped prior to and during painting. The tools used were the most important steps. You can read that post here.
After adding the trim and painting the sidelights, the last step was to trim the decorative piece. This was a bit complex and took a bit of trial and error, I am so thankful for my husband because I left this part for him to figure out and he nailed it!
After everything was installed, I caulked every seam line and painted all of the trim, including the decorative piece. I painted it all white so that everything blended.
At that final moment is when I realized that this is exactly what this door needed. While it took several days to complete it, in the end, every moment was worth it!
Let’s take a look at the progress, shall we?
While I still have much more work ahead of me to get my porch ready for Spring, I am definitely happy about the update so far!
Are you loving it as much as I am? Don’t forget to pop over and read all about how I repaired and prepped the old trim for paint and get a peek into the tools that I used to get the job done.
Thanks so much for stopping by. Until next time!
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