It’s felt like ages since we last showed the front of the duplex (winter will do that), but that changes today. And honestly, things have turned a real corner.
There’s no landscaping yet, the grass is patchy, and Sean the Contractor’s gigantic sign is still out front…
…but when you compare the current exterior to where we started, wow—what a transformation.
We removed all the non-original details: the plastic wagon wheels and abacus trim added in the 1970s, the too-small vinyl shutters, the broken porch railing, the satellite dishes, and the duct tape along the roofline. At the same time, we preserved or restored as much original charm as possible—keeping the metal porch roof, installing larger operable shutters, adding square porch columns and corbels along the roofline, wide brick steps, and those diamond-pane windows that I can’t help but adore.
We’ve already shared many of our big exterior decisions—siding, roof, and shutter color—so today we’re focusing on the front porch updates and how the small details came together.
Before I dive into the good stuff, we have to address the postage-stamp doormats situation. They look tiny in person—like doormats for ants—so yes, bigger ones are on the list. Please try to focus past those little rectangles and notice everything else that’s changed.
We added mailboxes, house numbers, lanterns to illuminate those numbers, and composite decking (no rot—huge win). There are potted plants and teak benches, too. All of these details combine to make the porch feel thoughtful and finished.
We don’t have great close-up before photos of the front door area, but you can see enough in the older images to understand how much it needed help—mismatched storm doors and a deteriorated porch structure made everything look tired and mismatched.
The porch was so rotten structurally that we removed it and rebuilt it from the ground up, making sure to preserve the original transom windows above the doors. It was a major job, but now it feels like a huge step forward compared to where we began.
We decided to embrace the original front doors rather than replace them. Because the house is in a historic district, we would have needed approval to change the door style, so we were glad to keep the originals. For a while we toyed with painting the doors the same mint color as the shutters, but since that shutter color already gets a lot of attention from the windows, we wanted the doors to offer a complementary tone instead.
Our original plan was to restore a natural wood look. We had the contractor strip and sand the doors in their shop to remove old paint safely, since some layers contained lead. Even after professional stripping and sanding, stubborn paint remained in recessed details and small cracks, and there were a few repairs that made the wood finish look inconsistent up close.
We considered a dark gel stain for richer wood tone coverage, but once we installed the porch lights, mailboxes, house numbers, and new door hardware, another idea felt right: a deep, charcoal-y paint that echoed the metal porch roof and provided contrast to the cheerful green shutters. It would also hide the remaining imperfections better than a light stain could.
We chose a rich, layered dark color we love. In the end, painting the doors was the right call. The finish conceals cracks, glue bubbles, and paint remnants, and it coordinates beautifully with the dark accents—operable shutters, oversized porch lights, wall-mounted mailboxes, and the house numbers.
Installing the house numbers was straightforward. We used simple off-the-shelf numbers mounted flush to the siding. They came with a template, which we trimmed and taped in place to check spacing, level, and centering before committing. Pro tip: local code required numbers at least 4″ tall and visible from the street for emergency personnel, so we made sure they complied before the final inspection.
To bring some warm tones back after painting the doors, we added basket-style planters that have a ceramic texture and placed big teak benches at the far ends of the porch. Once we get larger doormats—perhaps a single long mat running under both doors up to the planters—the wood tones will read even more intentionally.
We also included faux outdoor trees for zero-maintenance greenery. We use the same style at our other properties; they add height and life to the porch without any upkeep. I haven’t fluffed them for these photos yet, so they’ll look even better once styled alongside the new mats and future landscaping.
If you follow our newsletter, you may have seen the doors open recently. We painted the stair risers to match the interior door colors on each side—one side in a warm neutral and the other in a beachy green. I love the surprise of opening the dark doors to reveal a bright, welcoming color inside.
The before photo now feels almost like a mirror image—the riser colors read differently in varying light, so we chose the placement that read best for each side. Small decisions like that make a big difference in how the finished porch feels.
That wraps up the duplex porch update for now. We’re hopeful for an early spring so we can finish landscaping, add a path, plant grass, mulch, and complete all the outdoor details. The plan is to photograph and list the duplex for rent in spring, with rentals starting this summer and an Airbnb listing possible in April. There’s still interior work and the backyard to finish, but the porch is a huge leap forward and it feels great to see it come together.
P.S. We’ve documented the duplex progress over the past 18 months in our project archive for anyone curious about the timeline and details.
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