Disclaimer: We have partnered with Kwikset to bring you this post. All opinions & photography are our own and are not influenced by Kwikset. Thank you for supporting the brands that help support this blog!

About a year ago I seriously looked into changing out all of the doors throughout our house. The doors in my house are very builder grade and I’m not in love with the 6 panel/beveled design. Instead, I wanted more of a craftsman door (similar to this one). I also wanted to switch out all of the hardware to solid black when we swapped out the doors.

I researched my options and came to the conclusion that this change would be a HUGE project, because it would require me to change not only the doors but all of the door casings. The project would also require me to hire a professional and spend a lot of money on the work itself and the material. Because I don’t view this house as our “forever house”, I ditched that idea and vowed to seriously consider this look in our next house.

When Kwikset approached us for the opportunity to team up, I combed through their site and was reminded of my love for black door knobs. At first, I didn’t think this partnership would work (sadly) since I knew that new black door knobs were not really an option in this house. But then I stumbled upon their exterior options and had a major a-ha moment.

Why not add this gorgeous black hardware to our front door?! And more importantly… why haven’t I thought of this idea sooner?!

Front Door Upgrade

Our door knob was in rough shape from all the wear and tear it sees on a daily basis . Since we don’t have access to our home from the garage, we use the front door to enter/exit our house 100% of the time. This also means that when guests approach our house they see an old and outdated door knob. Not the best first impression and actually kind of embarrassing to look back at these photos.

This is when we enthusiastically agreed to partner with Kwikset to replace the exterior door knobs on my house with the sleek black ones I had been dreaming about for over a year!

The weird part of our front door is that right next to it is the entrance to our one-car garage. If I was going to change the front door hardware, I needed to change the “side door’s” hardware so they matched.

I ordered this gorgeous doorknob and lock for the front door (aka the Downtown Low Profile Deadbolt and Halifax Lever) and this set (980 deadbolt and Hancock knob) for the side door. I chose the iron black and went with a front door handle that was sleek and modern. I noticed on their site that they have options (and colors!) for every style, so there really is something for everyone.

I like how the square detail on the front door makes that one a little more eye-catching, and the round option on the garage door seemed like the perfect supporting role.

Our New Door Hardware

Shortly after I ordered the hardware, it was delivered in the mail. This is the first time I had DIY-ed a project like this and honestly,  I was a little hesitant at the beginning.

Fast forward to about an hour later and I’m happy to report this project was not nearly as intimidating as I predicted it to be. Taking out the old and installing the new hardware was actually a LOT easier than I expected, which makes me even more excited about the idea of doing this in the future.

The new hardware came with SmartKey Security, which allowed me to make sure all 4 of these locks worked on ONE magic key! I was a little hesitant about this at first but after 5 minutes or less, I was able to transition all four locks to match one single key. I love the convenience of that because I only need to carry one key on my keyring instead of 4.  Plus this SmartKey security protects against lock picking and lock bumping, two of the most common break-in methods. Stylish, convenient AND safe = I’m sold!

Once that project was over, I was seriously OBSESSED! Every time I come home and approach the front door, the new color and design brings a smile to my face… literally. Our front porch may be tiny, but this tiny change makes me so much more proud of it.

And I can’t believe how much of a difference this small change has made in our curb appeal. The black accent is just what we needed, I still can’t believe it’s taken me this long to figure it out. Thank you, Kwikset!!

Sprucing up our Flower Boxes

After the door knobs were installed, I decided to give our old DIY flower boxes a quick coat of black spray paint (before we did our planting of course). I loved the hint of black so much on the doorknobs that I wanted to continue these subtle pops of black throughout our exterior.

I had the same reaction after painting the boxes — why am I just doing this now?!

Adding more Curb Appeal

After we did our planting, we had some minor landscaping updates to do in order to prep for the summer ahead, which will hopefully bring lots of guests over! We trimmed the bushes and added some mulch. These are two projects that I honestly don’t mind doing because you can see such a difference when it’s all said and done.

Oh, and of course we had to add a fun new doormat for an extra pop of summer vibes. If you follow us on Instagram then you know that Matt picked this colorful doormat out from Target. He’s obviously a man after my own heart.

Before & After

I had no idea that a few minor updates would make such a difference. Let’s take a look back at the before and after one more time…I still can’t believe this simple change took 4 years to figure out?! Hopefully my next house will have black door knobs on the front door and all the doors inside… well before the 4 year mark!

Bridget