I had a red door and…

When I moved into my house here in Lewes, the door was red. It was OK, but not great – one of those shades of red that wasn’t quite confident enough to be either red or pink. Anyway, it was fine and I would’ve stuck with it if it hadn’t needed a new letterbox and doorbell.

The alterations messed up the paint so I had to decide if I wanted to paint it red again or not. In the end I replaced the door entirely for a 19th century one instead of the old door which was in fact relatively modern – and wrecked.

Then I had a foolish thought.

I thought of The Rolling Stones.

Then I had no choice.

I remembered their great song Paint it Black and I just had to do it. I was thinking of the lyrics, ‘I saw a red door and I want it painted black. I am a Rolling stones fan, as you may have guessed.

Well, I had a painter who agreed to do the job. I explained how I wanted to have a Rolling Stones tribute door and he gave me a caring but confused smile. When I looked at his finished work, I could see quite plainly that he had painted it grey. He said I couldn’t have it black because it would get too dirty and all the marks would show and, anyway, he said, grey looked better. I was too easily convinced maybe, but he had done a good job and he was a nice guy, so I stuck with it. There it was, a grey door. Sometimes you can’t always get what you want – as another Stones song goes.

This month the outside of the house needed to be painted again and I thought, no, dammit, I want my red-door-that-was painted black. Not red, not grey, but black.

Yesterday, my Rolling Stones door was finished and, yes, it is definitely black – and I love it.

And, if you don’t know the song, here it is…and, for the record, I was never feeling as bleak as the lyrics might imply. I just love the song – and my front door.

Here are The Rolling Stones in their glory days giving a truly rocking version of the song. Listen to it and think of me, I am smiling.