Before/After "the store"

Here is the Before/After of my most recent shot "the store".

For information about the postpro please scroll down.

I really liked the raw shot but it definitely needed a touch up. So I copyied the image layer, converted it to BW and recolored it using the blending mode "color" and a low opacity. As you can see I used the original colors for that to achieve the same feeling that the original has. I almost only used the red, blue and the color of the wall. I didnt work with different tones.

At the end I changed the opacity of the BW layer to something around80%  to get some of the original colors back to the image and added a little texture from sxc.hu to get those darkened edges. Thats it!

This technique of recoloring was new to me and I used it the first time. I am really convinced of it already because this way you can get much more contrast in your image without loosing the colors.

Does somebody of you work with this technique? What could I improve? Have you got other postpro techniques that are worth the try? Tell me in the comments or via Flickr please

Thanks in advance and to all followers!!