Hi all!!!! Remember me telling you that I bought something uber exciting from the ReStore a couple of weeks ago?? If you need a refresher, go on over here…. I will wait for you!
Okay, maybe it was a little longer than that, but the schedule has been a little chaotic lately. I know you totally understand!!
Anyway……… here is the monstrosity that I bought for $25!!
I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to find it. I have been wanting to add some character to our house for awhile now ……. have had the vision of this door in my head for like FOREVER, just never had the opportunity to go and look for it! I really wanted someone to just read my mind and give me theirs. Of course it would have been just leaning up in their barn, wasting away and feeling unloved.
Unfortunately no one read my mind, BUT I was lucky enough to find this at the ReStore, AND I am making a neglected, discarded door feel the love again!!!
Did I tell you that I got it for a song? $25…..what a steal for a solid wooden door with the glass panels intact!!
I originally wanted this for our pantry door, but it is 2 inches too wide. The salesman told me that I could cut it down, but I was VERY nervous to do that myself. So I did the next best thing and swapped out our laundry room door. Now instead of seeing a plain, boring door from the family room, you see this….
Yes, I know I have a lot more work to do to make it perfect, but it adds so much character! Don’t you think?
Stripping it of the old layers of paint was waaaayyyyyy more work than I was anticipating! I wanted to make sure that the paint didn’t contain any lead, so I found an instant lead test at Lowe’s. I won’t even tell you the ancient, hard as a rock, dried up test that Gillman’s sold me. Thankfully they had a conscious and gave me my money back!
I had a picture of the lead test, but haven’t a clue where I stored it. I used 3M’s product that had 2 individual tests in it and it cost about $12.99.
I will always test the paint on any old items, OR if I can’t determine the age. The kits are not cheap, but I would rather be safe than sorry!
This door did not contain any lead, so I set it up and started scraping away at it. What a pain in the butt!! It was taking forever, so I swapped it out for some sanding with heavy grit sandpaper!
Still taking forever……we are talking hours and hours over the course of 2 evenings and a Sunday morning…..so I swapped it out for some paint stripper, and it still didn’t pull the paint up to my satisfaction! I decided to give it a rest….cleaned up the mess……did one final sanding……and hung up the door!
My first issue were the hinge cutouts. They were about 2 inches lower than the cutouts on the door frame, so I just took a hammer and crowbar and started chiseling out the space on the door.
The second issue that I have is that the door is not shutting properly. If I force it then the hinge starts to drag and pull on the door frame. It is starting to split in the photo above. Needless to say, the door has not been shut since I installed it over Thanksgiving weekend! 😉
The third issue is that the door knob does not line up with the existing knob cut out (I have no idea what that little brass plate is called). This one just made me shake my head and laugh!! Gotta love it!!
Oh the hassles we face when all we desire is a little character! What does B tell me, “No pain, No gain”!
This is what the door looks like from the inside. This happens to be the front of the door, as the window panes have additional etchings and moldings framing the panels! No way was I going to mess with flipping the door, so I will just settle it being hidden from view…..unless you really want to snoop and just stroll in my laundry room! Just be careful, I might have you throw in a load, or two, while you are in there!
The reason I won’t be messing with the right side of the door frame is it just might be the most precious part of our home. It has the boys height markings as they have progressed from being an infant to nowadays at 19 and 17 years of age. If we ever move I will be prying this molding off and taking it with me! I know you would do the same thing!
I will get back to this door after the New Year, I truly just needed a break from it, AND I needed to start getting the house ready for Christmas.
I will figure out why the door is pulling at the hinge and door frame!
Although the stripped look is interesting, I will be painting it with chalk paint! I will also do a better job of cleaning up the excess paint that the old owner’s were careless about when painting around the glass. I am thinking about adding a frosted treatment to the top and bottom glass panels, and I am loving this vinyl sign, for the middle panel, from Etsy.
Still a work in progress, but I am thrilled with the effect so far!!
How have you added character to your home?
The satisfaction it give after doing things on our own and let you save because instead of hiring someone to do i. However, the door was perfect for your laundry room.
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