While We Are On The Subject of Doors! A few other door makeovers.

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Do doors get any uglier than this? Really? This is a 36" door. There are two of them, in fact.  Budd and I wanted to get rid of them and replace them with smaller ones. Johnny wanted to leave them alone, he said we have enough work to do, on that point he is definitely correct.

Well, I couldn't leave them alone, so I figured it was worth a try to make them look better.

It's always a process, paint, antique, sand, design!

Settle on a plan, and forge ahead!

See what I mean? Paint, stain, sand. 1,2,3!

Then stand back and have a look...and look... and look!

And look again, close up, far away, upside and and inside out!

 Put it back in place.

And much later, finally begin painting to cover up that red wall!

I've had good reviews by people who have come to tour the stone house, so I'm taking this as a success!

Now on to the next one. This door was in the house when we bought it, but it is not original to the house when it was built. It doesn't show so much here, but it was very orange, and a little beat up.

Enter Java Gel Stain by General Finishes. This product is incredible! This is my own personal opinion and I am not compensated by General Finishes in any way, although, I wouldn't refuse, if you know what I'm saying.

Here is a picture of the door finished, and trimmed out.

These are original French doors that we removed, and later replaced. I just started working on these, but then sunshine and warmer temperatures called, so you will have to wait until Spring to see the finished product. 

Not really a cliff hanger, but I hope you will come back and check it out again.

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This Is the Story of a Door. Ugly slab door makeover.

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In the stone house that we are renovating, we created a pantry, in that pantry is a window, we didn't want to lose the light that shines in there so we needed  pantry door with a window. I could probably have found a suitable door, but that just isn't my way is it?

I went looking through my stash, and I do have some very nice doors, but I didn't want to ruin any of them by taking out a lovely old panel and inserting glass.

When we found this door, and it was just the size we needed, I seriously didn't know if I could make this look good, but it was worth a try.

I found just the right window in my stash (this is just a little part of my stash), it's from my Grandmother's house, circa early 1930's.

I cut a hole in the door with a circular saw, and secured the window in by nailing and gluing cottage grade tongue and groove panelling over it. I cut the tongues and grooves off, and turn the paneling backward so that I have a rough surface to do the paint treatment on.

I outlined the edge of the door with paneling,

and then chose to do a couple of strips down the middle.

I painted the door white and then stained over it with black, rubbing most of it off I liked the window as it was so I didn't even have to paint it. Then I sanded the rough paneling with the sander. This picture is of the back of the door. I wasn't going to bother adding the extra embellishment in the middle, but later realized that I had the wrong swing going, so I eventually finished this side too and it became the outside after Johnny switched the hinges over for me.

Here it is in place, can you see the photo bomber?

I bet you can now!

I saved the original trim and we used it again on the main floor of the house, isn't it pretty?

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My posts have been few and far between, but don't think that's because I haven't been busy, I definitely have.

My son Budd is trying to get his house ready to put on the market, so we've taken a break from the stone house to help him.

Upstairs has been finished for a few years, but he hadn't gotten around to finishing the basement. He got it framed and dry walled. Then it was time for flooring. The spot where he and Johnny are standing is right where the bar will be going.

Just like the magic of television, the floor is all done. Doesn't it look great?

Jumping ahead by leaps and bounds, Budd and Johnny built a short 2X6 wall for the bar, and they started the cupboard where the bar sink will be. I started putting up the faux barn wood boards.

All of the wood in this project was reclaimed.  I'm pretty proud of that. Budd scavenged some scraps from his friends garbage pile, and of course Johnny and I never throw out a piece of wood.

Another view. Doesn't it look nice with the floor? 

For the barn wood I used a variety of salvaged wood, that top piece with the nice grain is actually a plywood scrap.

 I love how the pot lights shine down on it.

Here's a look at my work site. Yup a tailgate.  Busy staining and painting boards to get that look I wanted. I salvaged these nice wide boards from the windows at the stone house.

A nice sunny day for working outside.

Finally it was time to work on the face frame for the cupboard. All the information I need is on that piece of paper. I picked up the cupboard doors at the Restore for $5 each, I bought four, but plans changed when Budd remembered he wanted to put a mini fridge in the cabinet.

Here's the process for making barn wood. The piece on the left is the backsplash and the one of the right is the front of the counter top.

Rub some black stain randomly. 

Go over it with some light stain, which lightens the black stain.

Then I dry brushed some white, and rubbed it in. I went back with a little smudge of black stain here and there until I had the look I wanted.

Once the cupboard was all put together, Budd cut a hole in the counter and installed a bar sink. The bar top was leftover from his kitchen when he changed the cupboard plan and it wasn't needed.  The bar sink he had for a while, I think from a friend.

The pictures aren't the best, but I love the finished product!

He plans to put a couple of bar stools on this side of the bar, so people can sit and watch TV on the opposite wall. It will also leave space for a couch on the other side.

 

Here we are after a long day, it's almost finished at this point, you would think we would be smiling :)

So what do you think of our project?

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Pallet Wall, Part I

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This is a wall in the mudroom of the stone house that I want to make... more interesting.  The plan is a wood wall, bench, and shelves.

I decided to go with a pallet wall.  Why not, I've never tried it before, this is as good a time as any :)  As I showed you in my last post, I stained up a few boards, but they just didn't have the variety of colour that I was hoping for.

I added some paint, and voila, this makes me smile!

I liked the technique enough to go ahead and start putting them on the wall. At the end of the day, I was a happy woman.

Today I finished it, and I LOVE it! Here are a couple of close ups.

And...the finished wall!

Three people have seen it, and three people like it,

What about you?  What do you think?

The next step is the bench, you know I love building benches. Tomorrow is going to be a good day, I get to build a bench, and the babies are coming for a visit! Woohoo! I'm going to be a happy Grammie MacGIRLver!

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I'll Be Dreaming About Pallet Wood Tonight

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I decided it was time to get started on a project that's been waiting for me since last summer. I was asked to make a pallet bench in memory of a very special co-worker that passed away last summer.  He was a very special guy and certainly deserves something nicer than pallets, but at the same time I think he would appreciate the simplicity.  It's not quite finished, but I couldn't wait to share.  This one's for you Tommy!  If I had a can of Budweiser, and if I drank, I would raise a can right now.

Lots of sanding involved when working with pallets.

I was so pleased at how nicely this saw was working, that I chose to cut by hand rather than use the saw in the picture. Unfortunately I got in trouble with my son as it is his saw and he only uses it for drywall, oops, the tables have turned my friends.

This is how far I got on day 1, I was pretty pleased, as it came together pretty well.

Of course I couldn't leave it like that as it wouldn't be very comfortable. This is how it looked at the end of day 2.

So today I finished sanding and got it stained, Staining was very time consuming! I actually wasn't very happy with it when I was done, I think the stain is too dark, but I think it looks better in the picture than in person.  I'm going to paint a little something on it to dedicate it to Tommy.

So while that is drying I moved on to the next project. I've been trying to decide what to do with this wall with the window.  I know that I want to add a bench and some shelves, but couldn't decide between reclaimed wood (hoarding that, hate to use it up), faux ship lap (didn't want to pay for it), and pallet wood.

I finally decided to use pallet wood so I broke down the rest of the pallets that I had on hand.  I stained them...

and...I didn't like the look of the stain.  It's been a bad day for stain.  So I got out the white paint and dry brushed some white paint onto them.  When the paint mixed with the stain it turned gray, which I did like.

I did put up a few pieces on the wall but I forgot to take a picture, so I guess you will just have to wait.  This project has just begun.  

So I hope Sterling's not having a bonfire tonight, I noticed he has a nice collection of pallets up behind the garden, already got in trouble with one kid this week, hope I don't get in trouble again, but I guess I'm gonna risk it ;)

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