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Our New Old Door

And now, live from Angie & Colby’s home, we bring you the much anticipated front door makeover.  And what good makeover wouldn’t start with showing you the ugly before shots?  So here is our door all cream and cracked and gross:

Would this be the appropriate time to remind you all that Colby broke the door and cracked it right down the upper side?

So the story goes like this.  We propped the door open by jamming a board between the door and the jam, Colby went to close the door without removing the board, and CRAAAAAACKKKKKKKK (that’s a door cracking sound by the way).  Our old, solid wood door was donzo and forever cracked.  Enter door refinisher extraordinaire (moi) to work her magic.  With Colby’s assistance (that door is damn heavy!) I unassembled the door and moved it to my new favorite painting station, the front porch.

Oh…and here is a closeup of the door knob that also got a makeover.  All the details from that were in yesterday’s post.  But now you can see how desperately the hardware needed a nice coat of ORB (oil rubbed bronze) spray paint.

Next up, I stripped the door right down to its birthday suit.  Thankfully it’s not a modest door and let me take pictures of it in the buff.  After all the hardware was removed I began fixing the door and prepping it for painting.  First, I removed all the old weather stripping:

Then filled in all the holes and the massive crack with wood putty:

And sanded it all down to a nice, even finish:

Random side story coming…which is totally one of those moments that only exists in sports (or home improvement projects)…where the coach gives a speech to get the home town fans fired up.  This project was that moment in my life where I discovered power tools.  I’ve used power tools before and enjoyed them, but if given the choice between hand sanding and using a sander, I’ve always chosen hand sanding.  Same goes for an impact driver vs. a regular old screwdriver (although I do prefer the ratchet-ie variety).  For some reason, a power tool affinity came to me while sanding down the door.  I was one with the power…respected the power…and loved having the power!  I realized how quick and easy and thorough a job that power tools do and I will never go back to my hand tools ways.  Momma….I’m making you proud (my mom LOVES her power tools…she’s the carpenter in the family).  So…anyway…sanding left me with this:

Dirty door.  Then I primed it:

And after just one coat of primer, the door was looking so much better:

I went with my go to painting combo: two thin and even coats of primer followed by two thin and even coats of glossy white paint (Valspar’s Betsy’s Linen which is found throughout our house).  Once the door and spray painted hardware was completely dry, we reassembled and were left with this:

Oh…and since I pointed out Colby’s oops moment I should probably point out mine, which I briefly mentioned yesterday:

Note to self….both sides of hinges are visible after assembly.  This weekend we’ll probably take the door down again to (1) make it easier to paint the trim glossy white and (2) fix my brain dead moment.  Although, I have to admit it wasn’t my most brain dead moment of the week.  No…that happened while trying to clean the bathroom today.  I could not turn open the nozzle of the toilet bowl cleaner.  I pried and twisted but it would not budge.  I was on the verge of hysteria before I realized that it was already opened.  Yeah…I felt like a super smarty.  So here’s a closeup of the door knob all refinished:

Swanky.  It gave new life to our old hardware which we absolutely love.  Who doesn’t love a skeleton key?!  And one last shot of the door looking down the hallway:

So now the door is no longer the ugliest thing in the hallway.  No…that award now goes to the staircase.  Unfortunately, I’ve found my focus lately and am full speed ahead on finishing up many of the projects I’ve already started (like painting the bathroom baseboard and working in the dining room) so it may be awhile before we get to the stairs.  Until then, we have a pretty new, old door.

Pssst….who else has refinished their front door?  Any fun colors?  I was debating painting the front door a crazy color but I held off for now…maybe down the road…perhaps.

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Angie's Roost Campbell Family in front of home in 2021

Hi there! We're the Campbells. We traded in Maine city living for the country life in Vermont. You'll find us here fixing up a circa 1781 historic home, growing our own food, and filling this home with the memories and things that matter. Read more about us...

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