Tuesday, July 17, 2012

He played Knick Knack on my Door

There is nothing better than a good find ... nothing! 
Especially, when you are least expecting it ...
I present to you these 3 old doors. 
Now, I have been hunting for an old, solid core door that had some good character and symmetry for some time now. The ones I could find were listed for sale at various sites and places for $50 each and upwards. Until I came across these ... all 3 ... for free! 
Jackpot!!
 They sat in the garage for a couple of months until I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them. I wanted to make a headboard from one of them, and the process began ...
 I chose the door that had the best shape and fewest dings to it. I planned on painting it, so it didn't matter what the colour was. I removed all the old hardware--which I have stashed away for another project--and began stripping. I prefer a heat gun and some elbow grease to strip paint myself. It is time consuming, but you have a good control over the finished project. It took me 3 hours to strip and sand the majority of the paint off of this beauty, and beauty she was ... I was so impressed by her raw look, I messaged a pic to my cohorts for their approval in aborting the paint mission. After a bit of pondering, I decided to give it a go, to clean her up to the best of my ability to look like a worn, weathered door.


 This is what the door looked like when I was finished the stripping process. I was satisfied with the colour, but it was still missing something, that finishing touch ...


 So, to this point in the project, my investment to the project has been nothing. The door was free. The elbow grease was free. So I went down to Home Depot to grab some mouldings to attach as a crown to finish off the top of the headboard. The two pieces combined came to a total of $20. The problem now: how to make these new casings look like they have stood the test of time on this rustic old door. Matching 'antique' can be a total stroke of luck, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose ...
First, I found a can of stain from my stash and put a light coat on. It needed a warmer deeper colour to the base. Then I had a can of antique white spray paint. I gave it a good coat and let it dry overnight. When I came back the next morning, I did some rough sanding to create a weathered look, and I was less than impressed. The colour wasn't right, and I was unsure if I would be able to achieve a match. I decided to throw caution to the wind and wing it. I grabbed a can of dark espresso spray paint from my stash and coated over top. I let it dry briefly--partly because I wanted it to mix with the white, and partly because I am very impatient, -- and then gave it another light coat of white and started rubbing. I roughed it up with a rough cloth, and a light sandpaper and kept spot shooting antique white and espresso brown paint until I got a "match" that I was happy with. This was a case of lots of coats and lots of luck, and the finish product looked great! I won!
 I laid the casings in place to see if the "match" would work, and I was convinced it would.
 Now the cutting. I will admit, most all of my projects are self done, but when it comes to woodworking with saws, I like to bring my husband in. Partly because he's much better at it than I (although I will never admit that to him), and partly because if something goes wrong ... I have someone to blame. So we mitred the corners at 45 degrees and used a bonding adhesive to set in place, one casing right above the other. We clamped in place and crossed our fingers. I prefer adhesive for this because you don't run the risk of cracking the casing, and you have no nail holes to finish. The downside to adhesive: it's permanent! If it's not clamped exactly where you want it, you can't move it later on. I gave it a quick coat of clear sealant to protect the door and give it a smooth but satin finish.
 ... and this is how it turned out ... I apologize for the crummy background, but I haven't set it in place yet.
 I am super impressed!
  ... now I can't just create this headboard and put it in place, one project leads to another, until it has become a complete bedroom redo ... with more projects! I won't place this headboard until the rest of the room is done. 
Stay tuned  ...

5 comments:

  1. Remind us where you got these doors, Terra? :)

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  2. Glad to see you guys are putting your dumpster diving skills to good use! I enjoyed reading all of you posts....keep em coming!
    Andrea

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  3. Jonn and I have been scouting for doors just like that for a headboard!!! You must be getting all the good stuff first!! Hahaha......nice job, looks great:)

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  4. ... You obviously aren't looking in the 'right' places Lindsey ;)

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  5. Great Job Terra!! Your room is going to look stunning once you've finished! I can't wait to see the end result :D

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