Well, the kids are off to camp and I am up to my neck in projects. Yesterday was productive, but I didn’t get nearly as much done as I had hoped. I had some errands to do and was meeting some friends from work for lunch and an Ikea shopping trip. We are re-designing our staff room at work and so we thought we would go and look at some tables and chairs for our newly created space. So, yesterday seemed to be gone in a heart beat. I got up, showered, ate, wrote my post, met the gals from work, did my own errands and got home just in time to give my husband a big kiss before he left for work. I had a quick dinner and then set to work on my “to do” list. I had a very productive evening, but none of my projects are ready to post, so I thought I would share one of our accomplishments from last year’s summer camp week.
Front Door and Entrance Before Shots
Our home is an Arts and Crafts style home that was built in 1921. When we purchased the home there was an aluminum screen door on the front which we both hated. Issue number two was our crazy front entrance. Once inside the house, the entry consists of a narrow hallway with two little alcoves along the left wall. Both are recessed about 12″. Of course, this is not deep enough for an actual front entrance closet, so in the first one, we installed an antique wall mount table and in the second we put up hooks to accommodate the coats and backpacks. However, the reality was that the entrance was a complete eye-sore and I hated it, despite all the beautiful woodwork and charm. (A few of these shots are a bit dark, not sure why, but it will give you an idea of what we were dealing with.)
Project Number 1: Replace the Screen Door
Well, we found a door (at The Old House Revival Company) that would fit the oversized opening and my husband installed it during summer camp week 2012. This ended up being a pretty major project that kept him busy for a couple of days. He sanded it roughly, but we really wanted it to show all of its age and wear, so I just stained over what wasn’t sanded off. We love the finished product and the “slam” of the wood on wood when the door closes….it seems to take you back in time. Of course, this project was not nearly as easy as it sounds. Tim had to cut down the door to fit, and it was lots of work to get it to hang and close properly in the existing door jam. He also had to install a screen as the door did not come with one. All in all, I love the change and it seems to fit better with the era and style of our house.
Project Number 2A: Install an Antique Solid Oak Door on 2nd Alcove
We found an antique oak door on Kijiji that only needed to be trimmed down slightly to fit the space. It was quite a bit of work to sand and stain it, but I think the finished result is good and it matches well with our existing woodwork. The door we purchased had 9 panes of beveled glass at the top. In addition to the two alcoves, the hallway is banked with 4 French Style doors, each with 15 panes of beveled glass. Although the glass would have matched okay, I wanted a bit of a different look and it was important to hide the contents of the closet (or it would defeat the whole purpose of installing a door.) We also had to install a plate to cover the deadbolt that was previously installed in the door. The black hardware is different than the other hardware in the house, but I think it still works okay.
Project Number 2B: Faux Tin Tiles
I decided to try to create the look of tin tiles in lieu of the glass panes. I found a tutorial on Pinterest and used it as a guide to create my own faux tin tiles for the door. The tiles were made using aluminum foil baking sheets that I purchased at Dollarama. Basically, I used one of the free patterns offered with the tutorial and etched it onto the aluminum foil squares I had previously cut to size. I used an embossing tool to do the etching. I then used a combo of brown and white shoe polish to distress each of the 9 pieces.
The New Entry Gallery
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