Friday, February 20, 2015

a do-able a-door-able makeover


We've been having quite the winter here in Rhode Island. When prepping for the last snowstorm, in addition to making sure we were stocked with comfort-food essentials, I also bought some paint.

Backstory: The door to the basement was painted in an unappealing "flesh crayon" color by the former home-owner. Back when I was refreshing this small hallway, the Hubs advised skipping the door because he needed to fix it or something. But recently I thought, "what an eye-sore," plus I wanted to install some hooks to have an accessible place to hang heavy winter coats.

Which brought me to Home Depot on the eve of a snow storm. Honestly, when I walked into the paint department, my mind was a blank canvas. First I thought of lavender but my eye was drawn to an aqua paint chip. Time was of the essence and so I just trusted this first-impression, asked the attendant to mix some up, grabbed some brushes and off I went. Minutes!

It snowed and I painted... After two coats the door looked great! When the roads were clear enough, the Hubs ran out and brought home some white paint so that I could work on the trim which was also flesh crayon.


Before packing up the paint, I covered some cans and clothespins (of course).

To finish the project, I wanted a "fun" doorknob and decided on a glass type or "Nana-style," as my grandmother had these throughout her home. Unable to find the hardware-finish I wanted in-store and impatient as always (I want this door pretty NOW!), it seemed easier to spray-paint than buy online and wait.

So I put my boots on, used a giant mound of snow as my work table, and spray-painted over the brass finish with a metallic spray.

 Not optimal conditions but it worked.

Tips: Cover the glass knob well with low-tack (painter's) tape and allow enough time to dry (24 hours).

I came across this piece at TJ Maxx and liked the shape but not the finish so with a dry foam brush, gave it a few coats of the same white interior semi-gloss paint used for the door trim.


And then like any good blogger, took advantage of the sunshine and tidied things up to take some pics.

Sure, it's the same door that still could be fixed or replaced but I'm happy with it just as it is.

And this is probably how it will look in the summertime but for now it looks more like this:


And the backdoor row of wooden hooks can be left to handle the lighter-weight accessories of winter.

On the summer project list: Paint the radiator
Supplies:
Paint: Echo Lake Aqua by Glidden in semi-gloss
Spray-paint: Bright Coat Metallic Finish by Rust-Oleum

I'll save sharing about my next project for another post...

Thanks for reading!

xo
elyse











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