Friday, September 2, 2011

The Elephant in the Room and a Vintage Scale

Remember the elephant in the room? It is finally done! It was a nightmare but the orange door is gone.


I wanted it to look like an old paneled door so I used strips of wood left over from the kitchen cabinets to create four rectangles down the door.  I mitered each of the pieces before glueing and nailing them down.  I filled the corners with wood putty and sanded them smooth.  I primed it by hand because I had just enough primer in the bottom of the can.

I had to piece the three bottom horizontal strips because that is all the trim I had. Once I filled with wood putty, sanded, and painted I couldn't even tell they were pieced.

Here she is primed and ready to paint.

This is where it starts getting frustrating.
I didn't think the door should be white since the kitchen was so white so I sprayed it with a grey oops paint from Home Depot.  It looked great......outside.  I took it into the kitchen and propped it up. Ugggg.  It looked like it had a dark green tint to it.  It clashed bad. No wonder it was an oops paint.

.......So I sprayed it a very light grey blue.  I love this color on furniture I've painted.  And since I'm going for blues and greens in the kitchen it should look great.  Right?  I brought it in and propped it up and it looked waaaay to bright.  It didn't look good with the wall color.  So I dry brushed over the blue with white.  Still didn't look good. Hmmmm.

Fine.  White it is.  I glazed it with my good ole Ralph Lauren tobacco glaze.  It really looks like an old door now!!!!  I can't wait to have hubby hang it!  Whew.  Two days of work and it's finally done. 


Hubby added the hinges as I was tinkering around the house.  Pretty soon I came back to the kitchen to see an orange door hanging in the kitchen........WHAT??????    Seriously.  "You did the wrong side of the door.  I'm sorry honey.  I can't flip it because of where the door knob and hinges are located."

You know that Leann Womack song that says "It's like someone takes a pin to your balloon."  And the opening scene in Despicable Me where Gru pops the little boys balloon. That is how I felt.  I didn't care what the door looked like on the other side at the moment. I just wanted to have a pretty kitchen door.  Besides that, I was out of wood strips.  My husband felt my pain.  He told me he was sorry several times throughout the day.

I still had some wood sheets left but I didn't want to ask my neighbor to back her car out of her carport so we could pull her table saw out and cut more strips. (The motor died on our table saw building our addition). Then hubby had a great idea.  "Let's cut out the rectangles with a jigsaw.  Then you won't have to piece them and miter the corners.  That will save you a lot of work."

I didn't marry my husband soley on his good looks.  He is a smart man.  I took four sheets of wood and measured and marked the rectangles. I brought them in and gave them to him.  "Here you go."  He looked at me like I'd gone mad and replied, "We don't have a jigsaw."  WHAT???  "Why did you suggest it then."  He said, "I thought we'd buy one when we go to the hardware store in a couple days (25 miles away)." 

Long story short......well shorter......
We bought the saw, hubby cut them out, and I refinished the door.  This small project took a week to complete.  Have I ever mentioned I am not a very patient person. If there is a bright side to this story I have a pretty door in my laundry room and we now own a jigsaw!

I found this vintage scale at a yard sale for $7. Love.


11 comments:

  1. What a great door story I admire all the work you did and what a great hubby you must have,

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  2. Oh my gosh, that is TOTALLY something I would have done! So funny! The door looks awesome, love how you added the panels to it!

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  3. I love that scale. It is beautiful. If you hear someone in the other room don't be alarmed. It's just me. Stealing your scale. ;) And your door. Totally worth it. But I feel your pain. I never have a "simple project." Beautiful job! :)

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  4. How aggravating! I'm glad you got the door done--it looks great now! And hey, now it looks great on the laundry room side, too!

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  5. You did a great job....it totally changed the focus of the room.

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  6. oh my...i am so glad that i am not the only one who makes those sorts of mistakes...but thanks to your handy hubs it all came out just beautifully in the end...love your kitchen and the vintage scale? gorgeous...i would love for you to link this to my fridays unfolded linky!

    alison

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  7. Oh, so much better! And, I love your scale! Great job. Found you via Primp. Tootles, Kathryn http://thededicatedhouse.blogspot.com/2011/08/little-goodwill-finds.html

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  8. Looks great I love all the white! thats how I like my house too lots of white =]

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  9. The door looks great and you were so lucky to find that scale--I love it!

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  10. What kind of wood did you end up using for this project?

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