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Monday, May 30, 2011

An updated door

So in my adventures in blogland I keep boring entertaining my family with everyone's projects.  So on this project my honey kept saying you need to share this, you worked so hard.  Ok well here it goes.  We have a really nice front door that has battled the Oklahoma weather for over 20 years.  My original thought was replace this nasty thing.  But a door this size and solid wood - $1700.  GULP!!  So with my whopping one refinishing project behind me I felt I could tackle this.  So honey helped take down the door.
Here it is in all its glory



And now some close ups of how bad the finish was  (and I know that if I am going to keep blogging I have to learn to take better photos and using my editing software)  Oh yes - notice the cute little wreath, compliments of a blog tutorial.  I just wish I remembered which one!



Notice how bad the poly has chipped off, the places where tape totally removed the poly when one of my friends TPed the house on my birthday.  Friends - gotta love em!!

Also notice the red tint - circa 1980's anyone - to the stain.

So we hauled big and heavy door to back yard where I sanded and sanded  to get this

Augh - stripper time - insert cheezy music here


Four and a half hours later






That was as good as it was going to get.  Then I resanded with 150 and then 220 grit sand paper.  Then we hauled big and heavy into the garage, and vaccuumed the door twice.  Using Miss Mustard Seed's methods I applied 3 coats of Minwax dark walnut stain - scrubbing with steel wool and vaccuuming between coats.  The next day I applied a coat of minwax Helmsman for the Uv protection.  I found this very hard to work with and it left teeny bubbles everywhere.  After many tears  I looked on their website and many others have had this same problem.  Since I am new at this DIY stuff I figured I had better look for another solution, so just to be UV safe I sanded it - again with 220 - and put another coat of helmsman.  BTW - over 24 hours drying time per coat.  Not good for someone with my patience.  And again sanding
A side note.  Nowhere in blogland did I find a picture like this.(All the cloudiness)  When you sand clear top coat it does this.  Do not run crying to your honey that all your work is ruined.  It is ok.  The next coat covers this right up.  Honey said it is just what happens when the coverage is a little uneven.  Whew!!!!

So after the Hemsman fail, I went and bought a bottle of Minwax wipe on poly in high gloss.  I lost count of the number of coats, but I used the whole bottle.  The door is protected!!  I graduated from 220 to 320 sandpaper to steel wool.  And then final product:




And a couple of close-ups

And yes - the door is so shiny that it reflects!!  Love my hot pink tee!!

Is it perfect - uh nooo..
Am I proud - oh yeah!!
And honey is proud, too!

And I replaced the hardware with brushed nickel - hinges and knobs.  I wanted oil rubbed bronze but it did not look good with our storm door.

Hee heee - my first solo DIY!!  Honey did have to help transport big and ugly and had to do a little routing to get the new dead bolt in.  But other than that - all little ole me!!

Susan

Linkin up to:The DIY Show Off


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Hello and Welcome

Welcome to my little corner of blogland.  I hope you stay a while, and honestly I hope I stay a while.  Why am I creating a blog?  I keep asking myself that same question.  My introduction to blogging was dear Lisa at http://thedilletanteproprietor.blogspot.com/  She has an incredible, motivational, educational blog on achieving her version of the American dream.  Take time to read her blog from start to finish if you ever get a chance.  The inspiration you will receive from her is sooo worth the time.

One day on Lisa's blog she mentioned Miss Mustard Seed.  Hmmm..what is this she is speaking of.  So I followed her link to http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/  Uhmm...WOW!!!  My introduction to DIY through the world of blogging.  Mariann  - Miss Mustard Seed - is such an incredibly talented woman.  I cannot imagine having her creativity.  She is amazing.  Through her blog I followed a link to http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/   And again - WOW!!!  More talent and creativity.  And even though these 2 women use their talents to help support their families, they are beyond generous with sharing their tips and secrets.  I have learned that in blogland this is called a tutorial.  And through these 2 sites I learned of the linky party.  Looking at the projects on these parties, I realized there is a tutorial  in blogland for EVERYTHING.  Yowza!! 

Something Miss Mustard Seed says really struck a chord with me - sell your house to yourself.  Do not put off all those improvements, etc., for when you are selling your house.  Do them now, move mountains in your home.  This made so much sense to me - we had done the exact thing in our first home.  Just lived in it until time to sell, then a rush of home improvement projects that someone else is now enjoying.  So I started small, making a few crafts for the home.  I used to always craft with the kids when they were small and used to craft with friends.  But never anything just for me or the house.  Then I moved on to some of the popular blog projects going on - i painted and organized my pantry and redid my laundry room.  (Do you sense a couple of posts coming?)

So then I wanted to start a blog, but even though I was very proud of what I had done, I do not feel it is blog-worthy compared to all these phenom women in DIY land.

Then I found Nony.  http://www.aslobcomesclean.com/  Nony is hee-lar-eee-ous!!!  But Nony is also very honest and started her blog to keep herself accountable.  Hmmm - that is a concept I could grasp. Maybe....  Nony has become an inspiration to others, but even still she uses her blog to motivate herself.  Maybe just maybe....  I do not have visions of grandeur for myself, I am nowhere near as talented and Miss Mustard Seed or Donna at Funky Junk.  I am not inspirational like Nony and Lisa, but maybe just maybe I can use my blog to keep myself accountable and moving forward.  Making my house into the home I want it to be, and perhaps making a few friends in blogland along the way. 

Susan