New Doorways Say HELLO!

 

Our doorways said nothing.

Not even hello.  Or goodbye.

 

We wanted them to say something, anything really.

 

So when changing out the trim in our home, we decided

the doorways also needed a little change.

The doorways in our home were sheet rock only.
No pretty wood.
No pretty molding.
Nothing that spoke of originality.

They were painted, and that was about it.

 

 

To bring more character into our house,

we added big molding around the doors.

What we used:

4 - 1x4x7 MDF

2 - 1x4x5 MDF

2 - 1x6x7 MDF

4 - 1x2x5 Primed Pine

Nails

Tools you need:

Miter Saw (or chop saw)

Tape Measure

Pencils - preferably a dozen; you'll use one, 

set it down, forget where you put it,

look for another one, use it, set that one down, 

forget there is one behind your ear,

forget one near the saw,

forget the one by the door,

...you are starting to get the idea.

First we measured the top of the inside of the doorway.

I then cut a 1x6 to fit the top.

Once the top was nalied in place, I measured 

and cut 1x6s for the sides of the door frame. 

The outside frame of the door was framed with 1x4.
Each piece was measured even with the top height of the 1x6.
Confusing right?
I circled below what I mean.

The top of the door way was framed by a 1x4 and 2 - 1x2s.
The 1x4 is cut to align with the far side of the 

1x4s framing the sides of the doorway.

Each 1x2 is 1 inch longer than the 1x4 on both sides.
The bottom 1x2 is nailed into place,

followed with the 1x4 and capped with the last 1x2.  

Each lining up with the other.

 

Here is a visual to give you an idea of what was done.

My next steps were filling in the nail holes and using caulk to fill in the gaps.

 

Caulk is a miracle worker and covers a multitude of imperfections.

Caulk will not, however, cover up the imperfection

of dirty clothes you notice your kids are wearing

as you head out the door to go to church.

Caulk can't do that.

The final step is one last coat of paint.

TA DA!

 

 

 A touch of character to a previously boring doorway!

 

 

Seeing them side by side shows what a big difference a little trim can do

to the look of a room. 

Wow.

Picture Perfect Old Window

The first house my husband and I bought when we were first married was 700 square feet of never-been-updated-1950's-pure-bliss.

I'm fibbing about the pure bliss part.
But it was our first house.

The little old man who owned it before us left lots of treasures in the garage, including storm windows for each of the windows on the house.

Shortly after moving in, we replaced all the windows leaving the storm windows in a forgotten corner.

When we moved 5 years later we left a lot of the original treasures and on a whim I told my husband to pack one of the storm windows into the moving van.  I thought I could put pretty papers in it and it would make a great picture.

A few short years later, old windows became in high demand on the brocante market.

I kick myself often for not taking more of those beauties.

We moved into our home in 1999, I put pretty papers in each window pane and hung that baby up.  

And never looked at it again.  ( <--- highly embarrassing)

As the remodel took shape this year and we stripped everything out of our home, I saw the old window for what it had become.

UGLY.

It's ok if you cringed.  I do too.

I decided if the hallway was to truly be a Gallery Hallway then why not add more pictures?

The best part?  It cost me a $1.48.

I looked through pictures of my boys and found some great personality shots.

I sent them to be printed to Office Max.

Office Max?? 

A little known fact:  Office Max will print your pictures 

on Engineering Paper (11x17) for pennies!!  

For this project it was perfect.  It is not on photo paper, 

so it best to use this service for a project like this or one that involves decoupage. 

Here is how I turned ugly into personality!

The tools you will need:

1.  Pictures printed on paper large enough to fit each frame.  

2.  A template the size of each window frame.

My frames are 11 1/2 x 10 3/4" and I used one of the papers previously hanging in the window.

3.  Painter's Tape

4.  Marker

5.  Paper Trimmer

Lay the template on the section of picture you want shown in each window frame.

With the marker, mark the photo at all four edges of the template.

Line the marks up with the blade of the paper trimmer and trim.

Important : If your window frame sizes are not square be sure your template is lined up on the paper the correct way.

Once all pictures are trimmed, arrange them how you want them placed in the window.

Be sure the tops of the pictures are placed at the top of your window frame.

Flip each picture over and using the painter's tape, tape each picture into place.

Here you see that one of my pictures was printed vertically making it a smidgen too short on the sides.  

No worries.

I taped the picture into place and grabbed some scraps that I had previously trimmed off.
I flipped the scraps over and used the white backsides to frame in the vertical picture.

With everything taped into place, I flipped it over

and hung it back on to the wall.

A reminder of where I started ....

...and what I have now!

It was such an easy and inexpensive project making it super easy
(and guilt free!) to change the pictures out often.

The entire project took less than an hour and cost less than 2 bucks.

My lattes cost more than that.

P.S.
I apologize for the glare on the window glass; 

no matter what angle I took the picture I just couldn't 

get rid of the closet door trim trying to take center stage of the picture.

Trim can be like that.

Bi-Fold Door Transformation

The hallway closet transformation is complete!

Here is the blank slate I started with.
Honey colored oak bi-fold doors are no more!

This is what we have now and I LOVE it!

I couldn't resist a fun and unexpected door handle.
Although we added a lot of satin nickel with our makeover,

I thought the oil rubbed bronze finish looks great with dark wood floors.

Updating the doors took a weekend of my time and cost less than $50.

If you want the step by step of how I did this transformation you can find that here.

The entry hall into our home is now bright and light 

and no longer feels like a dark tunnel.

Next time you are in the neighborhood, stop by and say hi.

When I open the door to greet you, 

this is the view you now see :

It is far from basic and it makes me smile to see

that fun and funky chandelier in our family room.

However, I think it's time to replace that light in the hallway.

"Oh Honey...." <---sung in a sweet and melodic voice.
(I'll let you know if the sweet tone works.)