Mr. and I were very anxious to make a change that was noticeable. Something that said to our neighbors, "we are here and we are turning this place around!" So they'd be happy we moved in. Maybe offer to help us move heavy things.
After a little bit of pinning, lots of walking the dogs through the neighborhood while gathering ideas from other homes, and a door full of paint swatches for a week, we settled on making our big statement by painting our front door yellow. "Soft Duckling" to be exact. I know Mr. loved that.
Before:
But the problem was, our door was so BORING. So we had three options:
1. Purchase a new door at Lowe's (womp, womp)
2. Search every scrap place we could find until we came across just the right one (who knows how long that will take)
3. Make some changes to our boring door to make it better (we have a winner!)
We did a little research on "craftsman doors" and decided on a look we liked. So, we started with another trip to Lowes. (Not sponsored, but I'm pretty brand loyal if you're interested... Just saying.)
Materials:
- One sheet of beadboard (or wainscot). It was cheaper to get the white one, so we did that and it worked great. Also, they are huge. Still trying to decide what to make out of the extra.
- Two pieces of chair rail moulding, with a groove on the inside (picture below). If you think you might mis-cut, go ahead and save yourself a trip and get three (learn from my mistakes, people).
- Circular Saw
- Miter Saw (or, if you are like the Mr. and don't have one of these yet use your circular saw, electric sander, and a WHOLE BUNCH of patience)
- Finish Nails
- Nail Gun
- Wood Filler
How To:
- After sanding and priming the door, measure and draw the rectangle for your embellishment. If adding a kick plate, you will want to allow for at least 6 inches. We also included two inches above and below the kick plate-- so I started my rectangle at 11 inches above the bottom of the door. Our measurements were 32"x23.25".
- Measure these dimensions MINUS the width of the lip of your trim (probably .25") on the back (smooth side) of your beadboard. I measured 21.75"x23". And maybe if you let your Mr. buy a cool new saw with a laser he will cut it for you.
- Using your nail gun, attach the beadboard to your door. You will see Mr. using a scrap as his guide to make sure all of the nails are far enough back to be hidden by the trim. Great idea, hubs!
- Measure your trim to the original length (2 pieces at 29.5", 2 pieces at 23.25"). Miter each edge to 45 degrees. If they are not exact, don't sweat it! We'll fix that later.
- Attach these to the border, nailing on the thinnest part of the trim. You will want to lay it out first and leave the pieces there as you attach each one to make sure there are no major gaps.
(The sides in this picture have not been finished or nailed yet, but you get the idea)
- When everything has been attached, use your wood filler to fill in any gaps or nail holes. It will look rough at first but that is okay! We will smooth it out once it is dry.
- Now, if you are anything like me this is the worst part! Watching wood filler dry. Wait according to the directions on your wood filler. Fortunately, I had other projects to occupy my time. More on that later.
- When everything is dry (WOO!) use a light grit sandpaper to stand the wood filler by hand. Don't go crazy or you'll take too much off and have to wait all over again. Not that I would know. You just want to sand enough so that it is smooth with the trim and will not show once the door has been painted.
- Prime the new addition to your door, then paint the whole thing. Use a foam brush to get in the crevices of the beadboard.
Voila!
So much better! I can't wait to see it against some freshly painted trim...
Happy door-dazzling!
Have you done anything to your front door? We love that curb appeal! Link in the comments so we can check it out!
