Uncategorized / 05/13/2019

How to turn a vintage door into a barn door.

I finally did it. It took me nearly fourteen years but I FINALLY got rid of a BIG annoyance in this house! It may have even been the BIGGEST annoyance in this house.

You see…. The door to my garage and the door to my basement literally opened onto one another. One could get stuck either in the basement or in the garage if someone left one of the doors ajar. Let’s just say it happened rather frequently.

Two doors opening on each other — Bad iphone photo

While I’d love to pretend I am a model of perfection, I cannot deny that these doors banging into one another when I was trying to get into my home or out of my basement have caused words to be uttered that would prove I’m far from perfect.

Imagine it… You’re in the garage with EVERY grocery bag hanging off your arms because making a second trip to the car is for the weak and BANG!!! The door opens a mere foot or so. You can’t get in. You have to unload one armful of groceries and close the garage door on yourself leaving one wildly waving arm in the house to blindly close (okay SLAM) the basement door. Then… you reload your groceries and can now open the door like a normal person.

But… it’s all over now. Joanna Gaines introduced me to the perfect solution: A barn door.

If you’ve paid attention, you’ll know. I wanted something unique and preferably vintage. My old friend the Habitat for Humanity Restore came to the rescue again. As you may have seen in my last post, the door I found needed some refinishing.

After a lot of elbow grease and a bold decision, I had a freshly painted door.

I’m really loving the bold color! How about you? I had been thinking I wanted it to be wood but after filling the holes left by the old knobs, the raw wood just wasn’t going to work. And after seeing the green that was uncovered during the stripping process, I knew that was the right choice. I mean… it matches my Life is Good sign!! I think it was fate! If you’re interested, it’s Palace Green from Valspar.

Thanks to help from my husband and oldest son, we installed the hardware on the wall and on the door and now this beauty glides along as smooth as silk! I bought the track and door handle on Amazon.