Friday, November 26, 2010

doors: not just for opening and closing

Sometimes a door closes for the last time. So that's when you simply have to take it off the hinges and do something else with it. No sense in wasting a good door!

Just like moms or grandmas always say "when I was a little girl..." I always seem to relate to when we first bought the house. so here it goes again:
When we first bought the house, one of the first things we had to buy was a bed. we bought the simplest bed frame from Ikea, because the really nice ones cost a lot of nice money, that we didn't have. plus a big beautiful bed would look silly in our teeny tiny bedroom.

After a year, I decided that i wanted a headboard for this bed. So I went to this place called the Drop n'Shop. Now if you haven't been here you need to check it out...if you are up for it. It's basically a store at the garbage dump ( I think I am making my self sound desperate for deals) where you can find things that people want to throw away as garbage but is technically still usable. This isn't a value village though so don't have high expectations. But it's a great place for parts or tools, or other random little things.
I went there in search for a door...a very specific door. The door I wanted was a wooden door with five even indented rectangles...one exactly like my bedroom door. of course I couldn't take that door and use it because I like it where it is...plus I need that door there.
I found an old door at the drop n shop, not the exact door I wanted, but it was a door. It was a very plain  simple door with a raised outline of a rectangle...there is a word for what I am saying but I can't think of it.

I took this door home and set it out in the back yard and stared at it for hours ( over a span of days) trying to figure out what to do with it to make it look uniques and head-boardy.
Without knowing to next step, I measured it, cut it to proper length and I took out my giant barrel of primer and and put on a coat or two of that. then after some more pondering, I took out the can of cream coloured paint from my bedroom walls and put on a couple coats of that.
I still could not figure out what to do so I did what I'm sure most researchers do...I googled ideas. Google is great for ideas. I knew what to do.
I got out my multiple rolls of painters tape...even though it didn't even take one. I covered whole door with tape, drew a big grid inside the inner rectangle, and started drawing  away, then cutting away then painting away and then peeling away.
here you can see the grid line. This
was unintended, but I muchly
enjoyed the result
I felt worried when I started peeling away all the tape. You see, when I drew the grid, I used a mechanical pencil, not realizing that it would pull up not only the paint, but also the primer. But it turns out that it was a good mistake because it added character to the work.
once the door...or now headboard, had dried, Fritz helped me attach it to the bed.
After I finished that project, I had to put some things up in my crawlspace of an attic. where I store things ...only to find that exact door I was looking for....oh well.
Maybe one day I will make the foot end for the bed.
Do you see what I mean by the rectangle thing?

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