All I Want is a Door!

So, I had really been bugging my husband about going to our local recycling place to look for an old door. He asked me what I wanted an old door for (Obviously the man spends NO time on Pinterest!) I tried to explain it, but he's a man, and most men think that doors should be used for .........well, doors! So, his response was to nod his head and make some sort of sound indicating agreement and then..........nothing.

I would have done it myself, but he sure is a big help when I have something really heavy to load. :)

So, a couple of weeks ago we finally found a Saturday afternoon when we could head out to Bring Recycling. What he didn't know was that I didn't just want a door.........I had a list! Ha!

Well, of course, the first thing on the list was "the door". Now, I had big plans for this door and I didn't want just any old door, and I certainly didn't want a modern one. So, we headed straight for the door department and spent the next hour digging through the massive numbers of doors that they have there ... no easy task, let me just tell you! Those suckers are heavy and there are bazillions of them shoved into these little areas.

Well, it didn't take me long to find what I was looking for......it was love at first sight! Of course I was on a different aisle from my husband, so I had to leave my precious door and go find him. (Yes, I was afraid that someone would "steal" it while I was gone!) I dragged him away from all the beautiful, "new" doors that he was searching through and had him come over and look at mine, and can I just tell you, I think the man thought that I had lost my mind! Ya know how you have a picture in your mind of what you're looking for? Well obviously we DID NOT have the same picture!

Oh well! He said those magic words...."well, honey, if that's what you want"....

And yes, that's exactly what I wanted! I didn't even look for the rest of the things on my list. We just loaded that baby up and took her home! He wasn't quite sure what to do with it once we got home. It was so...imperfect! He chipped away at all the peeling paint and sanded away the loose stuff until he got her to this point. Then he turned her over to me.

I painted the window with chalkboard paint and then started layering colors of van Gogh chalk paint until I got her just the way I wanted her.

I loved all of her "chippiness" so I didn't change a thing...just enhanced what was already there!

 I started with some Confidence, added a little Starry Night, some van Gogh,

                                     

             

embellished with Empathy and Chalk....

 

  and slapped on whatever else I had leftover in my little custom color pots!

                         I loved the way she turned out, but she needed just a little something else...

Ahhh, much better!

I also decided to do the other side so that I could switch things up if I want to.

I applied a base coat of van Gogh Serenity, then mixed up a custom color, using van Gogh Compassion, Chivalry, and Serenity. I distressed back to the base coat and even to the underlying original white in places.

And what did my husband think of the finished door??? 

He LOVES it, of course!

Now she's ready to go to the shop! I'll use her chalkboard to advertise upcoming classes and shop info. I really think she's going to turn some heads........

Until next time...

                                              Varina (aka The French Gypsy)

                                              www.frenchgypsydesigns.com