I’m so happy to be able to finally show and talk about our new front door. Actually it’s an old door but it’s a new door in place of the old door. Does that make sense? 😉

Last year when we looked at this house you could barely open the front door. The key was impossible to turn and it would stick, the result of poor maintenance. The door is original and had obviously been painted..a lot. There were bare spots and chipping paint and it was just plain ugly. 

We started using the back door but my fall down the stairs 2 days after we closed, resulting in a broken foot, was enough to get the hubs to get the front door in working order. He worked his magic but the uglies couldn’t be overlooked. As soon as I was able to get around, I started looking at new front doors. It didn’t take long to realize that a new door wasn’t in the budget. Nice wood doors are expensive, ya’ll!!!

So the search for a new old door began. There’s plenty out there, at decent prices, but the size we needed is pretty popular. I probably searched every shop around for months and finally found “the one” at a local ReStore. It was a close enough match to the size we needed, and a steal at $20. 

Actually, we found 2 doors (the white one and the black one). I was going to use the white one for the front and the black one for the back but decided that the white one just didn’t fit the style of the house. The green door loveliness is the storm door that will replace the old storm front door. I found that before we even moved into the cottage, and it was only $12. I can’t wait to get that baby up.

Once we decided on a door, we took the old one down and cut the black door to size. We took a little bit off each side and were careful to leave space for a new lock and door knob. We also cut a hole for the mail slot. The old door hardware wasn’t salvageable but we were able to reuse the old brass mail slot.

We had to fill a few holes and then gave it a good sanding and cleaning. 

The install was pretty easy but picking out a door knob and lock that actually fit was difficult. We bought 5 knobs and locks on our first trip but, every time we tried a set, the lock would hit the door knob. Our third store, and sixth or seventh try, we found a winner. It’s not what I originally wanted but it works and looks good. 

Paint color was the next step.

If you’ve followed me for a while, you might remember our front door in our Illinois house. I loved that color and wanted something similar, but softer. It didn’t take me long to settle on Benjamin Moore Wythe Blue, Regal Select, Eggshell. 

Oh my…I love this color. It’s a pretty green/gray with a hint of blue. 

Yes, I am mixing the metal finishes but I’m ok with it. I really wanted to use what I could from the old door. 

I love the way it turned out, even if it wasn’t in the original plan.  The light it let’s into this once dark space is awesome. Now I’m really itching to get the new, old storm door up. Oh, and replacing the back door is also on the long to-do list.

I’m happy to get another biggie crossed off the list. 

Happy weekend friends!

New Front Door Sources

• Wood door – ReStore
• Door knob and lock – Home Depot
• Paint – Benjamin Moore Wythe Blue, Regal Select, Eggshell

You can also check out another update in the living room/entry, here.

DIY Custom Curtain Rods

And how I updated an old door with new glass knobs, here.

Updating Old Doors With New Glass Door Knobs

You can also find me at Between Naps on the Porch, Worthing Court, Savvy Southern Style, French Country Cottage

You would think that replacing a basement door would be a simple weekend project, right? You would be so wrong because, in this house, no project is ever quick or easy.

This one took us 3 months to finish. Yup, we started way back in January. We didn’t work on it the whole time, but it did take a lot longer than we thought.

This is where we began. The basement door is in our small living room so we have to look at it every night when we watch tv. It really doesn’t look all that bad in the photo but it was. The dog/cat door was big and bulky, chewed up and glued shut. 

The inside of the door was plain old nasty. I think the previous owners locked their dog in the basement and it chewed and clawed the door. You can also see the lovely pink spray foam insulation. Insulation is a good thing and has its place, but this stuff is everywhere in our house. All I know is that whoever sprayed it certainly did a thorough job. Yikes!

The first thing we had to do was to remove that ugly door. Both the door and the frame had metal stripping around them, to make a good seal, so it all had to be removed too. After we removed all of the metal strips, we had to scrape the old, chippy paint and repair all the holes. 

We had planned on buying a new door but found an old one in the basement that fit the opening of the doorway. That was a huge bonus but…

There’s always a but. 😉

The only problem was that the door was a mess. It needed to be scraped and sanded on both sides before it could be painted. Even after we sanded and painted the door it was far from perfect but, when you have an old home, nothing is perfect. 

So, instead of looking at the ugly door, we looked at an open doorway and 2 boxes for 3 months. The boxes were our idea of a cheap baby gate to keep Finn from wandering into the basement. 

Finally the “new” door went up. The fit isn’t perfect because the doorway isn’t perfectly square but, as I said…

Old house=nothing is perfect. 

I tried to recycle everything when I could, including the hardware, but it just wasn’t useable. The door knob was old but not original glass like the others in the house and the metal hinges were caked with paint. 

I replaced the old generic knob with another glass knob from Nostalgic Warehouse, exactly like the ones I used in the bathroom recently. I can’t tell you how much I love them. 

We had to modify the door a bit to get the new door knobs to fit. Luckily the new door knob plate covers the ugly holes. 

I think it looks so much better than it did before. Like it’s been here all along. 

I’m so glad that we found this door in the basement. Finding a new door that matched the others would have been tough, and expensive.

Another project crossed off the long list. Progress! 

Check out another project that we recently completed in the living room, the DIY fireplace mantel. 

DIY Fireplace Mantel