Old Door to Nearly New Headboard

Inspired by the many images on Pinterest and the web for re-purposed doors, I started a transformation of my own this weekend in our master bedroom.  We have a shed full of wood, windows, and doors that we managed to salvage from a late 1800s house earlier this Spring.  Mixed in the pile was a gorgeous chippy blue beauty that was rescued with love during the plunder.  As soon as I saw the it that day, I knew if I got nothing else, I had to have THAT door.  It was one of those gently worn items that beckoned to me despite its battered appearance.  I loved the color and the character and knew I wanted to use it in my home.

  I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to do with it until this weekend.  I kept thinking that I needed to turn the door sideways to create a traditional headboard, but I didn't want the door to lose its charm by hiding it behind tons of pillows.  After seeing a picture of doors that were turned upright behind a bed, I fell in love!!!

I grabbed the sander and got to work.

I tried sanding the door down to its natural wood finish (like in the inspiration pictures) and it lost all of its appeal to me.  The doors in the inspiration pictures had elaborate moldings...this one, not so much.

Previously home-made headboard getting the boot.

So, I flipped it over and tried again.  I gave it a quick once over with the sander 

to remove the loose paint and grime and brought it inside.  

I hung a piece of ironwork on the door and centered it up between the windows.

I left the old hardware attached and just wiped the metal down to remove the dust.

Disclaimer (in case my mom is reading this):  The bed really was made.  I moved the pillows to shove the door in place:)

All of the pictures I saw had two doors placed side by side to run the width of the bed, in fact, that was what made the pictures so attractive, but my room is full of windows and two doors would be one too many.  I was so disappointed when I realized the single door looked too skinny for the wall!  It definitely needed something else to help fill the space out.

I decided on brushed nickel wall sconces.  They plug directly into the wall so, no special wiring was required...yay!  

While there is still more to do (isn't there always???), I am liking it so far.

Door...Score!

I am so excited to share what I have been working on this week.  Recently, my mother-in-law picked up a couple of doors that had been cut in half at a garage sale for only $1!!!  I mean really, a $1??? Why can't I ever find a deal like that?  

After looking at it for awhile, we decided that it would be perfect as a chalkboard.

To make it, I taped off the panel and painted the outside portion with Home Depot's Behr Bali Bliss (sample size: $3)

Then, I gave the center panel a couple of coats of chalkboard black and tacked on a piece of decorative trim.

I used a tiny brush to clean up the edges around the black, painted out the wooden trim in the Bali Bliss and then rubbed over the scroll work with a watered down black acrylic to add dimension.

It was finished off with a piece of iron work.

(It is funny how taking pictures indoors changes the paint color.  The first pics were taken outside in the sunlight and show the rich turquoise color.)  Here is the completed project...re-purposed and upcycled. 

A Piece of the Past

A few weeks ago, land near us sold.  It was a property we rode four-wheelers on for years and loved to explore.  It was always fun to ride by the old home place and imagine the family that once lived there. When an acquaintance of ours actually purchased the place, we knew we wanted a piece of the past before it was torn down.  After a quick phone call, we had permission to "enter at our own risk" and take a souvenir or two.

The house had been solid in its day and was still filled with pieces of history.

(We saw a name and a date from 1915 written on the hallway wall.)  

We picked up a window, several panel doors,

 a Hoosier cabinet, a roll of wall paper and a couple of doors from the kitchen cabinets. 

Okay, so we salvaged more than one or two items, but there was so much good stuff!

 I absolutely loved the splashes of blue which we found in the kitchen and on some of the doors and I felt compelled to rescue everything.  My mother in law took one of the kitchen doors, 

wiped it down to remove the grime and wound up with this beauty!

She added the fleur de lis, but everything else is original to the door.  Needless to say, I want one!!!