Here we go again, into our basement stash of goodies to reuse and repurpose to some extent, a door!
Our older home has a crazy number of original hardwood 5-panel doors in it but some of them have made their way to the basement stockpile as we’ve renovated over the years, and some have been replaced in favor of sliding doors in more recent years.
We recently saw our master bathroom project come to fruition. We were after ‘vintage charm’ so set out to achieve that look with a glassless shower, new claw foot tub, and a handcrafted double sink vanity.
But the one thing that had me sitting on the fence for 2 years once it was on its way to being pulled together with finishing touches, was what I wanted for a door.
I hummed and hawed – furniture placement in that room would need to be strategic as there would only be so much room for a door to safely operate where we wouldn’t be running into it everywhere we turned. And we couldn’t adequately achieve the clearance for a door swing into the bathroom. But we also couldn’t go with a bi-fold or shutter type door as they would interfere with the limited space of the walk-through closet.
That’s when I went to our basement stockpile of doors from our old home, to choose one for the purpose. Rather than have it swing into the room tho, it would need to be on a sliding track in order to solve our clearance issue. Our bathroom had a distressed rug with touches of midnight blue, slate blue and grey on an off-white background that I was looking to have the door blend with as well. I wanted the stark darker door for contrast and interest but not a plain flat black.
I had Joe place the door on a table in the basement for me and I washed the door down with dish soap and hot water. The door was a beige color originally with a spray painted message on the other side of it which I can’t really repeat here! Not being up to the goopy mess of removing the painted finish, I instead opted to repaint the door. But it would have to suit the vintage old-world charm of the finished bathroom and I couldn’t wait for the end result!
I gave the door a basecoat of an off-white in an interior latex paint, eggshell finish. Once dried, I rubbed burned down candles I had been saving for distressing techniques, to areas of the door where I wanted the base coat to show through once distressing the finish.
Once I finished applying the candle wax, I applied a coat of a light blue, interior latex, eggshell finish.
Again, once dried, I applied more candle wax in the areas I would want the light blue or the off white, or both to be revealed in the distressing.
I then applied the final paint coat which was a midnight black in an interior latex paint, eggshell finish – leftover from our double vanity.
When the black paint dried, I began removing paint here and there with steel wool and a paint scraper.
When I was satisfied with the amount of distressing and the amount of the base coats revealed, I sanded the entire surface with a fine sand paper so as to remove any lifting paint remnants for a smooth surface.
I then applied a white finishing wax to the door with a clean cloth, making sure to get it into the nooks of the panels and buffed all with a clean cloth. This would give the door a tinge of a softer dark blue.
Joe then purchased a number of materials needed to construct the sliding track for a total of $55. I believe he used clothesline pulleys for this track (he’s made 3 or 4 others in the house). He spray-painted all pieces in a flat black before starting the build.
Once the track was up and the door installed, I had to find a knob that would work and it couldn’t be too deep of a knob on the wall side if we wanted the door to hang correctly AND not have the knob mark up the wall or trim with constant movement. I wasn’t able to find anything new that would be suitable.
Again to the basement hardware stash!
I found 2, completely different but close in size, in our coffee cans of goodies along with a slightly rusted key plate that I thought would finish off the vintage look that I was after. Joe installed all – and we loved it!
Our door is original to our house – fully functional and without obstruction in its movement. I had bought a huge ornate wall mirror locally via Facebook Marketplace for $25, trimmed with gold in its vintage look, so we kept the thickness of that in mind when Joe built the track brackets which would extend out from the wall. His having provided for that extra depth allowed us to mount the mirror on the chosen wall without it interfering with the function of the door.
Repurposing, refinishing, refurbishing where nothing gets discarded and everything has a purpose!
This is Designing Scarlett!
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