a weekend of Painting!

       Well , I got a burr in my saddle (so to speak...).  John was home sick and I had finished work for the day, so I was stopping by Walmart to get soup for my boo.  It is always a mistake to walk into Walmart though the general merchandise door rather than grocery... I always get distracted.

       I found myself wandering the paint aisle... at least it was a productive use of my time! I gathered the supplies to paint the front door & our "little" bathroom.

     


        Here is a picture of the hideousness that is our front door.  It has taken a beating over the years (what isn't more fun than fighting with your siblings and the running to the front door only to slam it shut and lock it with the angry sibling on the other side?)

       
        Being a steel door, it has quite a few dents (particularly at the height of our formerly little feet) and as you can see, it has developed quite a rust problem. So Rustoleum spray paint was the obvious choice. (particularly because I wasn't interested in scrubbing the rust off)



       First thing was first... to take the door of the hinges. Never a fun task, but just about every time we need to move a piece of furniture or appliances in or out we have the pleasure of removing the front door so I'm accustomed to it.

       Next I wiped the door down with a towel and generic rubbing alcohol. Since I wanted to paint the same day I wasn't going to be patient enough to truly wash the door down and wait for it to dry and I was only concerned with surface dirt.

Check out my Ah Hah Pin board for a collection of other

great ideas!

        

I found this pin on Pinterest some time ago and happened to remember it when I was considering my limited options to cover the knob and lock on the door. I am happy to report that it works even with spray paint! 

 

Look at the difference in color! I'm so excited!

 Then came the most tedious miserable part of the entire project... taping. : (  Remember me mentioning that this was a spur of the moment project? Well that would my explination for the ridiculous job I did of covering the windows on the doors interior (my first side/attempt).

 When I took the bags off the door I didn't like the way the "white" frame around the window looked against the brown door. I was considering buying a separate paint and painting it a contrasting color by hand.  But then I realized I could take the 'grid' off the glass on the interior side window! 

 The second time around for the exterior side of the door, I had learned my lesson about bags as a cover. Also, since I had decided to paint the frame grid (and this side wasn't removable) I needed to protect the glass and still get all that ugly covered up.  

    I folded pages and taped them into the window panes (hey look - an old 31 catalog!). For the record. Taping these pages into the windows took longer than the entire rest of the project put together - including taking the door off the hinges and putting it back!

 

The finished look! : ) (excuse the messy kitchen on the other side!)

Sometime soon, I suppose I need to do work on the door frame... but that's low on the priority list!

From the inside, after I hung the curtain back up. 

I'm so excited about how it turned out! I feel like the little things I can do to improve the house make a big impact!  

Technically the door could probably use replacing, but since the house repair budget is going to more important/pressing needs - I think this serves nicely as a compromise.

All in all, it was 2 cans of spray paint and about 3 hours work! 

 

Coming soon I'll tell about our bathroom painting adventure!