new life for an old door, part 1

yep, another project.
i am really thankful my dad forgot to bring his tools to work on the loft and is willing to help my mom and i and our nearly-over-ambitious ideas.
thanks, dad!

i had this blank wall in the guest/kids' bath that was long and bare = blah.
awhile back i decided i wanted to something big here and settled on a french door turned on it's side.
thankfully, it didn't take too long to find one for free!

this little picture that i was given by a friend (thanks, janell!),
was the inspiration for the green of the door.

the bath, in general, was feeling really blah and boring to me.
lots of white and only a little pop of color.
so i came up with this little (BIG) project as the cure.

because there are a lot of details for this project, i'm breaking it up into 2 posts.

so, here we go!
start with an old french door.
or you can use an old window, for a smaller version.

my door was stained wood on one side and painted white on the other.

i decided that i wanted to paint over the wood side so i had the white peeking around the sides.
remove all hardware (door knobs, weather stripping, etc.).

prepwork?
no sanding.
no priming.
just wiped it down with a damp cloth.
i painted mine scotland isle by behr.
2 coats.
then i let it dry.

and since i was repainting silas' room anyway, i took some of the paint (a turquoise-y color) and added a bit.
just a tiny bit.
and since these are pictures and not video, i'll try to explain how i got the look i did.

i just got a little paint on my brush and had a wet rag in the other hand.

i lightly brushed on paint in random spots, heavier in some areas and lighter in others.
then i quickly wiped it with the rag, really lightly at first, keeping some areas heavier with paint and other areas less,
always going with the grain of the wood.
very important.
then let it dry.
also very important.

then i added some brown paint once and did the same technique as with the other paint.

don't you love it?!

then, i took a razor blade and scraped off the paint i got around the edge of the glass.
since i didn't tape.
because that would take too much effort.

fyi
little know facts about taping for paint:
it takes a long time to do it right
the paint almost always leaks through, so you have to clean up anyway
painting on the glass then scraping it off when it's dried takes less time

stay tuned for the next installment of

"new life for an old door"
***updated - click here***
!!!!

-lindsey