Tuesday, April 21st, 2015

Dear DIY Diary,

I am writing this post in anticipation of the Home Depot Installers finally installing our new front door (again) today.   Do you remember when they installed the wrong door??   The door with the door swing in the wrong direction??

It’s been 6 weeks since that debacle and the day has finally come.  The new door arrives in a few hours…. and I’m a little nervous.   I hope that everything is right this time and that the installation goes smoothly (fingers crossed, knock on wood!).   Oh yeah, and that the installers show up on time as opposed to 4.5 hours late like last time.

Punctuality would be sweet.   I’ve already prepped our foyer by moving out our furniture and area rug and the awesome door hardware that we purchased is sitting nearby just raring to go.  It’s noon now.  They’re scheduled to show up at 3 pm.   We’ll see how it goes.   Wish us luck!

-Christina

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Dear DIY Diary,

It’s 2:37 pm.   Joey texted to tell me that they called and are on their way.  EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

-Christina

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‘Sup, Diary…

4 pm.   Just got word.  They’ve arrived.  Finally.  I suppose an hour late is an 80% improvement from last time, though.  

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Diary,

It’s 7pm and the new door is in.  And it’s awesome. It’s amazing to know that I can finally paint it and make it our own.

This is Christina, signing out

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So, yeah.   Door is in and after a bit of elbow grease, the interior is now a crisp, shiny white.  After it was first installed, it looked like this…

First off, THIS is the way the door was meant to be.   Having the door-swing in the correct orientation is like a breath of fresh air.   It just fits.  It makes the flow of the foyer the way it’s supposed to be.   Heck, yeah.

As for the painting process… Because the outer trim was raw wood, I decided to prime it first with shellac primer to prevent any of the wood’s oils from soaking through my finish (I like the Zinsser 1-2-3).  Here’s the door after priming the trim…

Already looking better, right?

I waited the 45 minutes recommended on the primer can, then painted the door and door frame with a foam roller and brush.  My poison paint of choice was Sherwin Williams Proclassic paint in extra white semigloss (the same paint that I used on the built-ins and wet-bar).   During the process, I asked Joey if he would take a few “action” pics of me painting.  I always like to see my favorite bloggers in action, so I thought I’d follow suit.   He obliged and snapped away as I continued to paint.  So, there I was, minding my own business, thinking that he was getting some good action shots.   And then I uploaded my pics to my computer only to discover that…

…Men. Cannot be. Trusted.

(Okay, so I sort of laughed in defeat as I made this discovery,  And then added a tasteful “censored” sign, because why not.  But, seriously Joey… NOT relevant to the project!) 😉

Among the other non-relevant shots, he did get this one…

 

No, I did not do my hair.  Unless you count “frosting” it with paint.   Which happens EVERY.TIME.

Once I was done, the door looked like this…

Don’t you just wanna reach into the photo and softly pet that smooth, glossy surface?  Oh, yeah.

And yes, I typed those last statements in the voice of Barry White.

Seriously, though.  The Proclassic paint just leveled right out and created a nice smooth finish.  I’d marry this paint if I wasn’t already taken.

So, enough suspense already…. ya wanna see the foyer all put back together???

  

BOOM.

I love you, door.

And our foyer loves you, too.   You make it look GOOOOOD.

As for the hardware, we chose a more modern door handle to suit our new door (the outside of which you’ll see in my exterior door post)…

And I couldn’t heart it more.

A little before and after goodness…

I am so absolutely over-the-moon crazy about this door.  The entire doorway fits the house so much better stylistically.   Like it was meant to be here originally.  Which is exactly what I was going for.   In the end, I really couldn’t be happier.

Next, I’ll give you a little exterior door post.  And I’ll tell ya… exterior door painting is giving me a run for my money. I’ve got quite the what-not-to-do-post in the making, so stay tuned.