New black (back) door

December 16, 2013

So here’s two big confessions about the way I blog/DIY – one, I usually don’t know what I’m going to write each day till usually the day before. I don’t plan it out. If you haven’t noticed I’m a procrastinator (see above) and I do better when I fly by the seat of my pants. As of yesterday I had no idea what I would write about today, this is nothing new.

The other thing is that most of what gets done around here gets finished so I can blog about it. Otherwise we would live in a constant state of undone projects. We do anyway, but it would be way worse. So yesterday I decided to finish up a project that had been kind of started for a couple weeks…so I could blog about it. :)

It started with the back door:

farmhouse table kitchen

Innocent enough, right? Well if you read this post, you’d know it’s not innocent. Not at all:

bad day

It makes for a good story – I can tell it without twitching now.

Well for years now we’ve had issues with water and that back door. I mentioned a while back we had to cut out the floor back there, down to the basement, to try to fix it. It helped for a while but water kept leaking down to the basement behind a wall. It would wick up on the baseboards – that’s the only reason we knew anything was going on.

The handyman told us years ago the whole back door would need to be replaced, so a few weeks ago when we had water leaking again we finally scheduled it. Let me tell you – this is not a cheap job. Yowza. So I finished up a lot of the detail work myself.

But when they installed it they couldn’t find another atrium door with the plastic grids we had before. So we planned on using the old ones on the new door, but when they put it up without I was kind of in love. It was so bright and open, but so different than what we were used to. I went to Instagram to ask opinions:

And I think pretty much every person said no grid and I agreed. I couldn’t believe how much more open it made that kitchen nook feel. It was crazy!

So we left them off and I seriously love it. As I said, I decided I would finish it up to save some money. All I really had to do was paint the door and the new trim – easy right? Painting a door and trim is actually about 15 steps though, so it took a while.

I primed it with gray primer a couple weeks ago:

painting a door

And it sat like that till yesterday. :)

Then I puttied the holes on the new trim:

filling holes spackle

Then did one coat of black on the door:

DIY craftsman trim

See that new trim? I’m on a mission to change it out in the whole house! You can see how I do it here – it’s way easier than I thought it would be. Buh bye skimpy trim. Don’t let the back door hit you…

Then it was time to caulk every single corner and joint:

how to caulk

I shared the tool I use when I caulk here – it helps a ton!

Then finally, three more coats of paint – one more coat of black on the door, one coat of white primer and one coat white paint on the trim. It still needs one more of the white but for now I’m good:

DIY craftsman trim Love that beefy trim!

I can’t finish up the black on the door till it warms up a bit. I didn’t do the side of the door at all because it. was. freezing:

black door white craftsman trim

This shot makes me want to rip out those itty bitty baseboards even more! Have to get the door trim done on each door first. I still have to touch up the hinges too – I spray painted them but didn’t spray them both open and closed so I didn’t get all of it. Duh.

It’s so different (to me) but I love it. Before there were LOTS of grids – on the door, on the windows and on the pantry door. This is much calmer and as I said, it makes the space feel bigger:

black atrium door

Although I still walk in the kitchen and for a millisecond of think the door isn’t there. That door debacle may have scarred me after all. ;)

Another project (mostly) done – and fingers crossed no more leaking! It was just in the nick of time too, we’ve had snow covering the deck since it was installed.

I loathe water issues, have I mentioned this? They seem to love us though. Do you have one of these atrium doors? With or without the grids?

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Comments

  1. We have one of those atrium type doors to our added-on-later sunroom. I didn't know it until I read this blog entry though what kind of door it is. It sadly needs to be sanded down, primed and painted. It will have to wait until the more urgent projects get completed first though. Typical.

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  2. This looks so great! I love the no grids, the black paint, and the beefy molding. Great job, girl!

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  3. The new door looks beautiful! I haven't shopped yet either...running low on the get up & go! Water issues...yes...for some reason when a bath is taken and then tub drained (2nd floor), water drips in the basement. No clue. So for now, since $$ lacking, the rule is no baths. Showers don't produce the leak. Go figure!

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  4. Love it! We replaced our back door last winter and did the same as you - went from grids to no grids. I think it took us 3 weeks to stop thinking that THE DOOR WAS OPEN. Glad we're not the only ones!

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  5. I love the black doors and everything about your kitchen! Hoping to try and paint my back door and pantry door after the holidays. Would you mind telling me the name of the black paint you used and the paint color of your kitchen? Thanks so much!

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  6. It looks so good! The room is so light and bright. Glad you removed the grid.

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  7. Your house looks just beautiful. I love it all !! YOUR door is awesome. I had a door before with that issue. I hate water issues too. Love all your decor. Just beautiful my friend

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  8. I love the black and white! Our house has white trim inside and out, but we are planning to paint the front door black. So chic!

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  9. Another professional-looking job Sarah!

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  10. We have one of those doors, too, but ours is double paned with the blinds in between the glass panes so it isn't quite as nice as yours. With ours we can't raise the blinds up, just open or close them. Now that I've seen your door, I may talk hubby into replacing our door with one like yours - especially since we don't have a privacy issue in our backyard.

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  11. I couldn't afford new doors so I pulled off the grids and pretend! !

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  12. Nasty weather here too! I'm just about done with winter. After Christmas for sure. ;-)

    Love this door and the chunky trim is spectacular! Well done! We painted the door to our garage black (it used to be a shade of white), and it took me awhile to get used to it - I kept thinking it was open! Great job!

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  13. Our balcony French doors have no grid but I liked yours both ways - with and without the grid. I don't know how you keep all these projects going, but it's inspiring for me.

    Thanks!

    P.S. I do have all our Christmas shopping done. Amazon was a life safer... just sit at home and press "Add to Cart". :)

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  14. I painted our french door black about 1 month ago, took about 4 coats, urgh!! When I removed the grids to paint them after the food was painted, I thought, " Hey, I really like that.". So needless to say, the grids did not go back in the door and it looks like a new door plus it seems to look more updated. FYI, My Christmas shopping is completed and wrapped.

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  15. Ok, I'm sold on painting my double french doors to the backyard deck black! I've considered black or even a color for a long time, but really love the look of what you did. Think of Ina Garten's kitchens for classic elegance. Also, glad to know you don't plan your blogs in advance. I may plan 2-3 posts but usually it's the day before, too. Have to go with what' happening around me. Have a very Merry Christmas and thank you for your wonderful posts!

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  17. I have a bunch of them and I admit I am a snob because I detest 15 pane French doors - they have to be 9 pane. So much nicer. No panes are good too - glad its made such a difference. Thanks for all the instructions - one day I will install beefy trim!

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  18. I love the new door, and the wide trim! It's so inviting and sunny, it makes one want to wander over there and enjoy the view outside :-).

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  19. Love the black door with white trim. Also love it with the wall color. What color is on the walls? Great job!

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  20. have you done any of these with the mdf? do you have a post on it? How did the mdf work...perhaps I'm not using the right stuff but when I cut mine the edges they are very raw and ugly and don't take paint well etc. do you have suggestions?

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  22. did you do any of these with mdf? do you happen to have a post on it? or pics? maybe I am using the wrong stuff but when I cut my mdf, it has raw edges that look bad and don't take paint well. DO you have any suggestions?

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  23. I like the wide trim. I have been bookmarking projects with wide trim to see what I would like best to redo my doors and windows. This looks like a good candidate to copy. Thumbs up, the door looks great!

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  24. LOVE this black back door.. now i'm thinking of doing a full glass door too! Can I ask, which kind of paint did you use? is the door metal? i'm afraid to paint our door as my parents had a bad experience of paint bubbling up from the cold/hot switches.. thanks for the info!

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  25. I love the larger trim and baseboard. One of my projects for the front door tool The baseboards throughout the house are 6" and make such a difference in the feel of rooms.

    An OT, but am wondering about your beadboard backsplash. Mine sits here trying to decide if it is the right direction. Tile is not my thing right now. The bath is beadboard and find it difficult to keep the details clean (vacuum, toothbrush, rinse_. even with silicone and trim this changes little for cleaning. How do you do it? Or is it a problem in the kitchen?

    Anonymous...no other way to post. Thanks Sandy..

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  26. Our old door had the grids (as do all of our windows). When we replaced it we opted for no grids and a blind on the inside. We love it! We really like having the blind (south facing room) and this way the dog and the kids can't destroy it!

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  27. I love the new door without the grids. You're right; it's much calmer. I also like the beefy trim you are putting up. I live in a bungalow style house (100+ yrs old) and I have been recaulking all the seams in the woodwork that looks just like yours. However, my caulking does NOT look just like yours :) How do you get your caulk lines so narrow and neat? By the time I'm finished with a caulking session, I look like the Pillsbury doughboy and every rag and surface is covered in bits of sticky goo. Then I have to run around with a wet rag and try to clean it all up before it dries. I always miss some. In other words, I'm not good at this. Do you have any hints besides the blue tool which I bought btw. I cut the tip off as small as possible. Maybe I go too slow and it piles up too much? Any help would be appreciated. Maybe you could do a video tutorial, after Christmas of course. (Sorry for suggesting to you how to do your blog). And much congratulations on your new grand baby! You don't know how much fun you are in for! Blessings on all.

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    1. Karen it sounds like you may be using too much -- just cut a tiny bit off the caulk tube. If you cut off too much of the plastic tip it will be too thick and will be everywhere. I've done that too! I hope that helps! You don't need much -- if there are spots you didn't get you can go back over it.

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  28. I LOVE the this looks!! I hope it solves the water issues, too!

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  29. Umm, I guess that's what I get, commenting all in a hurry....I meant to say, "I LOVE how this looks!" Phew! ;)

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  30. It really does make it look more spacious! I bet you are glad everything is over with though ;)

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