Friday, October 12, 2012

NOT SO EASY!


Hello, everyone!
Where did this week go?
Before it comes to an end, I wanted to share our latest project.

We finally got brave and stained our front door.
It was something that really needed to be done since the high
temperatures we have every summer in Texas had faded our
front door badly as you can see in this picture.


Before I continue, I have to say, we were not born to stain! LOL
We just can NOT figure out how to do it right.
This turned out to be a very difficult project!

First, we had to take the door down to be able to sand it in the garage.
This door is solid oak and it was so heavy that, that in itself, was a huge job.

Of course, we had to cover the entrance with plastic, to make sure we did not get
any creepy crawlers inside the house. 
Scorpions have been a serious issue this summer and even with the cooler temperatures,
they do not seem to want to go away.



After many hours of sanding and preparing the door for staining,
we applied the first coat.
Oh, boy! That was a real disaster! The color was coming out orange!!!
I know you can't tell very well on the pictures, but believe me, in person, it was orange!
 You want to talk about panicking!!! LOL


After a whole day of sanding, staining, cleaning and sanding some more,
we found ourselves with the sun going down and no front door!!!

With a lot of praying and heavy lifting we got the door back up for the night
and next morning, with the door in place, 
(there was no way we could take it down again)
we went back to work.

It had to be sanded again.
Do I have to tell you the mess that it created inside my house?

And after, came the problem of the stain color.
Don't ask me what is the name of the color we used.
I could never tell you! LOL

We have several cans of different stains in the garage,
so we mixed them, a little bit of this and that, until we came up
with a color that we liked. Just crazy!



After we achieved the desired color, we gave it two coats of satin polyurethane.
Our second issue was the hardware.
We wanted to replace it with something in silver, but,
after checking every store we could think off, we could not
find one that would work for our door.
We are going to have to research this a little further, so, meanwhile, we bought
a special high performance metallic spray paint and gave it a new look.



And here is the finished project.




 Before and after



All in all, it turned out to be a four day project.
Don't laugh! LOL

We are hoping it stays looking like this for many years to come,
because that is how long it is going to take us to recuperate from it.

I hope you all have a great weekend!
Ours is going to be "project free"! :)

Until next time!













12 comments:

  1. Sorry you had so much trouble, but it looks Beautiful! I also would like to have ours done but now I'm rethinking maybe we won't. ~Jen

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  2. It looks beautiful! It didn't look that bad before but it looks rich and lovely now. I love all of the trim around the door too.

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  3. Hello Maria Elen

    oh my what a chore....personally I just wouldn't know where to start and neither would my Husband Sr P...he's not DIY friendly at all!
    Bravo!!! the finished product does indeed look very good....and your porch looks delightful...ready for Halloween.

    un abrazo

    Amanda :-)

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  4. Beautiful! Too bad you had to go through so much, but the good thing is you ended up with such pretty color! Love it!

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  5. Wow, what a job! It looks beautiful, Maria Elena, & your temporary hardware redo looks great, too! We are going to be tackling a front door replacement project some time in the near (I hope) future. We will be painting, rather than staining, which I hope will prove easier than your task. Scorpions are always a concern around here, too, but so far so good -- we haven't had any.

    No wonder your wrist isn't healing.....lol!

    Carol

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  6. Maria, you did a great job! The Texas sun and heat sure do wear down our doors, don't they?Your hard work has definitely paid off. Beautiful curb appeal!
    Tami

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  7. LOL! Sounds like this was a major chore!! Well, it looks beautiful now. Such a rich, pretty color! You and your hubby did a great job mixing stain colors. I've never tackled the stain. After the sun kept fading ours, we (I) decided to just paint it black...lol! Every spring, I just pull out the can and give it a fresh coat. Yours is really beautiful!!

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  8. I hate when stuff takes longer than expected, however it turned out beautiful!! Love it great job!!

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  9. Maria, how do y'all do all this? I love how it turned out and it is gorgeous! I hope y'all celebrated the final beautiful finish.

    Helen

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  10. Sorry it was such a big job, but it sure did turn out great! Love the color! And the hardware looks great too!

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  11. Wow, your hard work really paid off! Looks great. I have a fiberglass wood look door - and do you know this hot Ga sun faded it anyway? We've been through the warped, faded wood door thing, and thought we found a solution. Not so much. I'll be looking to stain over it with a color similar to the one you discovered in the next few weeks. Thanks for inspiring me to get through it!

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  12. I must say, your experiment with the stain color turned out pretty good. :) Kudos! Anyway, always take the time to check your door if it has any possible damage. Also, always keep it clean so that it would not wear out easily.

    Vernie Herr

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