Country cottage door reveal...

Well isn't it just like 'Homes under the Hammer' around here? Except instead of fixing up a whole house in 6 weeks, it takes me that amount of time to change some doors.

Let's remind ourselves of the unpleasant doors that were on the cupboard in my daughters room...

             They were so ugly that I allowed the sticking of picures on them to try and hide them.
                       They were hollow and shoddy. But the frame is solid wood and well built.

               Hoorah! Much more yummy. Because I clad both sides in timber the doors feel very solid.

                                                                    And those edges?

                                                    They all got filled, sanded and painted...

                                         ...and look just like the edge of a door should.


            The door cladding and hanging process was a LONG one that you can read about here and here. 

                                                               Let's see the inside before...

                                                                        A junky old mess.

I thought it would be a really nice surprise for my daughter if I painted the inside in one of her favourite colours.
                 This decision may have been influenced by finding an ''Oops'' paint for £1 a litre.
                                                                        She hates it.

I had to saw off some shelves and add a rail, which would've been fine if I hadn't mislaid a screw for 45 minutes.

I like the pink. It makes me think of a boutique.

I added hooks to the interior where my cross pieces were between the layers of tongue and groove so that madams handbag collection is out of sight...

                                         They used to hang on the wall and it looked messy.

I used Blackfriars problem solving primer all over the bare wood twice. It's pefect to seal knots and will happily work with waterbased paints unlike knotting solution.
For the top coat I used Dulux waterbased Diamond hard satinwood in TRADE paint. I wasted nine quid on their regular paint earlier this year and it was so poor, I couldn't use it. It was so thin and watery. But the Trade paint version was 10 times better and I was very happy with it. Always go for trade paints!

 

The hinges and handles were just bog standard ones from Wilkinsons. You can find hand forged wrought iron jobbies all over ebay but we don't live in a sixteenth century cottage so I couldn't see the point. I'm all about getting the look without spending the money.

I still need to add catches so the doors shut nicely and do a little sorting of this area...

at the side of the cupboard...

...but it's getting there.

99% done is good enough for me.  I'm off for a lie down.
I'm over the moon with how this has all turned out. I've really not done much of this sort of thing before. I've mended furniture, put up some cladding, and stuffed up a table top but never attempted anything of this magnitude. There'll be no stopping me now! And if I can do it, anyone can.

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