Sitting in someone's front yard in a pile of junk, marked with a
FREE STUFF
sign, was this...
An old, beat up, run down, solid wood, 8 panel door...
Will thought I was crazy for wanting to take it home with me, but that's to be expected. He thought the same thing when I brought home the ugly, old "Free Stuff" headboard (remember my Headboard Bench?), but look how great that turned out!
It's true that while we were loading the door into the back of the car, I didn't know exactly what I would be doing with it, but come on...you can't pass up a solid wood door.
At least, I can't pass up a solid wood door!
What happened next was something that I couldn't even have hoped for.
I don't ever get this lucky.
See that door way back there?
The one right there...
That's our laundry room door, and while I love that it easily conceals the massive piles of dirty clothes behind it (I'll admit it - laundry is my least favorite chore), what I don't love is that it also blocks off all the light that pours thorough the window that we have in our laundry room...
So, my solution was to search, and patiently wait, for a door with windows on Craigslist, or head to one of my absolute favorite spots, Second Use (a salvage yard) and buy a door that would fit to replace our current laundry room door. Adding a door with windows and flooding the hallway with light throughout the day would make a huge difference in how the space feels. Even Will couldn't deny the benefits. And living in the Pacific Northwest, the more natural light that you can squeeze into the house (especially on a cloudy day), the better!
I almost didn't even bother measuring my new Free Stuff door to see if it would fit the opening, because...really, how often do things happen that perfectly?
I was shocked!
Will was even more shocked!
It fits our laundry room!
So we propped it up into place to get a good look at it...
and I LOVE it!
It looks so good!
I love, Love the juxtaposition of the old, worn paint and beat up wood against the crisp white, tailored wainscotting and trim.
So my new plan (since I no longer had to worry about waiting on Craigslist, or driving out to Second Use) was to turn our "new" old door into a Dutch Door.
Yes!
Finally, I would be able to have a Dutch Door!
Because it is solid wood we can cut it through the middle, and using simple guidelines that I have found online, we should be able to make the change relatively easily...
But,
(are you thinking what I'm thinking?)
a Dutch Door doesn't make for a very good way of concealing all of those mountains of laundry.
So, (light bulb moment) why not just cut out the top two panels and insert plexiglass in them? Then I can frost the plexiglass so that we are unable to actually see the mess behind it. We will get all the benefits of sunlight pouring through while still keeping the door closed when we need to...
Sounds like a good, reasonable plan, right?
It does to me.
But the more that Will and I talked about it, the further he strayed from my turn-the-free-stuff-door-into-our-new-dutch-door-with-windows plan.
So I'm asking your opinion.
What do you think?
Good plan?
Or, not so much?
What you should know is that the length of the door, after being hung, would come up a bit short. We would hang it at the right height on top, but there would be a gap at the bottom. Not a huge one, but a bit bigger than normal.
I have other ideas rolling around my head just in case this plan doesn't end up happening, but I'm really, really hoping that with your help, we can convince Will that this is a great idea!
(Like how I brought you guys in to this?)
:)
But, I want your honest opinions.
I'm all ears...
P.S. If you haven't yet entered our Giveaway from Dimples And Dandelions, click here to head over and enter!
