A front door mini makeover!

We’ve been slowly renovating our house for the past 9 years.  Before Bug was born, the Mister and I would work on house related projects on almost every weekend.   But, since becoming parents, we haven’t had the time or the energy to tackle much of our To Dos.

We have a lovely vintage door on the front of our house.  It’s likely the original door, which would make it 124 years old!  Several years ago I took the door off it’s hinges and sanded it, stained it, and sealed it.  It looked great, however, I made a slight error and sealed it with shellac instead of poly.  Shellac is fine for interior woodwork but outside it doesn’t last.  I noticed this spring that the door was looking really raggedy and worn so decided to give it a quick facelift.  Of course I forgot to take before pics so you’ll have to trust me that it looked sad.

After

Since I had already completely refinished the door once, this time I just did a light hand sanding on the parts where the shellac had flaked off.  After sanding, I removed all the dust and put on a coat of stain.  Once that dried I put on some clear polyurethane.

In addition to reviving the wood on the door, I also got a “new” old curtain and threw together a cute yarn wreath!  I’ve been searching intermittently for a few years for a vintage lace curtain that would fit the window in this door.  It was not an easy thing to find.  Oh, I found plenty of curtains, but not in the size I needed, or not in a pattern I liked.  I am so happy with this one.  It’s vintage, the size is perfect, it’s in good condition, and the pattern is not too busy and not too plain.  And, it lets in plenty of light!  I found it on Etsy, (of course,) at Floral Wonderland . It was very affordable, the shipping was free, and the customer service was great. If you’re looking for vintage linens or bedding, check Raena’s store out!

I didn’t take any photos of the yarn wreath construction, but it’s so easy you don’t really need step by step instructions.  I bought a straw wreath form at JoAnns, wrapped it with yarn, and then prettied it up with some burlap, fabric ribbon, and dried botanicals.  Everything is adhered with a glue gun.  You can use silk botanicals if you prefer, they will definitely last longer and be less fragile.