English Phone Booth Closet Door

Another project down! As I'v mentioned before, we moved into a house that was in need of updating and renovating. And as we move through the house, slowly but surely, each room gets some TLC.

One of the most obvious changes we had done was switching out the old flat dark-stained wood doors, with new panelled doors painted white. They really brighten things up. However, this closet door in our hallway never got done. First of all because we can't decide whether or not to keep the closet, second, it's a skinny door and we can't the same style door to match (I don't believe it, but that's what I'm told). This door also stuck so forget getting new towels out of the closet while Charlie was sleeping! SQUEEEK! THUD! WOBBLE! Ugh. It's time to fix this.

I've found some really great ideas over the past year on Pinterest and this is one of them. Painting the door to look like an old English phone booth, or for any who watches Dr. Who, there was a lot of blue Police Booths too. Usually it was found painted on a children's closet door, but I applied it to my hallway and think it turned out really well actually. It is like having a big piece of art at the end of the hallway. Plus, Grant fixed it so it opens properly, so no more tug of war with it.

It was cost effective as we didn't need to buy a new door either. I just primed the entire thing and put two coats of white trim paint on the back and edges. On the front I drew out my design in pencil, referring to a picture of phone booth I found online. I painted the glass in first then did all the red accents. The final part was the words. Once I was finished, I sprayed it down with a matte varnish to protect it from some basic wear and tear. We just used the door knob that was already on there. It doesn't look right, but I have knob on a bathroom door that will be used here once we reno the bathroom. For those of you who have been here, you know the knob I'm talking about, the Gold Nugget knob. It's a work of art all on it's own!

Anyway, I like it. Hope you do too!

Turquoise Bedside Tables

In our last house, our bedside tables were built into (on to) the wall and we didn't get to bring them with us in the move. So for 3.5 years now, Grant has had a filing cabinet on his side and I've had a mix of a TV table and most recently a massive corner TV unit, on our respective sides of the bed. Although they work as a tables, it drives me crazy. I've been on the hunt for a pair of some cool and unique, reasonably priced bed side tables ever since.
Last summer, at our garage sale, my parents showed up to sell a bunch of their old stuff along side us and while they managed to get rid of most of their stuff, they didn't make as much as they had hoped too. Mostly because I snagged their two thirds of their old bedroom suite for us! I got the bedside tables and the dresser. Leaving them to somehow get rid of a mirror (which I didn't want) and a headboard. And well I maybe felt slightly bad that they didn't make any money, I was more focused on the fact that I scored BIG! 3 pieces of solid wood furniture in great condition. Always wanting to try to refinish furniture I set to work.

Set of tables. How they looked when I got them.

 First step: Stripping and sanding. I did this outside because A) it was summer and who wants to be inside. B) there was ALOT of varnish on these pieces. I had to use a power sander. I didn't want all that sitting in the basement.

Stripped and sanded.

I didn't get a picture of the next step, but I primed them with white primer. I still wasn't exactly sure what I was doing and I'm not sure if I would do this step again.

When I finally decided to paint them turquoise, it was winter and things are now moved to the basement.

Painted with semi-gloss.

The next step I had found online was to rub down with a furniture wax to achieve a sort of distressed look and protective coating at the same time. This didn't work for me. Probably because I used semi-gloss and there was nothing for it to stick too. I wanted a distressed look, so I started sanding. That's when I regretted having primed them as the white showed through.

So, to cover up the white, I put a dark gel stain over everything. It looked amazing! I was so excited! Here is a pic of the draws at each step along the way.

Right to Left: Painted with semi-gloss, sanded down to create aged look, stained with dark gel stain.

At the end of this it probably could have been done, but I did coat the entire piece with a furniture wax to help protect it. It also gives it a really nice feel when you smooth your hand over it. I change the hardware from the wood knobs to oiled bronzed ones.

Finshed.

All and all, I love them. They are going to look so cool in our room. Now I have to actually finish the room. And, I still have a dresser to work with. Oh, and an old oak desk that I just bought from a second hand store...

This is slowly becoming an obsession.