Pinterest projects and DIY TV show projects take twenty minutes to start and complete. Right? Whenever I want to do a project around my house, I allot 20 minutes for it. Never, ever, ever has it taken me twenty minutes. By the time I get all of the supplies, actually attempt the project, complete it and clean up, we are looking at one hour to one week. I am not talking about putting an addition onto the house. I am talking about making an old oak door into a family communication center. How long could it take? Slap some paint on a door, throw on some cork-board and hang it. Twenty minutes. Done.

Heres the reality behind those twenty minutes.

I bought this door off of Craigslist.

It was rescued from a 100 year old Victorian house that was being torn down to build  townhouses in its place.

I met the seller at a gas station two days later to pick up the door. She was on her way up north and this was the most convenient spot for both of us meet. I had my two kids come with me. She had her 4 with her. My children are 21 and 17 years old. Hers? 13months, 2,3 and 5 years old. All of them packed into a mini van along with the door. The cutest 4 children with just as cute names. Baby Henry, then Gracie, Luke and Jasmine. Bless this woman for re-using these old doors and bless her for unloading 3 of the 4 kids, all of their car seats along with one of the van seats to pull out my door. She then lifted everything again and placed it back in the van. Sam, my daughter played with the 2,3 and 5 year olds while Jack, my son, helped unload everything. Henry slept through the whole thing. All of this for a 100 year solid oak door for $30.

After getting home and unloading the door into my workshop area, the next step was to order the corkboard to place within the panels of the door. I had five panels, so I ordered 3 sets of two of these through Amazon.

 

 

Side note, I love Amazon. We have Prime Shipping. It is worth every penny to get items within one to two shipping days.

While waiting for the cork board, I started prepping the door. I removed the original door knob and plate and the brand new shiny gold dead bolt. Both left large holes. I lightly sanded the door with 220 grit sand paper.

 

I had recently attended a Miss Mustard Seed workshop and inside the gift bag was a sample of Trophy, from her milk paint line. It was probably two large tablespoons of the powder paint. Miss Mustard Seed paint is so easy to mix and use. Those two tablespoons were exactly the right amount for this door. At first I was going to distress some areas to get the look I wanted. After it was painted, the door naturally distressed itself. As Marian aka Miss Mustard Seed says,” I just let the piece talk to me.” And this one gently said that it was perfect.  No need to do anything more.

Next I reattached the door and plate. Now what to do with the other hole left from the dead bolt lock. I considered putting something over it like a large hook or a block of wood or a tree slice. Nothing seemed right. I still had the original knob and plate from the side of the door so why not use it.

I positioned the plate over the hole, used GL6000 glue to stick the knob onto the plate and then reattached it all.

When the cork board arrived, I quickly measured each panel space and cut it using my rotary knife. I then put a strip of mounting tape in each spot and placed the cork board.

It turned out so cool. I just love it.

Now I had to hang this 30×77 inch solid oak door. This is the part of the story where it gets ugly.

I went to Walmart to the hardware section. I found picture hangers. There was a picture hanger that would stand up to 100lbs of weight. No way did this door weigh more than 100lbs. Problem solved. Bought it for $3.67.

I carefully measured where I wanted to center the door on the wall, found a stud and pounded in the mounting bracket. One-third of the way down each side of the door I attached the d-rings, just like the directions said. I then used the wire that came in the package and attached it to each d-ring. I was even smart enough to lift the door a little so the wire wouldn’t show after it was hung. I had thought of everything.

Now to move the finished ready to hang door into the laundry room. Since no one was home to help at this point, I moved the door myself. I would need one hand to open the door from the garage to the house, so I lifted the door by the wire that would be used to hang the door from.

Lifted the door and SNAP! The wire broke. Thank goodness it only dropped 3 inches back to the ground and not from 4 feet in the air. Crisis averted. Toes still attached.

So, its back to the drawing board.

I explained to a very nice and patient, young man from the hardware store what I needed.  He guided me to a hanger that would easily hold 300 lbs,  I little more expensive, but so much easier to install.

Per the directions and even a video link, for those of us that are visual learners, I attached the hanger to the wall and then the back of the door. My daughter and I then lifted and attached the door.

And I am happy to report it is still hanging in my laundry room today.

So who’s with me?  Twenty minutes?  Not even close. 🙂