A New Door to Our Happy Haven

Megan
by Megan
5 Materials
$110
2 Days
Easy
We named our house Happy Hippy Lane. I have this need to be surrounded by color and art, both on the inside and the outside. One thing I always wanted was a doorway to reflect that. Originally I painted the door to the house purple but we still had a plain vinyl white screen door that obscured it. I couldn’t find anything with enough "Ginger" for me. (That is what my mom always called excessive decoration! LOL!) So, of course, I decided to create it for myself!
I always loved the old wooden screen doors in the south with all the “gingerbread trim” on them. But none of the ones I found in the stores were really my style. I wanted something very unique. Plus, they were expensive. I saw this picture and I was inspired by the tree design, but there wasn't enough "ginger" for me:
Time to get the creative juices flowing. I bought the least expensive plain wood screen door at the home improvement store. (The screen is conveniently removable for painting!)
To add the "ginger" I scoured the woodworking and trim section of the home improvement store. There were different appliques and brackets to choose from. I even considered metal shelf brackets from Hobby Lobby. In the end, I decided on these:
 They are vinyl, but once they are painted, you can’t tell. They came pre drilled and are meant to be decorative. Just what I was looking for! I painted them and the door with Rustoleum 2x Spray Paint in Gloss Grape.
Lastly was the decoration on the bottom. I knew I wanted a tree. I measured the opening and when wandering at Hobby Lobby in the Metal Décor section. I found this piece, and waited for Metal Décor to be 50% off.
The worn, rusted look wasn't going to do for this project, so I painted the whole thing Gloss Grape, then hand painted the birds, the leaves and the bird house, clear-coating it afterwards to make it weatherproof. 
My super-hubby used some spare wood from the project pile to add to the door so that we could affix the tree to the screen door. This is not only decorative; it keeps my silly mutts from going head first through the screen door if they are too happy to see us.
Last step was installing it. They conveniently sell kits for this that include hinges and pulls. I left hanging it on the hinges to the hub, while I took the knob and spray painted it with some left over yellow I had. Then I used some oil paint pens I had on hand to hand paint a design, again clear-coating it afterwards to make it more weatherproof. (You can see the hand-painted knob in the final picture).


Here is the finished product… The Gateway to Happy Hippy Lane!
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  2 questions
  • Cathy Cathy on Sep 01, 2018

    Love the color and the tree. But what about the winter in your area because the storm door does help?

  • Joanne Joanne on Sep 02, 2018

    Omg! I love this! How can I find such braveness to break out and DIY my house!! Awesome!

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