When One Door Closes…

…it opens up a realm of possibilities.

Please allow me to introduce The Door.  Just a regular, antique wood door.  With a really funky glossy stain  (the white patch is wood filler, ready to be sanded).  My client, Cheryl, is getting ready to move into a new home and wanted something ‘unique’.  She wanted to think ‘outside’ of the box with her decor for the new house.  (Cheryl, is so my type of client).  Yes, indeed.  I like the outside of all boxes.

We met one afternoon to talk about her vision for the door.  It’s a great door, don’t get me wrong:  Solid, solid, solid (unlike the hollow core ones of today).  And it would look great the way Cheryl wants to use it (installed with antique barn hardware, working as a sliding door for a downstairs closet).  But it needed something to make it special.  Something to make it stand out, to truly be a custom piece.

The original idea was to have  Flaming June on to the top portion of the door, with a quote in the bottom area.  In theory, it would have been beautiful.  Most of you know how much I love Flaming June.  But it’s easy to see that it wasn’t going to work on this door.  Drat.  To fill the entire space of the top portion, we would have had to enlarge the image greatly, and then we would have ended up doing a serious cropping job on June.

Truth be told, it would be a sin – a crime – to crop June.  No one crops June, least of all, me.

So, Cheryl went looking for another image, with text to match.  This time she was going for the ‘old glam’ look.

A strong woman, who dares to be feminine.

True beauty.

Cheryl gave me the image, and the text and then basically handed everything else over to me.  Full trust in the creative process.  Such a relief, I can not lie.   It is so freeing to know that your client trusts your instincts on their piece.  Even though I say I love to do custom work, I really don’t like working within strict parameters.  I need some freedom because, invariably, half way through the process – things change (or at least when I’m concerned, they do).  And it would be a royal pain in the you-know-what, to have to call a client every few minutes to get the OK on something.

We both agreed that the surrounding panels of the door should be pretty neutral.  Although this door was going to be installed in a new home, I also had to believe that if ever she moved  – the door would be going with her.   So – let’s play safe.  Besides, I didn’t want the paint color to fight with the image. Sometimes less really is more.  And I also didn’t really want to go crazy with distressing.  It needed to look old, and original to the door and honestly, I don’t think sanding gives an authentic look.  I prefer to use texture, and shade to give the aged look.

I am having a little love affair with the new Pure and Original Classico paint.  For this project I used this palette:  Neutral Ground for the door, and a mix of Oxford Blue and Majestic Cloth for the trim and the text.

To add depth and age, I used several General Finishes glazes.   With the Pure and Original paint, you don’t need to seal the paint, unless it’s a high moisture area (think kitchen, bathroom etc).  However, because I like to give myself extra work because I used a glaze I would need to seal it anyway.   Plus, there is also the possibility that at some point, the door could be relocated to another area.  Time to go the Boy Scout route and  

   Dib dib dib, dob dob dob

Enter Pure and Original Dead Flat Eco Sealer  I’ve been waiting a long time to use this (said the Actress to the Bishop).  I love the idea of having a truly dead flat finish to my pieces.  I wouldn’t necessarily use it every time on every piece; but it’s exciting to have another option available for your finish.  And it’s lovely stuff.  I applied two thin coats of the Eco Sealer and I love it.  I think I was expecting a matte/flat feel to it – but it’s actually really nice and smooth.  It just looks dead flat.  Perfecto.

Such a great saying!

The door gets picked up next week.  To be installed in Cheryl’s new home.

And it seems a little poignant that, at least for Cheryl and her family, one door is truly closing.

BUT

 A completely new one is sliding WIDE open!

Yee-Haw!

{insert catchy ending phrase here}

Diane aka The Paint Factory

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