Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Photo door

I'm am so excited to show you why I am in love with Craigslist!!! I stalk Craigslist, yep I even have the app on my phone. I browse random categories looking for treasures. Recently, I found a 15 glass panel, old, and dirty door in the Arts & Crafts category. I wish I could post the original listing but I forgot to save it. :(
Once I saw this beauty in person I knew it would be the perfect "frame" for our family pictures.
Here's the door all set up and ready to be sanded and scraped:

It is so nice to be married to a carpenter, he's got every tool imaginable (even though he thinks he needs more.) He set me up with his sanders and scrapers and I got right to work.

Right away, a beautiful mint green color was revealed under the dirt and top coat of white. Sadly the mint color wasn't over that entire side of the door. I played with the tools and the mint side and eventually decided to see what the other side looked like sanded down. This was the side meant to frame my family portraits.
The door was a little too long for it's place on our wall. So, hubby measured from the top of the door to the first glass pane and cut the bottom of the door to be the same. Then, he remounted the hinges to be evenly spaced and used the hinges to carefully hang the door on our wall.
Here she is all sanded, scraped,cleaned and skillfully hung on our wall:

So, now we had the tough task of family portraits on a tight budget. It just so happens that my sister in law has access to a fancy dancy camera and we talked her into bringing it along to a family get together at my husband's parents. Their property is so beautiful and it was a perfect day. I was worried I wouldn't have 15 photos to fill all the spots but it turns out I struggled to narrow it down to only 15. I edited the pictures to the best of my abilities, left some in color and turn some to black & white. Then, I went crazy for a week looking at empty glass panes and waiting for the photos to arrive. I literally took these pictures from the mailbox to being matted and in place in about an hour. I love it!!!
What do you think?!?!

Have a great week!
Linking up:



Photobucket



The 36th AVENUE
Today's Creative Blog -Tracy

16 comments:

  1. What a great project! It turned out beautifully!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love it! Great recycle/upcycle...use of ordinary to make a wow...lovely idea

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very nice! What a great way to display photos. I would love for you to share this at my link party if you get the chance!

    http://kraftykat76.blogspot.com/2012/09/gettin-krafty-with-it.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Tracy: Found you through Krafty Kat's Gettin' Krafty With It party. Love this idea! I'm your newest follower through GFC. Would love it if you would give me a visit when you get a chance and follow back. Have a great day!

    ReplyDelete
  5. OH MY GOODNESS!!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!! We are working on a photo wall in our dining room with old photos of our families. I want a window, but haven't found the "perfect one" yet. You have reminded me there is a door downstairs in our "inventory" that has lots of window panes. I am running down to look at it as soon as I post this. We have cut doors and shutters for many other projects, I am not sure why I haven't thought about cutting that door. (probably because I am secretly hoping to be able to use it as a door, but this just might make those thoughts go away!!) Thanks for the inspiration and if it works, I will DEFINITELY link back to you!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. the door looks awesome! i did something similar in our old house with some windows. now that we have moved i have not found a place for them, but i keep looking! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am featuring you today. Thank you so much for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love your photo door! Thanks for visiting and following me! I'm your newest follower!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Stopping by from your feature at 36th Ave. to pin this door - one of the best door photo display's I've seen, turned out great.

    ~Bliss~

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Tracy! I love your door too!! Now, I must ask.. how did you hang it? I tried to hang mine with some drywall anchors.. yep.. ripped a nice sized hole in the drywall. Hubby says we're going to have to screw some boards into the studs first and then attach it that way. It looks like yours is hanging from the hinges?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh guess what!!! The door has been hung! Not where I thought it would get hung, but it is up! Pictures were picked up yesterday. When everything, including the post is done, I will let you know!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Tracy,

    I also have a door doing the same thing, but was wondering like Claire, how do you hang such a thing? IT is sooo heavy and will pull out the dry wall.... my email is kellywivell@yahoo.com if you could let me know? I would so appreciate it!

    ReplyDelete
  13. How do I hang the door? And how to keep the photos in place? X

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Stacey! We hung our door using the hinges and securing it into a beam. We have super high ceilings so there is a beam behind the drywall where the ceiling is on the other side of the wall. Sorry if that doesn't make since. You could also make a "cleat" for your door to help support it.
      So for the photos. I cut cardstock the same size as each glass pain. Then using scrapbooking double sided adhesive I centered the photo onto each piece of card stock. Then I placed the photo and cardstock into each window frame and applied tape to the back of the cardstock onto the wood frame to hold them in. Because they were cut to size you don't see any tape. Hope that helps. Please share when your done, I would love to see it!

      Delete
  14. Great job , I found a door about 3;years ago. Before I retired . I wasn’t as diligent as you it’s still in my basement I stripped it , but not really all the way done. I have to get some panes of glass for 3 of the , my husband also was a carpenter when we first met , he has many tools, that’s a plus.

    ReplyDelete