Dressing Up a Plain Door

You may have noticed the door to my basement in the "after" photos from my kitchen.

I started with a plain non-panelled door (at least on the side facing the kitchen...the side that faces down the basement actually has panels). It also has a lock on the door and mismatched hardware -- we think the basement may have been used as a separate apartment at one time. So, because it's so boring/ugly when the door is closed, I decided to try to dress it up.

I used a frame I picked up from a woman who was closing down her home design store, and created the ubiquitous blackboard. Not very original I guess, but I do like having a blackboard in the ktichen for recording messages and greetings and for keeping a shopping list.

I also added a beautiful little applique plaque which I had made to commemorate the purchase of our house in 2008. Unfortunately I failed to test the paint on the door before I embarked on this transformation and when I tried to reposition the applique it soon become clear that the previous owners must have used latex paint over oil (and we all know what that means...no sticky, big peely...). Aaargh!

So I've been debating whether I take down the door this summer, sand it, repaint it and essentially start from scratch. Of course that means I'll lose the applique (and have to re-do the chalkboard) so I've decided to embrace imperfection.