Hello my loves! I am so incredibly excited about today’s post because I can finally show you my vintage door! To start this post out I want to tell you why and how I found this beautiful door. Often times I find myself scrolling on the Facebook marketplace for absolutely no reason at all. I’ve searched door many times, not just looking for a vintage door but for a good deal on a front or back door (we ended up buying new, that’ll be another post in itself). Well one day I typed in door and I found this beauty. I sent a photo of it to a couple of my dearest friends who are decor lovers like me, and their convincing was just about all I needed. Well almost. I still had to show AJ because I was going to…kind of need his truck.
Surprisingly enough I showed him and he loved it too! I was shocked because I really thought he was going to give me that “Kristen you don’t need that” look. So I immediately messaged the lady who was selling it and told her I wanted it. We made about a 30 minute drive to her house and picked it up, then got it back home just before we left for the Bahamas.
You guys might have seen some of my Instagram stories on this beauty, and I’m really excited to display it here for you! I didn’t work on it for a little while because it was just so darn cold here. AJ finally convinced me I needed to get it done and so I had to start by getting it all sanded. This was the slightly scary part because I just wasn’t sure if it had lead paint on it. We actually have masks we use for normal sanding and painting, so I was sure to wear that mask, my safety glasses, and gloves while I sanded the door.
If you are buying anything vintage that could have lead paint in it; take all the precautions that you can because it certainly can be harmful. It’s one of the reasons I decided to sand down the door, but I also didn’t want the paint chipping off in our home or rubbing against the wall. Although the original color of the door was beautiful, I wanted to do something bright, white and beautiful.
It took a few times of going out to the shop to sand this thing down, and I was happy when I was finished sanding the door because the hard part was over. The next decision I had to make was what to paint the door. I originally wanted to buy some Behr paint and spray the door, but then I saw the Magnolia Home Chalk paint. I was a little skeptical at first, but then thought, ” How could it not be a great paint with it being collaborated between Joanna Gaines and Kilz?” So after reading the review from Erin at Cotton Stem I was sold!
There were several very beautiful colors to choose from, but I went with the Shiplap color because I was looking for an ivory/white color. I also snagged their clear wax to seal the door after I painted. I’ve linked both products below so you can get yours ordered too!
For some of my followers on Instagram, I promised you a review on these products and I will certainly be giving it here. I purchased these products myself, so this is in no way sponsored by Target or Magnolia Home. I’m giving you my honest feedback on the product, and why I will choose this product again.
To start out, this chalk paint is somewhat expensive, but not as expensive as Annie Sloan. It’s a slight investment I would say, but it is high quality. The consistency of this chalk paint is slightly thicker than some I have used in the past, but this is a good thing since it is a tad more expensive. I was able to dilute the paint with some water, but I’m not quite sure if this was the best idea with an old door. On newer wood it certainly would have been great, but this vintage door just soaked up the paint. I only used the diluted paint on one side of the door, and it took about three layers to get it to where I wanted it to be. I didn’t completely sand off all of the black paint on purpose, so you can tell in the photo below with my first layer that the paint looked slightly grey.
On the side that was originally all white paint, I did not dilute the chalk paint to see how it would do. It went on the door a lot better, and I only did two coats of chalk paint. I could have used just one coat, but I wanted parts of the door to just be slightly whiter. Overall the paint dried extremely quickly too for the temperature that it was outside. Normally when you paint you want the temps to be above 50 degrees, and it was about 37 degrees out when I was painting. The kicker, we do not have a heated garage, but it did stay a little warm out there from the previous days being in the 70’s (yes it dropped 40 degrees in a day, that’s Nebraska for you). I put the fan on the door to help with the drying process because the temps were lower, but I didn’t have to wait more than 10 minutes.
After the chalk paint dried completely, I went back into the shop and started the rough sanding to give the door a more vintage/rustic look. Now you might be thinking, “Kristen the door was so vintage before!” Yes, yes it was, but as mentioned it just was too flaky for our home and the concerns about lead paint was enough for me to sand it down. While I was sanding I did take some videos, and there is a rough video a little bit below of how I sanded some areas. I’m no video editor, but I just wanted to show you guys some of the process that I had taken.
I would say that I sanded lightly in some areas, but was aggressive with parts of the door. The chalk paint worked amazing for this part and it worked very well with a simple sheet of sanding paper. Some people use sanding blocks, but for this part I wanted to use the sheet to go around the edges (and it was all I had around). If I can recommend one thing on the sandpaper, buy it on Amazon and save yourself a ton of money. We get the sandpaper featured here because we use a Dewalt Random Orbital Sander. Now to be clear, I only used the orbital sander prior to doing the chalk paint. I hand sanded the edges for the rustic look.
Now back to that video I was talking about. This really is a rough video I put together to just try things out. I said I was going to video myself more, and this is displaying how dirty I get out in the shop. Towards the end I’ve also included myself applying the clear wax to the door. Applying the wax was honestly so easy but the one thing I wish I could have changed, was the towel I used. I used an old wash cloth and some of the fabric came off on the door after awhile. It did come off, but I would actually recommend maybe a microfiber towel. We buy those towels for washing our cars and get them in bulk at Costco.
Vintage Door Refurbished Project Video Clip
I was shocked at how fast the wax dried also, but I did allow for at least an hour before flipping to finish the other side. It left a very smooth, velvety finish that was sleek and clean! This is the finish that I was wanting on the door so I could avoid any smudges against our freshly renovated spare bedroom (well kind of fresh, about 6 months ago).
You might be wondering why I chose the space I did for this door. I made the decision to put it in the spare bedroom because there was a perfect, empty wall available for it. I would have loved to put this in our living room, but there was just no space for it. Maybe in our next home it will see its day in a living room, but until then, it’ll live in the spare bedroom.
The door did have most of the metal hardware on it, but I decided to throw it away and leave it off. The door unfortunately did not have the door handle, so I’m on the look out for something that would fit this door perfectly. I pictured something with a beautiful vintage gold plate and maybe a clear door knob. Who knows if I’ll ever find it, but I’m sure I’ll know it’s the perfect one when I do find it!
I decided to leave the busted up corner because it added to the vintage/rustic look, and it brings originality to the piece. I did sand down some edges of this to avoid slivers, but I mostly just added some chalk paint.
I decorated the door with the beautiful Hearth and Hand Eucalyptus Wreath. I thought this wreath was sold out for good until I was browsing at Target and saw it. It’s been sold out for awhile anywhere near us, so I snatched it up right away! It’s honestly such a high quality wreath and even has a small circle hook on the back of it. It is accompanied by some burlap ribbon to give it the finishing touch.
This was definitely a fun project and I was able to learn a lot from it. First things first, older wood soaks up more paint after you sand it down. I’m used to building new projects out of wood and the paint doesn’t soak in as much. I’ve also learned my love for the Magnolia Home chalk paint and cannot wait to use it on more projects in the future.
The door fits perfectly in this space and I really am so happy with how it turned out. It’s added another piece of flair to this room, and I think has made this reading nook amazingly beautiful. The soft white of the Shiplap color is perfect, and the wreath has the perfect pop of greenery.
I hope you all have enjoyed this DIY post, and please let me know what you think! If you have questions about any of the products I used, please don’t hesitate to ask! I would also love to hear any recommendations you have on chalk painting and what’s your process or favorites. Thank you so much for tuning in!
Next DIY project up includes the gorgeous corbels I chalk painted. Stay tuned for more!
Absolutely love how this turned out!!! beautifully done!!!
Thank you so much!! I really appreciate that, you are so sweet!