Repurposed Farm House Door

In 2005, my husband and I got married fresh out of college and quickly began our homemaking journey with the intentions of checking off our remaining boxes: becoming home owners, having perfect children, and fulfilling successful, lifelong careers. We rented our small apartment, started our first jobs (his was home-building, and mine was home-selling), and blew every penny we made. I mean, why not?! This was the first of many years of hard work; certainly we deserved to celebrate, right?! After 16 years of education, we had finally made it. We shared a lot of celebratory drinks, laughter, and college/wedding debt together. We filled our apartment with adorable pillows, monogrammed coffee mugs, and everything cover-photo worthy for a "We Made It" magazine. We went on expensive vacations, dined out, and dressed to kill. Then, in 2006, we both got laid off. 

Three perfectly imperfect children, several jobs, moves, broken down vehicles, lines of credit and hard knocks later, we arrived at the doorstep of our very first home, in January of 2015. We moved into our reasonable single-family home and my old instinct to obsess over the fantasy pages in a Pottery Barn catalog, filling our home with monogrammed "We Made It" decor, came flooding back. But, this isn't the world according to Kelly 1.0 anymore. This is the repurposed and renewed version. Kelly 2.0 got skills. 

Resourceful Decor:
Most days, I feel like I am the cat-herder in a circus full of monkeys. Life has become legitimately chaotic and this house feels the full brunt of a hustling and bustling family of five. Our office space has become an organizational hub and without it, I'm pretty certain my children wouldn't get bathed and Freddy-the-Fish would be swimming in Fish Heaven by now. Purposeful wall decor is more of a necessity, than desire.

Tips to the Repurposing Trade:

1. Find a local Flea Market, garage sale, or peruse Craigslist. If you haven't already, you should locate your nearest Flea Market for sure. I'm a frequent shopper at the Leander Flea Market.
2. Don't buy the high-priced, already repurposed or refinished merchandise. Make it a personal goal to find the diamond in the rough (really rough = really cheap)
3. Avoid pieces that have mold and/or lead-based paint. This is for your own safety.
4. Have a vision for the space you want to fill and the purpose you need fulfilled, before you head out. Do not deviate from the plan.
5. Haggle. Always start ridiculously low and never pay full price for anything. 
6. Use your imagination. Don't limit yourself to the single conventional use of an item.

What you will need for this project:

1. One old wooden door, preferably single panel
2. Tools: paint scraper, face mask, sandpaper, painter's tape, a tape measure, drill, stud finder, 100lb+ wall hanging hardware (scroll down to view the ones I used), hooks and address numbers (or whatever you would like affixed to your art), and a level
3. Non toxic chalkboard paint (you could try this one, found on Amazon)
4. Chalkboard markers and an eraser

How To Teach an Old Door New Tricks:
Ok, so I broke my "don't buy anything with lead-based paint" rule. To be honest, I'm not sure what this paint's base was, but I took precaution and wearing a mask during scraping and thoroughly washing my hands when I was finished.

Day 1
Use a paint scraper to remove large chunks of pealing paint. Then use sand paper to smooth over the entire surface and even out any rough patches.

• Wipe the dust clean with a damp cloth and tape the inner edges of the panel to avoid painting outside the lines.
• Use your painter's tape to protect the frame of your chalkboard from rogue paint strokes (it's a pain in the butt, but do it anyway!)
• Shake and stir your black chalkboard paint can vigorously before using a paint roller to paint the large area quickly and evenly. Apply only 1 coat to start.
• Allow your 4 yr old assistant to freely paint the opposite side of the door to match her feet, legs, arms and face so you can actually get something done.  

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• Let the first coat of chalkboard paint dry for a minimum of 30 minutes before applying a second coat.
• You may choose to do a 3rd coat of paint after 30 more minutes if you feel it is necessary.
• Allow the project to dry overnight before attempting to attach hardware.
• Wipe  your kids clean with either the flesh of a lemon or diluted lemon essential oil (2-3 drops of essential oil into a tsp of cooking oil) on a soft cloth. The paint will wipe off easily and without tears :) Click here to learn more about the essential oils we use in our home.​

Day 2

• Pull the painter's tape off your door, and use a tiny paint brush to touch up any imperfections.
• Attach your desired hardware. I added 4 large hooks and the year we were married (2005) to remind us that we have indeed "made it". You could use your imagination here: names, birth dates, a bible verse, the address of your first home, monograms of names, etc.

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The Hanging Challenge
Decide where you want to hang this beast of a masterpiece.
Find studs (typically the studs will be "16 on center", meaning that the center of a 2x4 is 16 inches apart from the next one). The stud is the anchor you need for heavy duty wall art.

• Grab your tape measure, a pencil, scratch paper, a level and a stud finder (be ready for a plethora of "stud finder" jokes from men in the vicinity and be glad you aren't caulking anything).
• You will need to measure the full length of the wall so you can find the center point (mark it with pencil). Then you will need to measure the length of the door and mark its center too. Write these total length numbers down for later.
• Use the "stud finder" to locate the studs in the wall (there is an old-school method of tapping the wall with an object and listening for a hollow sound vs a solid sound that could be used but isn't necessarily advised)
• Find them and then measure out from the center point on the wall, marking each stud on the way out from the center (2 studs on each side was enough for our 8 foot door). Measure the same 16 inch length from the center point on your door and prepare to affix your hanging gear to those points.  

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​Season Your Chalkboard
​Read the directions on the can of chalkboard paint before you begin writing on it. It will require "seasoning" in order to work like a real chalkboard and wipe clean with ease. The seasoning process will require an entire piece of chalk, flipped horizontally and then shaded across the entire board. Then use your eraser (or a paper towel in my case) to dry erase the board. You should wait to clean it with water for at least a week.

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Finally, stare at it for a minimum of 20 minutes. Marvel at your creative and resourceful piece of art and fully own your obvious skill set. You are seriously awesome for doing this yourself. Post a picture of your masterpiece in my comments section so we can inspire each other!!