Chapter 28 - Doors (shhh..) by Pedro

The Original Doors

 The original doors in the house were solid wood with a unique 8-panel design. We really liked the doors and appreciated the quality of them but they were a very dark brown and needed a lot of repair from 30 years of neglect. From the very beginning we knew that we needed to lighten the dark, gloomy house so our thought was to take the dark doors and paint them white along with all the trim and base bards. As it turned out, we were not able to save the base board or trim so we threw them away. But with 28 doors in the house, replacing them would have been a lot of money. We also could not have replaced them with the same solid wood.


The Drippy, Running Doors



Our first attempt to upgrade them was to remove them all, scrub them down and have them primed and painted. We hired some "professional" painters to help do the huge job but they just made matters worse. The brown stain was too dark to be covered by a single coat of primer and paint. As the brown bled through, they thought to just keep adding paint until there was drips, globs and runs. That was a waste of money! This is where our friend Pedro steps in. If you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself. Steve grabbed Pedro and one by one, the two of them stripped the new paint and sanded the doors down to bare wood. The cracks and dents were repaired with wood filler and the doors were prepared to be properly primed and painted.





Have you ever been to a modern art gallery where in the middle of the floor exhibits are just hanging in air,  common objects are displayed as works of art and the artist's name is just one word?  The garage looked like that art gallery. With the skill of an artist, Pedro sprayed painted each door with careful restraint...not one drip. run or error.  Steve and I kept laughing and then whispering "Doors by Pedro" as if we had some mysterious artist in our garage.

Doors ....by Pedro

We were able to save the doors of this old house. About the ONLY thing in this old house that didn't find it's way to the dumpster. It was a lot of work but heavy, solid doors are so much nicer than the hollow core doors that you can only buy today.