There is this trend out there in Renovatingland of removing walls and doors to make homes lighter and airy, and more open.
Sorry to say we have gone against the fashion and have kept all our walls intact and reinstated doors from previously naked doorways in the old Sow's Ear. Call us pent up.
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| Old hopscotch French doors |
Salvaged French doors have been on our wish list for quite some time but the style we were after were difficult to source. We spied some hopscotch French doors online recently, which were more or less the right dimensions and in our price bracket. A good score.
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| Jason planing the doors to fit...he had to retrieve the plane from a garden bed after flinging it in rage at one point in time...Angry Jason. |
These French doors have slotted in where the kitchen opens into the sunroom. There would have been doors there many moons ago... we suspect that the old doors were moved into Son #1's bedroom which has French doors leading onto the back deck.
For us, reinstating the doors will be a good thing during winter to keep the core of this rather draughty house warm. And if we ever decide to go down that air-conditioning route, we can cool the house far more efficiently.
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| Doors waiting to be painted and to have hardware fitted. |
Jason's had all sorts of dramas fitting the door and threatened to never ever to do another DIY. Ha! Good luck with that Jason. He accidentally broke one of the glass panes which just crushed his morale. We replaced it quite quickly so there are no photos...actually I didn't dare take photos of that.
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| Shirtless Jason painting over the very hot and humid weekend. Jason fitted a new rim lock too. There will be brass fittings because Jason loves brass. Loves. |
The doors are almost finished. I will share the final shots with you when it is all done.
Great job Jason..the doors look wonderful. They will be lovely for keeping the cooking warmth in, in winter too. I am amazed that the plane wasn't all rusty after it's holiday in the garden..especially with all the rain and humidity we've had.
ReplyDeleteI must be pent up as well! After living in several homes with an open plan layout, I have discovered that it's definitely not the ideal arrangement when you have a houseful of children. I can't wait to move into our new house where we can each have our own space (and I can escape from the constant noise.) xx
ReplyDeleteThey look fantastic. You're right too, closed off spaces are so much more efficient for heating and cooling. I reckon we'll be seeing a lot more houses moving back that way in the future. xx
ReplyDeleteLooking good, they're lovely doors and a really good find. It is also reasurring to me that I am not the only woman with a renovating partner that chucks a wobbly now and then (err, rather frequently really).
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Is it mean to smile at the fact that others have DIY tantrums and throw their toys out of the pram too? Probs.
ReplyDeleteThe doors look fantastic. I'm all for french windows. We salvaged some for the farm and they transform a place.
Looking forward to pictures of the completed work.
PP
We are pro doors too. A new old set of french doors will be going between the kitchen and tv/family room so I can shut the kids in there with abc kids and not have to hear any more of that Jimmy Giggle. But we had to go with clear glass as my two need to be watched at all times. It is definitely the way to go for both heating/cooling and noise containment. mel x
ReplyDeleteThe doors are going to be so beautiful. You're lucky to have such a handy guy around, even if he does throw a few tools from time to time. Could it have been when he realized he was going to have to redo the valance? :)
ReplyDeleteI love that you're replacing them and were able to get "just the right ones"!!!
ReplyDeleteI think they look great
Lesley
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I think the salvaged French doors look wonderful, I not a fan of open plan living as our last house was open plan with 5 living areas and I tired of it and wanted to put walls in! The French door will be great. Such a lovely home! Mxxx
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed at your knowledge and know how team fun&VJ's! French doors are fab!
ReplyDeleteI love the fact you are putting doors back in. They add so much character to a home ... and there is that little surprise element for your guests like "ooh ... I wonder what is behind those doors".
ReplyDeleteAnonymous Natalie
We have French doors from our bedroom waiting to be reused at some time. Open plan is over rated with lots of kids. More doors the merrier the mum in this ol' barn. We don't do the air con thing either, ol' hippies that we are. However there are days when I wonder about that- like today! Stinkinh! Send Jason to Nepal. He will need a shirt but it is supposed to chillax stressed husbands.
ReplyDeletelooks amazing! hanging doors is a fine art - he can def look back and be proud of tackling it and doing such a good job himself :-)
ReplyDeleteDamn good job I say! Well done Jason. ;-)
ReplyDeleteGreat find, such a good match to the existing. They will look like they've always been there.
ReplyDeleteI must agree with Caroline above ... open plan living isn't all that it's cracked up to be sometimes. Love a good nook or room to escape to. Biggest mistake I think we made in our reno ... no door on the ensuite. It it's not a child coming to ask me something inane it's the bloody puppy barging in to sit on my lap!
ReplyDeleteso impressed. he's a keeper. xx
ReplyDeleteNow I know who has been on the hunt for these doors when I have - we needed 3 sets of hopscotch doors for our house and I kept missing out on them - builder quoted $1000- a set to have them made - we were after 3 sets - anyway we found 2 sets at Wollangabba Demolitions and managed to get a set off eBay - total cost for the 3 sets was $900-. The builder didn't believe my husband when he told him that I would find them.
ReplyDeleteYes! Good decision, beautiful doors.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you there, I HATE open plan living rooms with no option but to have TV in my face when I'm in need of some quite chill time in the kitchen. And such beautiful doors.... there were in invented for a reason, to be nice to look at and practical!
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