Monday, February 6, 2017

Interior Dutch Door

We recently swapped our boring, flat panel, hollow core door for a beautiful new Dutch door.  I absolutely love the look of Dutch doors.  They're so charming and nice way to add a bit of character to your home.

Traditional Dutch doors aren't cheap.  To make this project affordable, we purchased a new wooden door and had it cut it in half.

 Our contractor friend, also chiseled out an additional hinge and added the latch hardware.

 I couldn't decide whether to go with a stained finish or a painted door.  Stain is so messy to apply, but I was afraid paint would cover the wood grain.  In the end I decided to paint the door a classic black.  The color works well in our small hallway.  And thankfully the wood grain is still visible!
  
One change leads to another... You may have noticed that we covered up the stripe pattern on the wall.  I adored the stripes, but it was time to say goodbye.  I couldn't quite bring myself to paint over all my hard work though.  I had leftover (removable) wallpaper tiles from a bigger project in my daughter's room and thought, why don't I use them here.  In some areas I had a hard time matching the patterns.  I plan to hang art to hide the imperfections!

 We have a new puppy!(I'll share more about her in another post.)  The bottom half stays closed when we have company and need to keep the dogs away.  So much nicer than using our previous baby gate.     
Our puppy is potty trained so I didn't want to use a crate.  On the other hand when we're not home, I need to keep her safe and avoid coming home to another chewed up rug.  The door has also been a functional solution until she's mature enough to be left loose in the house. Design and function!!