Staining a Wood Door

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been staining this knotty alder wood door. This was my first staining job, and it came out pretty well! Now I know what to do and what not to do for next time! We're going to be replacing some doors in our house, so there will be more to come!

Before:

After: 

Here are the materials that I used: 

Medium grit sandpaper, tack cloth, paintbrushes (specified for oil stains and polyurethane),  wood sticks to mix the cans, MINWAX pre-stain, stain, and polyurethane. 

I originally bought indoor poly; however, after doing more research I found out that I would need the Spar Urethane Poly for a door- this will help protect the wood from rain, sunlight, cold, heat, etc.

Don't forget your face masks! The pre-stain, stain, and poly all have VERY strong odors. In fact, I can still smell it in our basement even though the door has been gone since Monday. 

Other materials I used: old t-shirts for staining and mineral spirits for cleaning the brushes.

I watched a bunch of videos and did a lot of research on how to stain knotty alder wood and then I got started! 

First, I lightly sanded one side of the door and wiped it down with a tack cloth after to get all of the dust off prior to putting anything on the door. Sanding the door helps open the pores in the wood to allow it to take in stain better.

Next, I pre-stained: (I started and completed one entire side of the door, then flipped it and did the other side): 

I applied the pre-stain with a 3 in china bristle brush. I made sure to get all of the corners and grooves. The pre-stain helps condition the wood and prime the surface so the stain goes on easier and more even.

I let this dry for 15-20 minutes.

After the pre-stain had time to soak in and dry, I applied the stain. I started staining with a brush because I thought it would be easier to get into the grooves that way. I only stained a little bit of the door this way as it did not work well for me. Using an old t-shirt that I cut up worked much better. It was easier to get the stain on and made it look a lot better. The color I used is English Chestnut.

This is after one coat. It takes 8 hours for the stain to completely dry, but you can put on another coat in 4-6 hours. Keep in mind that the temperature of the air can affect drying times. I was working in our basement when it was 30-40 degrees out and I had doors and windows open. Lower temp can lead to longer drying times, so I let the stain dry overnight before doing a second coat.

Lastly, I applied the Spar Urethane. 

It has a light amber color, so it does make the stain seem a little darker. I used the semi-gloss because I wanted a shine but did not want it to be too glossy. I applied two coats of poly on each side using a 2.5 in China bristle brush. 

Here is what the door looks like up!

I am really happy with how it came out! Knotty Alder wood has so much character and is really fun to stain because the stain brings out all of that character.

Something else I had to do a lot of research on was how to clean the brushes after using them in oil based pre-stain and polyurethane. Soap and water does not clean them, it actually causes the oil to harden on the brush. This is what you will need: a can of mineral spirits from the hardware store, tupperware, an old coffee can or something that seals (to pour the used mineral spirits in), a wire bristle brush, and paper towels. Set the brush in the tupperware, pour some mineral spirits over the brush and scrape with the wire bristle brush- do this 4-5 times. Then, squeeze the brush to get the excess out and wrap in paper towels (be careful not to wrap too tightly as that will deform the bristles). Pour the used mineral spirits in your container and seal it. That's it! You can leave the brushes in the paper towels until you're ready to use them again.

Decorating our bedroom

Our bedroom has lots of unused wall space which I'm sure will get filled up over time. Today, I hung these picture frames above our bed and felt like they made our room much more cozy! 

I set the frames on the bed to get an idea of what they would look like and how to space them. 

Then, I measured how far apart I wanted them and marked the wall. I put the u-hooks in and hung them up! I also went up to Walgreens and printed out a few pictures in black and white to put in the frames. 

Bye bye holiday decorations

Today, I felt like I was ready to take all of our holiday decorations down and undress our tree. I haven't been in a hurry to do so because I love the way everything looked and the festive spirit it all gave off. However, I'm ready to put the holidays and 2015 behind me and jump into the new year! Here is how I put away all of my decorations and ornaments in under an hour. 

First, I gather all the decorations and remove the oranaments from the tree. I then place them all in one central location. 

Next, I grab my plastic bins out of the garage. So far, I only have three of them but I'm sure my collection will continue to grow! 

I keep all of the boxes that the ornaments came in so I can safely store them. 

I pull out all of the boxes and place the ornaments back in. I store the plastic ornaments in gallon zip lock bags. 

For now I am able to keep all of the ornaments in one container, other decorations in another, and lights in a third. 

And that's it! All of our decorations are stored away safely until the holidays! 

Repurposing an Old Window

Happy New Year everyone!! I'm hoping to share many craft ideas with you this year! There may be a small delay as I broke my finger on Monday :( I was hiking with my dogs when their leashes wrapped around my fingers as I was pulling them away from another dog. They were very excited and pulled the other way and well, I have my first broken bone at 28. Not the best way to start the New Year, but I'm thankful that nothing worse happened! And, I'm now learning how to do everything with my left hand. Luckily, I finished the project below on Monday before the incident!

I bought two windows at an event called "Junk Day" held in the parking lot of an antique store near me. The guy sold me the windows- both for $10. Below is the before and after of one window.

Before:

After:

I decided to wipe it off using vinegar and dish soap. Once I started cleaning it, some of the old paint started chipping off and the calk started coming out of the frame. At this point, I thought it was best to go ahead and remove all of the calk and take the glass panes out.

Cleaning the window.

Removing the calk. 

The calk came out easy for the most part. When it did not come straight out, I used the a paint scraper tool (pictured below) to brake it and scrape it out. Note: Be careful and use gloves for the project in case the glass breaks.

I was then able to pull the glass panes out of the window. This made the rest of the project (sanding, painting, etc.) much easier and meant no painters tape!!! (Great for me since I am terrible at taping straight lines)

Once I pulled all of the panes out, I wiped them down with soapy water and scraped the paint off of them with my amazing scraper tool.

Tip: If you are struggling to scrape the paint off, lay a wet wash cloth over that area for 5-10 min and the paint/calk will soften and it will be much easier to scrape off. Also, please use gloves and glasses here- the edges of the panes shatter very easily.

Before and after cleaning and scraping.

I set the glass panes aside and got back to the frame of the window.

Bare frame.

I scraped off all the old paint that I could. 

When I was done scraping the paint and cleaning the frame, I had this:

Which was a HUGE improvement from this:

Next, it was time to paint! I sifted through all of the paint samples that I have and found this color that I love:

Using a 1" brush, I painted the entire frame:

Then, to give a distressed look, I lightly brushed on a cream colored paint.

Lastly, I calked the around the panes and placed the glass back into the frame. Then, calked the over the edge again.

Calked prior to setting glass in.

Put the glass back in place.

And, calked the outer edge.

Giving me this! This is the backside of the window which I decided not to paint.

And once again, the final project:

I have not decided exactly what I am going to do with it. Thinking about putting pictures in the panes and hanging it in our house. I will definitely show you what I decide to do!