Knock, knock… beautiful doors
BUITE EN BINNE – DIE KLEUR VAN DIE NATUUR
Outside, inside – the colour of nature
These ordinary pine wood double bar type doors in a small opening mounted to a wooden frame with a hinge help to keep the noise in the family room and to keep it warmer in winter, but this sure was not very interesting. Autumn provided the answer when the beautiful red, yellow and brown leaves in the suburb were just too precious to throw away. I have dried and flattened the leaves during the winter and then fixed it with glue on the panels making sure there were no leaves on the part of the door where the normal pushing open would be done. Then it was covered with two layers of varnish to protect the leaves. Some extra leaves are kept when and if damaging would occur… and the season will turn again thus always providing new leaves!
UIT EN TUIS IN AFRIKA
Sound and safe in Africa
This door is facing the family room and in this case the room has a vague African theme. To use material on the doors provided a solution to the sound problem from the family room and it was a cheap solution to the boring pane wood. Afterwards it was protected with fabric cleaner for upholstery to lengthen the life span of the material. It is in any case a good idea to use dark materials for covering doors. No need to use glue with the material if you cover the wood with the material using flat head upholstery pins on the side panels to fit the material tight.
DEURE VERBERG GEHEIME
Doors that cover up the times…
Hollow wood or box type inside doors are usually the cheaper options and that is why you sometimes just have to make do with them.
You have several options to cover this “problem”. For the children’s rooms (inside/ back) it was a nice solution to paint the doors with black board chalk for them to art around, write down a wise crack or just make notes.
The more beautiful solution (for the front) was to glue beautiful typical calendar pictures on such a door after removing the handle. Make sure it fits precisely and that the pictures are flat and covering every corner of the door. Then modge podge the pictures or go for the cheaper alternative by painting wood glue (super wood glue) over the pictures. When completely dry, paint a second cote. The glue turns totally transparent when dry.
When you have several doors facing the hallway or the living area decide on themes that fits your style or the theme of the room, like your own photos of trees or birds, etc.
AGTER DIE GROEN DEUR
To knock or not on the green door
This outside dilapidated door found in the yard of our (then) new home is made from strong wood but the bottom part was totally rotten; the door was covered in several layers of chipped paint and even had a cut out hole for we presume a cat or dog. Since we had the door and our outside eight feet wall and gate (for security reasons) may seem very uninviting, I decided to strip the top layers of paint and then varnished the door to keep it in tact. We cut off the bottom rotten part and fixed a suitable door knob (dummy) and then fixed the door to the outside wall. In the wooden door opening I have fixed a laminated picture of a silhouette cat. To complete the picture I have made a little step with bricks. Next to the door is an unused plastic frame with builders aluminum foil (temperature control foil for ceilings) inside to create the idea of a window. More expensive and better looking options like a real door mat or glass/ mirror in the “window” frame is also an option depending on the type of suburb you live in.
KUNSTIGE DEURLOOP
The artist walkway
The narrow dining room entrance was opened towards the passage to enlarge the room and the wall frame provided the opportunity for something crafty. Picture postcards of the great Belgium visual artists were fixed with modge podge in alignment with the theme of the classic dining room.
DEUR-EN-DEUR ‘n DIGTER
Open the door on poetry
The doors between the corridor and the family room (play room, barbeque, TV-room etc.) is exactly next to the bookshelf with literature close to our romantic hearts. The ‘bar doors’ were decorated on the side of the bookshelf with a few lines from poems (and lyrics) from SA artists.
MAROKKAANSE GOLF OF VERSTERKING?
Moroccan wave or reinforcement?
The plaster on the corner of the passage between the kitchen and bedrooms were often splintered in our house because of heavy traffic in to and from the kitchen. We have reinforced the corners with lightweight aluminum strips and plastic Moroccan style tiles to solve the problem in a colorful way.
