The long process of renovating our entrance hall continues with a makeover of our front door. For such a relatively small area, I cannot belive how much of an impact this door makeover has had. It really changes the look and feel of the entire hallway.
Work on the door involved:
- Replacing the frosted glass with clear glass
- Painting the wood
- Replacing the rubber seals
- Upcycling the hardware (door furniture)
- Adding a leaded etched glass feature window (which I will describe in detail in a separate post)
The new-look front door feels so much more welcoming now and the whole hallway feels much more cheerful.
This was our entrance hall some time ago. Since this photo was taken, we've painted the pine staircase, added wall panelling, and replaced the wood flooring with tile. As can be seen in the photo, the wood floor had not been holding up well to the wear and tear of the traffic in the hallway. Moreover, because the wood was 13mm solid oak planks, the rubber seal underneath the front door had to be trimmed so that the door could open against the floorboards without getting stuck. This problem also meant that I had limited options for doormats, and I hated the only one I could find that fit under the door. Of course, the missing door seal also created a terrible draught. Clearly that needed to be addressed, and from there the work snowballed (happily!) into a complete overhaul of our front door.
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Replacing the Glass
When we moved into this house, I didn't like having clear glass on the front door because I felt a bit exposed to traffic on the roadway. So I replaced the clear windows with frosted glass to give us some privacy in the hallway.
In the intervening years, the trees that we planted have grown into a little woodland. The house is now secluded from the roadway behind the trees, and the privacy glass was no longer required. In order that we could enjoy the view of the garden from the hallway, I changed the windows back to clear glass again.
The extra light and the open view to the garden already uplifted the hallway considerably. I hadn't originally planned on doing much more than this to the door, but seeing the light (literally!) made me crave even more lightness in the decor. So I decided to paint the door.
Painting the Wood
After giving the woodwork a light sand, I next gave it a coat of stain-blocking primer. This is necessary to prevent the tannins in the dark wood seeping through the paint. Next, I painted the door frame using the same off-white colour as the wall panelling that we'd recently installed (the panelling is more visible in other parts of the hallway). I then added a subtle pop of colour by painting the door itself a pale blue.
My blue doorway makes me so happy and gives a fresh new feel to this hallway that it had badly needed.
I also filled in the gaps where the tongue-and-groove planks met the horizontal rails. I initially did this for aesthetic reasons, as the little holes became much more obvious with the door being a paler colour.
However, I soon realised that it also reduced the draught through the door (this was a little disconcerting to realise, I have to admit). Which brings me to the next part of the process and the reason I'd started work on the door to begin with.
Replacing the Rubber Seals
As I mentioned above, the rubber seal underneath the door had been trimmed in order to allow the door to open without getting stuck on the floor. The resulting draught under the door was so bad at times that you could feel a puff of wind on your ankles as you walked past! Not only that, but the builder had originally sealed the door with a shellac-based product, which caused the rubber seal on the door frame to degrade. In short, all the seals needed to be replaced. This turned out to be a suprisingly easy job.
Not all door seals are the same, so I started by having a look at the existing door seals to identify the shape of the profile.
I then ordered replacement seals online (from an Irish company which, sadly, seems to be no longer in business).
The sealing strips simply sit into a groove around the edges of the door and door frame. I just pulled out the old seals and then worked my way around the door pushing the flange of the new seal into the groove.
At the corners, I cut a little notch out of the flange to enable the strip to bend and fit into the groove more easily. The trick here is to only cut the flange, and to be careful to leave the seal itself intact.
At the top of the door, I stapled the end of the sealing strip into place to stop it from shifting about.
For the door frame, the seal on each of the three sides are fit independently in three separate pieces such that they meet at the corners.
I cannot overstate how much of a difference the new seals make. I won't need my DIY draught excluder any more!
Upcycling the Hardware
The door was almost finished now, but there was one more little detail niggling at me. When we first viewed the house, the hardware on the door had a brass-effect finish.
I know brass is fashionable at the moment, but I didn't think it suited our decor. So a couple of years ago, I'd replaced the handle and letterbox with new hardware that had a matt silver finish. However, I hadn't been able to find new door hinges that I liked in the same finish, and so for a long time the door had a silver handle and letterbox and mismatching brass hinges. Then I realised that the base metal of the hinges was silver-coloured, so I had the idea of stripping off the brass finish.
I removed the hinges and soaked them in sodium hydroxide in the form of a stove glass cleaner. This is a caustic substance, and needs to be used with care. It loosened the brass finish on the metal and I was able to simply brush it off with an old paintbrush.
With the brass finish removed, I noticed that the base metal tarnished easily to a black colour. I scrubbed it with wire wool to remove as much of it as I could. It is important to use a fine wire wool for this job so as not to scratch the surface of the metal.
Then I sprayed the hinges with a clear acrylic to seal the metal and prevent it from discolouring again. My tip for anyone else who tries this is to clean and seal the metal immediately after removing the original finish.
Overall, I'm quite pleased with how they turned out and the now silver-coloured hinges sit perfectly with the other hardware on my front door.
I am surprised how much of a difference it made to the entrance hall to just change the look of the front door. In fact, because the front door is visible from many other ground-floor rooms, it has felt like an even bigger change to the house.
These are just some ideas for overhauling your existing front door so that you can get a fresh new look and improved efficiency without having to buy new. But I didn't stop there: I also added a DIY leaded and etched glass feature window. I'll share all about that in my next blog post (link below).
Related Posts:
DIY Leaded & Etched Glass Window
DIY Draught Excluder for Doors
7 Ways to Improve an Ugly Staircase
