Old Doors In My Garden

Sometimes you just have to hide the ugly. In perfect world, gardens wouldn’t have any ugly, but don’t be deceived by all those gorgeous garden photos, we all have ugly somewhere. Whether its the compost bin, gardening paraphernalia, a neighbor’s yard, or the place your spouse stores junk. We all know its there.

So hide it! Here is the camper we wanted to hide. Not exactly a great backdrop for my zinnias, is it?

Now you hardly see the camper. It was lots more work than I anticipated, and LOTS more fun.

One of the doors got its own spot.

So how did we do it?

Mike and I collected old doors from garage sales, antique markets, and yes, other people’s garbage. I had leftover outside paint in the basement. Home Depot had small containers of outside paint literally named “Oops” that were really cheap. I bought a bunch. I had plenty of inspiration from Pinterest. Best of all, I had friends who could paint. Some who would even be considered artists.

But first the prep work. Fortunately, I have bonded with our power washer. We are old friends and spent a lot of time together cleaning the doors.

Other old friends were even more important along the way. I learned from Huck Finn that having someone else paint your fence was a good thing. So when it came to painting my doors, I threw a Huck Finn Party. I had already painted base coats on the doors as needed…that’s about the extent of my painting “gift”. But think of the artist friends in your life and do them a favor by letting them get all creative on your doors.

My job that day? I did paint one panel. Impressive, isn’t it?

I did have one other job – I kept everyone well fed.

Was it really fun? You better believe it. Look at those smiles.

Installing the doors

We let everything dry, really, really dry. Then Mike applied several coats of exterior grade polyurethane.

Installation was a big deal. The doors are tall. They are heavy. And in a storm, they would act like sails if not securely supported. This is another case of “not my gift”. Fortunately I could again rely on someone else. My husband, Mike, gets this kind of task. He excelled!

4x4s are attached to the back of the door, and 4×4 post anchors hold them in the ground. The doors survived a recent windstorm (quite a nasty one I might add.) They are also removable. After all, we will want to move the camper, and we will want to store the doors inside for the winter.

Inspiring? Yes. Doable? Yes. A project for the meek? Not so much!

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