I know, I know, I’ve already missed my goal of a post per week. But, in my defense, last week was preschool spring break. And I foolishly also took on another big project that took me way longer to finish than I expected (story of my life). Basically I expanded and rebuilt my three 4’x8′ raised garden beds. Now I have three 6’x8′ garden beds, all ready to plant. I blame the nice spring weather.

It’s hard to overcome garden fever this time of year, but I owe you a bedroom update, not a garden update! So let me get back to what kicked this whole bedroom makeover off: The bathroom door. (Not to be confused with the bedroom door, the closet door, or either of the two French doors to the other closet.)

I’ve been keeping an eye out for a door to replace this one with for years. I kept the measurements in my phone, and every time I’d pass a old door on the street, or was at The ReBuilding Center, I would look for candidates. I even hauled one free door home that I thought would work, but it wasn’t quite right.

And then I found The One.

It was $20, and it actually looked a bit better than this when I found it at The ReBuilding Center. This was after I had already done a bit of sanding and patching.

If you’re wondering why I went for a three panel door and not a five panel door, it’s because I had an idea about replacing the large top panel with a frosted glass panel. The Brownstone Boys shared how they’ve done this to a couple of doors here. It would have helped bring some light into our bedroom. Ultimately, though, I decided not to do that because Steven has trouble sleeping when morning light wakes him up. And so I would have had to add darkening curtains to the bathroom windows, which I didn’t want to do. Keeping the door “as is” was simpler.

Of course I couldn’t really leave it as is. I had to shorten it a little, and chop off a top corner to make it fit.

And then I added filler pieces of plywood to make it look like the panel was constructed this way. Don’t worry, the corner I cut off is on the correct side when I flip the door around. (Ugh, I wish I had used different plywood. That plywood was the right thickness, but it was really rough, and such a damn pain to get nice and smooth.)

The panels met the rails and stiles with 90-degree angles, so to make it a better match for vintage doors, I lined them all with cove molding.

A million hours of filling, caulking, sanding, priming, and painting later, and I had a new “old” door. After I got it to fit just right, I put the old hardware on.

Does it look exactly like the old doors in the house? No, but it’s a vast improvement over the hollow-core door I replaced it with.

With that fixed, time to tackle the rest of the room!