{Front Door} Mail Slot

Ugly door alert!!

I have no idea what was with the previous homeowner and her color choices. You've seen the living room, the dining room, the kitchen, the bathroom, and even the upstairs was ugly (before we remodeled it, unfortunately I don't have good before photos).

The front door is no exception. The front is a horrible two tone paint job and the caulking is all cracked around it, she did a sloppy paint job (it's on the bricks in some places) and she never took the screen door metal pieces off even though there's no door. There were random nails everywhere in the door. I only used one when/if I hang wreaths. There are two hooks above the door that I'm guessing held some sort of a sign. AND that's just the front of the door.

The back of the door held more unused hardware (apparently there was a curtain rod over the windows at some point). The hardware for the hinges looks original and has some fun details, so it'll stay. But the hideous brass mail slot had to go. We didn't use it (you can see the needs-to-be-painted-mailbox in one photo) and we had a towel shoved in it for years. Yes, years.

My dad has been wonderful in helping paint the chocolate brown trim in the living room to a bright white and the door definitely got included. The inside side of the door will be white but I have plans of painting the front (outside) of the door black. Yes, black. I know many people don't like it but I think it'll look good with the brick, the white and black on the porch and rest of the house, and with accessories throughout the year (seasonal wreaths, etc).

So, since I've described it - here are the pics.




As you can see above, the baby poop brown color and a red just isn't doing it for me. Do you notice the brown rectangle behind the door handle? We added new hardware years ago when we added a deadbolt. We upgraded to a pretty handle instead of the small, old brass one that was there. However, the brass one was set into a brass rectangular plate that didn't fit the new hardware, so it had to go. And yes, we've been living with it for years. Some things just are easier to live with... especially because we were busy doing everything else in the house, and we can't forget the biggest reason for taking our time - Lily.





Here's a close up of the front of the door. My dad, the wonderful, talented handy man, made the block of wood and sanded it down in sections to custom fit the hole. And let me add that whoever put the mail slot in the door cut it out with a hand saw and was not even, which meant more work for my dad. The white around the oval is from him sanding everything to make it as smooth as possible. You can see two of the four screw holes that held the brass plate in the door. Above the oval was one more screw that my dad took out that I'm assuming held a wreath or decorative item at one point. It's now gone.


Here's the inside shot. You can see the baby poop brown continued but has since been covered up with the white to match the baseboards, windows, and columns. Notice how you can SEE through the door around the mail slot? My dad fixed that with putty. And not just any putty, the dry kind you mix with water and works wonders. He filled it in as much as possible to ensure that the new piece of wood stayed put. He then sanded everything down and put a coat of primer on it.


The door is not finished yet. We don't have a storm/screen door for this door yet and so we don't want to take it off to finish painting it. We want to take it off, sand it where necessary, and let it dry before putting it back on the hinges. We will probably wait until fall as it's over 100 degrees here in Missouri with a super high heat index.