A Screen Door Makeover!

Ketchup and mustard. That is what would come to my mind whenever I saw our front door. I like ketchup and mustard on things like hamburgers and hot dogs but NOT on my front door. Something had to be done.

Pay no attention to the weird protruding rock wall. That is another makeover project for another day.

Since the time we first walked into our home, I knew the front door needed some help. I didn't know if I just wanted to remove it all together, paint it, or what exactly, but something had to change. I liked having our screen door open in the summer time because it allowed for a nice airflow but that was the only nice thing about it. This summer we had too much airflow and "bug-flow" because of a large tear in the screen. Our screen door is actually a storm door and I found out the purpose of a storm door is to provide extra insulation. With our winters, we definitely need that extra insulation. So, scratch the removing idea.

My father-in-law is a very DIYer kind of person so when he came to visit we put our minds together and came up with an awesome resolution.

The product we used is a thin, real wood plank that we picked up at Home Depot. It came in a package pre-stained in this grey but it could be stained another color if needed. I loved the spray paint color we found. It is called "otter brown" but it looked like a lovely grey next to the grey planks.

To start, we took down the door and removed the windows and torn screen. The plastic triangle pieces came off after that. Next, we lightly sanded the whole surface to rough it up a bit. We then spray painted the edges of the door because we knew they wouldn't be completely covered by the wood planking.

Tape the areas that need to be protected from the paint

We began to measure and cut the pieces to fit around the door. Everything was cut and laid out before we secured anything down.

We had decided on a herringbone design and that required some pretty exact measuring and cutting skills. We allowed for a dime's thickness in between each of the boards to allow for expansion.

The way to find the center of a herringbone design can be a little tricky so this is what we did. Locate and draw the center line on the surface of the door. Find the center of each board (red arrows are pointing to the centers) and match them up with the center line on a 45 degree angle. We made a 45 degree angle template to help us get started, but after the first boards are set, the others match up fairly easily.

Next, we used a super adhesive to attach the boards to the door. We used a spray bottle to mist the glue for the maximum holding power. We borrowed as many clamps as we could and clamped each board securely. After gluing the herringbone design, we found any heavy object we could and stacked it on top to add weight to the boards. This would be the part that would not have additional screws holding it down. It may not look pretty now, but just wait...

We let it sit overnight.

The next day, we removed the clamps and added a few screws for extra strength. We then sprayed the whole surface with a clear protective coat.

We added some screws because we knew the door is prone to get torqued

We used a spray with a flat sheen but you could use whatever sheen you like the most

After spray painting the back of the door, fixing the screen window, and installing a new handle, we put everything back together and hung it in place. Wow! What a difference! Now I have a storm door that serves its purpose and looks lovely and doesn't make you think of hamburgers!

A simple thing like a screen door can make a huge difference in your curb appeal and it definitely did that for us.

Now, I just need to paint the red door and side light a nice Navy blue...