Thursday 15 September 2011

Bedroom door saga

I decided some time ago to replace the boring old plain core door to my bedroom and install something with a bit of character. I searched high and low for a door to fit. 75.5 cms wide x 2010 cms tall x 30cms deep . Easy you would think? NO! The standard Aussie door can be between 82 to 87 cms wide. Height is usually 2040cms. I went on a treasure hunt, scouring old 2nd hand dealers stores, searching demolition sites, checking on ebay regularly, but to no avail. Gah! Obviously who ever had done the renovation before me had a lot to answer for! 
  Many older houses had odd sized doors. That was perfectly ok with me. Having spent fruitless hours searching though, I came to the conclusion that either the door space needed to be widened and given some extra height or I would simply undress in the evenings for all and sundry to admire. After giving this some more thought, I do believe my polar bear suntan would be too much for poor innocent eyes, so the widening and heightening began!
  Alas! Yet again, more problems. The door jamb was made with left over odd bits of skirting board and hard against my teen son's bedroom. The fact there is barely any support in the wall above my door space made it impossible to open this up for a newer door. It was also discovered that the whole door jamb is out by 8mms! (almost an inch) It appears that the previous renovator was either drunk or had astigmatism. How the hell could it be so glaringly out? It was time for ME to get drunk!
  Eventually I bit the bullet and bought an older Californian Bungalow style door. I would prefer something a bit more individual but this will do for now. Amazingly enough it was cheaper than I expected to pay. Only $50. (Believe me in Melbourne, Australia this is cheap!) It was painted a dark almost black that is taking me forever to paint strip. It has many bumps and scrapes but it has character. Poor old thing needs a reason for living and my home is it. I will probably keep the side into my bedroom in the original wood and just clear coat it. The outer side I am umming and ahhing to paint in white. 
 We can't change immediately the original door frame and to do so would only invite disaster of the shrieking of this redhead kind. So for now, the new/old door is shaved and primped to fit. No lock or handle was supplied, so temporarily it will just have to suffice with a newer handle I bought a long time ago. 
Poor old girl needing a new outfit.
 

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