The Texas Woman

Trash to Terrific!

Bar Doors

The same day I bought the now-upside-down headboard/room divider I saw a pair of five dollar unfinished swinging bar doors.

I. h.a.v.e. a.l.w.a.y.s. w.a.n.t.e.d. s.w.i.n.g.i.n.g. b.a.r. d.o.o.r.s!

They are so cool and western. This pair was in pretty rough condition, with water damage and missing hardware. The hardware that was still there was nasty!

Renee and I again went back at the end of the garage sale (we're getting famous for that) and I got them for, you guessed it, a dollar, my favorite price!

At home I removed the yucky hardware, filled in the old holes, and glued and clamped some splits in the wood.

New hardware was a couple of bucks but very easy to install. It was a snap to get the two doors to be even up and down, forward and backwards, especially since I left that part up to IT Guy, but it did look easy!


After installation I took the doors back down and sanded them after filling in some of the really rough spots with wood putty. Then I spray painted them black, of course.

Between each coat of paint I used extra fine steel wool to smooth the surface. I then put some brown paint on top of the black for an aged look (see right door), again rubbing the paint with steel wool until I got the effect I wanted (see left door).

Come on in and I'll buy ya a drink!

Terlet Paper Storage

Here's another find from that day but I probably overpaid for it - two whole dollars! It's some type of old feeder, all rusted and nasty just like I love stuff. I cleaned it up with a wire brush, then spray varnished it with some clear rust preventive.

I put the terlet paper storage unit in the guest bathroom and left the feeder door open just a little so visitors that might feel the need for gobs of terlet paper can see where it's stored.