Thursday, July 23, 2009

Hooked on: Dutch Doors

Today I'm linking to Julia at Hooked on Houses for her "Hooked On..." party! Go check out her site to see what everyone else is so happy about.

~Please also be sure to check back here soon. This is post #198, and I have several special things planned for #200!~

I've always thought Dutch Doors were so cute!

Love the finish on this one!

That's a mud room I'd love to come home to!

If my girls' play house looked like this, I bet they'd stay out for hours!


(Images from Google)

When Kate at Centsational Girl asked me about a Dutch Door I'd mentioned in a comment on her blog, I knew what I'd share for this week's "Hooked On" party.

Our Living room is just a long room set on one side of our home. When you closed the door to the Living room, you were really isolated from the rest of the house, especially since it opens from the Kitchen, which is usually a hub for traffic. (In hindsight, I bet T wishes he still had some isolation in there from all the estrogen in our home)

T got it in his head one day that he was going to make a Dutch door for the Living room. Knowing that this would involve lots of hammering, drilling, and a fair amount of cursing, I kept my mouth shut and waited to see the results. T is not a carpenter, but he is pretty handy, and I liked the results.

Looks like sort of a regular door, huh?


Ta da! This is a door with super powers! (It is a pity the view you have is of the heinous brass reading lamp he won't let me get rid of...)

I have no idea what the hardware on this baby is called, but this is a shot of the top of the little ledge that graces the lower half of the door.

Here's a photo from the front. The brass hurts my heart.


Photo of the underside of the top portion of the door. This is what clicks and holds the two doors together when they shut so they don't swing around.

T is a total MacGyver. He didn't build the door out of floss and twigs or anything, but he did manage to saw a completely fine door in half and rig it up as a Dutch door.

Now I can see what the kids are doing (trying to teach Michaela Byrd to somersault..she'd have none of it!) while I'm in the kitchen. It also works for yappy dogs...I can shut Emma Woodhouse in there when we have company!


But I can't leave a face like that on the other side of the door for too long!
I can't remember the total cost of this project, but it was considerably less than calling a carpenter over. If your husband is handy, or if you let your kids play with power tools, this could be an easy fix for you!

{What are you hooked on this week?}

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21 comments:

  1. Oh wow!! 200 posts soon?? Congrats, well pre-congrats. ;-) Happy Friday.

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  2. I'm hooked on strawberries with sugar free cool whip. Also, I'm hooked on the new Jodi Piccoult book! I'll have to lend it to you - a-maze-ing!

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  3. Me likely Dutch Door. Me want Dutch Door. Gimme gimme gimme.

    :-)
    Kate

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  4. Your husband did a great job. That's the perfect doggie and baby proof door too! Thanks for visiting my blog. Nice to meet you:-)

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  5. That's cute. I bet the kids just love!

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  6. That little girl is darling!
    I love the doors, too.

    Feel free to check out my brand new craft blog at http://www.oopsicraftmypants.blogspot.com.

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  7. Love it! I, too, love Dutch doors...there's just something about them!

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  8. Love it! My house is pretty open, but that is so cool!

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  9. Don't you love having a handy husband?? T did a fantastic job on your door. I can see why you'd want one in this area.

    The door that goes from our dining room to our porch is a dutch door with glass panes in the upper part. Mr. SP screwed it together somehow because he felt like someone could break in more easily with it being a dutch door. I about died when he did that!! He's from Chicago so I just bit my lip.

    I actually like brass hardware and I like your brass lamp. Brass will come back, you just wait. My living room has two brass lamps that I've had since '91. I still like them. If you get a new floor lamp, don't throw that one away. Brass will be in again, I promise!!

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  10. I have a Dutch door for my front door. You should see the look on people's faces when I open only the top half up. It works great at keeping the pups from escaping!

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  11. Soo sweet! My cousins and I used to sit on their door. It was a treasure! Blessings.

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  12. I am visiting from Julia's Hooked on Party. Thanks for sharing!

    I always called these barn doors. A school I used to teach at had this type of door between the classroom and stock room (I teach science). The door had a ledge so you could prep items and set them on the ledge until needed or a helper took them to their lab station.

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  13. I love doors too and you have yourself a fabulous one :).

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  14. Amanda, that little tin planter was a yardsale find & someone told me that it came from Southern Living at Home. I'm sure it was a lot more than the $3 or so I paid for it. Glad you found one too.

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  15. I had no idea you had a blog! so I've got tons of reading to do and probably tons of beautiful photos too...

    one of my fav things about Lynn (in GA)'s house is her kitchen has a dutch door...coolest thing every...

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  16. Very nice Amanda - much better then a doggie gate ! Glad to see the kids and not a horse peering through, LOL !
    Hugs ~ Kammy

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  17. Wow, I love that!!! I need to find somewhere to put a Dutch door now! You guys did a great job!

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  18. Love Dutch Doors! My post last Monday featured one.

    Happy Saturday to you! I am slowly making my way around to all the blogs that visited me when I was featured on SITS to say "Thank you". It is indeed a fabulous SITStahood.
    Be blessed!

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  19. OMgosh! Thanks so much for posting this!

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  20. Super cute! Great job on the door...Love it!

    XOXO

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  21. How fun! I remember my aunt who used to babysit us had dutch door...we thought it was so cool!

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