Thanks to the internet (and quite frankly Pinterest for helping me find things on the internet) I am happy to say that “Project: Paint The Bathroom Door” was a huge success. It was difficult to allow the 5 year old to help but since she was so eager, I thought I should let her so she can learn early how do be a DIY‘er herself. Is it really ever too early for this?

I have The Pretty Handy Girl’s blog/website to thank, specifically her post titled “How To Paint A Door (The Professional Way) that allowed us to get one small project completed on the bathroom renovation. I feel as though I can hardly call it a renovation since it’s been months since we did anything on this. But, since it’s still ongoing, we press on. Can you believe we have used a curtain (yes a REAL CURTAIN) as our door since last summer? Our only bathroom. Yes, a curtain.

We figured since we are hosting a birthday party we needed to probably get a door on that bathroom. I mean, I suppose people wouldn’t mind pulling a curtain across as “privacy” but I was pretty sure I’d be mocked forever and ever and Ben scarred for life as people refused to let their children be friends with him. Nothing like hosting a party to get some fire under our rears to get cracking on the projects.

Two of the most helpful tips from her website were to give me some kind of order for painting the doors. I always feel overwhelmed about where to start and where to stop and which way to paint – with or against the grain. The second thing it helped me with was telling me to use a roller first and then smooth it out with a brush. Genius! And let me say it worked marvelously.

So, below we have our lovely door hinges. Can you tell which side I spent countless hours scrubbing and which side was the “oh snap, we need to get that paint off and get the door backup STAT!”? But, alas, it’s a hinge. I will go for the shabby-chic look I think – or at least that’s what I will tell myself to make it okay. Who looks at hinges anyway? [Okay, I do, but whatever…]. If you want to know how to get paint off metal hinges, it’s no walk in the park. We used the toxic paint stripping stuff (yes, not green at all) and then proceeded to let it soak for hours and then used wire brushes and flat edged tools like chisels and screwdrivers to chip all remaining amounts of paint. Wear a mask and make SURE you get the special kind of gloves that resist chemicals. Don’t want that stuff eating away your flesh or anything.

And Voila, we now have a door on our bathroom. Isn’t she beautiful?