An Ode To Sanding (or not)

Two weekends ago (aka the weekend of frustration) I decided I had had enough and was going to get something, anything, done. Well that something turned out to be sanding the remaining doors on the main floor. As in, I was tired of having painted door jambs and unpainted doors. It's not really the look we're going for. Anyway, I took four doors (the downstairs bedroom, the downstairs bathroom, and two sliding closet doors that used to be on the dry bar closet) out to the garage to begin the painstaking process of sanding them. Just to be clear, I hate sanding. It's the worst. It makes my hands feel numb, it makes my nose run (and then when I blow my nose my snot is the same color as whatever I was sanding) and its generally not a lot of fun. Especially when you don't have whatever your sanding at an appropriate height. See?

 

 

Saw horses would be really helpful right about now. I really love these ones that I saw in ReadyMade (may they rest in peace). Maybe I'll make some. For now I just had to use what I had on hand, which was the drawers that we pulled out of this built in from our bedroom and one polar roller (aka a cooler with wheels).

 

 

Everyone says we are crazy for taking it out.... Oh wait, what am I saying? No one says that. After all that pesky sanding I was able to prop the doors up against the garage wall (with some cardboard under them) and use one of the best things we've ever bought, my paint sprayer!

 

 

We bought it before tackling the never ending railing makeover that was coincidentally around this time last year. Don't get me wrong, it's not the painting that I put off for so long, it's the sanding you have to do before you can paint. (oh and not that you can ally read the bumper sticker {if guns are outlawed, then only outlaws will have guns} on the wall, but it's not ours. It was there before we bought the house,so no political musings here)

 

 

This really is a life (and back) saver. I do think it takes more coats to get nice even coverage, but I think the end result is so worth it! Oh, and I've even got a little before and after action for you fine folks today! Here's the closet in the downstairs bedroom with the lame hollow core not interesting at all doors.

 

 

This closet is where we keep some of our coats and jackets since we got rid of the closet in the living room. Well, and a bunch of other crap.

 

 

Dut dut duuuuh dunn, the after! Don't worry, all the crap is still in there, you just can't see it now.

 

 

Well kind of an after, I still need to paint that little piece of trim that's above the closet doors and get those little metal things that go in these holes. At least I vacuumed all those little bits of cardboard up! We were just glad the paneled doors from the dry bar were the same size as the doors to this closet. Free upgrade!



 

I'm excited to get these doors finished so I can move on to the ones upstairs. Umm wait, I should probably say that I'm excited for these doors to be finished, not so much actually doing this project. But the good news is that all the doors upstairs are flat like the closet doors we just replaced, so they should be easier to sand. Oh, and as far as the front door goes, I really like the idea of refinishing it with black stain but painting the door jamb white. Sadly, that will probably have to wait until next spring seeing that it's already cold. Which totally matters because we will have to go doorless for a day while we sand the door.

 

 

Please tell me you hate sanding as much as I do. Or at least painting things that are attached to your house, like trim. Also, what happened to ReadyMade's website?