The Almost Perfect Door

A few months ago, I was inspired by a fellow crafter who refinished her kitchen table. It was GORGEOUS! I commented about how nice it turned out. She promised me that it was really, REALLY easy. That's all the encouragement that I needed. I have three boys. That should explain the reason why my house is FILLED with things that need to be refinished. The good news is that a couple of these same boys are desperate for some summer-time spending money. I offered each boy a 'job' of refinishing one of these TLC projects

Today's project (story) will focus on our front door.

My thirteen-year-old drew the short straw (er, I mean, was lucky enough to win the honor of refinishing the front door). His job entailed sanding away 5-6 years of brutal sun, rain and wind damage. It used to be a VERY pretty front door.

He's a slow worker. He's also easily sidetracked. Of course, sanding through the power cord cost us a day, too. He started on Tuesday. Finally, on Friday the door was ready for me to finish. Lovingly I rubbed not one, but two coats of Antique Walnut stain into the screamin clean wood grains. Keep in mind that all of this work is being done with the door laying flat, and the front of my house opened to the world.

First thing on my agenda today was to get the door finished and rehung. Coat one of the varnish was applied. Ooooh, it looked good. But since this door stares into the setting sun day after day, one coat wasn't good enough. I was going to do the job right...even if it took me the entire day to do it!

The winds started to pick up. I had been working in our garage but I didn't want to risk any dust or dirt blowing onto my pristine door. I took the extra time to clear out a spot in the kitchen where I could apply the second coat of varnish and the door could dry out of harms way.

What was I thinking?????

The second coat of varnish was applied. I stood back to admire my work. I made my husband come in and admire my work. We both agreed that the door was perfect.

Exactly ten minutes later, my hubby came out to find me relaxed in my garden. "I think the cat jumped onto your door."

"What?" OK, it was more like...."WHAT?!!!!!!!!!" I went to examine the damages. Funny thing. It didn't look like a cat print. It looked suspiciously like finger prints.

I called the boys in one at a time. The first two were clean. Third one... not so much. I will say that I was quite proud of him for telling the truth. He might have gotten away with letting the cat take the fall.


Did he think that I was just kidding when I said not to touch the door for four hours? Could he really have forgotten 10 minutes after I told him? He's 13. I'll never know what was going through his head. The real kicker is that this is the same kid who had just spent two days of his summer sanding that door!

My husband thinks he can fix the smudge. I don't know if I want him to. I'm content to have an ALMOST perfect front door. If he gets rid of the evidence, no one will believe my story.

Stay tuned. My other child is 1/2 way through his table refinishing project. Wonder what story we'll have to tell when he's done!