Operation Red Door!

My house is a constant work in progress. There isn't a room in it that does not need something done to it,  walls painted, wallpaper removed, cabinets stained, chandelier replaced, floor replaced and the list goes on (and on). Bub and I just tackle one project at a time.

I was reading Bower Power and her post on painting her front door, when it dawned on me the front of our house needed something.

Yes, we are a house divided. War Eagle.

It needed some lipstick! Bub agreed wholeheartedly and he even agreed it should be red. But, what red. We certainly do not have the best track record picking out paint and we even follow all the rules- going so far as to get the samples and testing them before committing to the paint color. We looked at several reds; red, NOT maroon and narrowed it down to Red Delicious by Glidden by taping paint swatches to the door.

Once we finalized our decision on which red, we got right down to business. First thing, Bub took the door off the hinges using a Flathead screwdriver and a hammer. He put the tip of the screwdriver at the top of the hinge and tapped the handle with the hammer causing the pin to come out of the hinge.

Our door is original to this 1985 home and when we started really looking at it, it was easy to see that this would not be its first paint job. First thing Bub removed the caulk around the leaded glass window.

and then off came the door handles- yes, handles. I don't know nor do I understand but, the door has two handles. All there is to taking the handles off is unscrewing the screws on the side of the door.

And then, Bub started sanding. He didn't sand all the way down to the metal of the door- he just sanded it a bit so that the primer would be able to gain traction. It was at this point that we came to the conclusion that if we were going to the trouble of painting the door, it would still look like crud if we didn't clean between the leaded glass pane and the door window.