It was our goal to 'open' it up and give it some natural flow. Because honestly, there wasn't any. The first time we went to look at the house I didn't even get all the way through. I looked at the Realtor and said something like 'Is this a joke? This isn't a house, it's a maze. I'm done. Let's get out of here."
Not even kidding. I didn't even go through the whole house. We left. We left without going through the whole house... that's how much I hated it! A week later I called our Realtor back and asked her if we could go look at the maze house again. Then proceeded to write an offer on it before my husband ever even saw the house. Is anyone laughing as hard as I am right now? THIS is the joke! The fact that I wrote a contract on a house that I hated a week earlier, without even showing it to my husband. I can faintly remember the look on his face when I told him.. "But honey, I thought you hated that house?". Oh yeah, well I only had a few to choose from, and a dead line I set in my head, so I picked the one with the most potential! Okay, cool, well now that we got that awkward story out of the way..
Not even kidding. I didn't even go through the whole house. We left. We left without going through the whole house... that's how much I hated it! A week later I called our Realtor back and asked her if we could go look at the maze house again. Then proceeded to write an offer on it before my husband ever even saw the house. Is anyone laughing as hard as I am right now? THIS is the joke! The fact that I wrote a contract on a house that I hated a week earlier, without even showing it to my husband. I can faintly remember the look on his face when I told him.. "But honey, I thought you hated that house?". Oh yeah, well I only had a few to choose from, and a dead line I set in my head, so I picked the one with the most potential! Okay, cool, well now that we got that awkward story out of the way..
As my readers all know we have been doing a lot of work, and this house now has a special place in my heart. I love it more and more each day - or should I say more and more each project.
The most recent project we did is one of my favorites. We have this very large, amazing room that is open to the rest of our home only by an old, nasty door. We've been here 11 months, and it took me this long to decide what to do with that room. It's the biggest in the house, and I knew we needed to use the space to make our home feel more spacious and comfortable when we had more than 2 friends over at a time. We decided to make it a living room with a dining nook. More on that later. But now that we have this awesome room, it just felt awkward being so 'separated' from the house. I've said several times 'I'm going to take that door off one day soon'. My husband doesn't take these kind of threats lightly anymore. He replied with his calm, but very distant, 'I'm sure you are'.
Well, just like most of the projects in our house, I got just far enough in that I couldn't do any more without his help, yet it wasn't functional anymore.. therefore he HAD to help me!
When he got the door off he asked what I was doing. That is our only 'barrier' from out dogs when we just need a break, and heaven forbid we need a break and don't have a door up. 'I'm building a gate.' I said. (eye roll from the husband) 'I'll be done in an hour and you can help me put it up.'
The gracious and wonderful husband even helped me cut some boards! I got the gate put together and painted in an hour, and sure enough he was there to help me hang it!
Unfortunately I didn't take great pictures during the process. I was racing the clock, I didn't have time for pictures! I got some good 'after' pictures though, and they should help you see how it was put together.
Our door frame measured 32 1/4". I decided to make the gate 31 1/2" wide, to leave room for hinges. It fits PERFECTLY. I can't say this is because of my precise measuring, but more or less I probably just got lucky!
I wanted it to be square, so I then made it 31 1/2" tall.
These measurements will be different depending on where you plan to put the door. But for this door I needed :
7 A boards 31.5" x 3" ( for the vertical boards)
2 B boards 31.5" x 4" ( for the top and bottom)
2 C boards 23.75 x 3" (to fill in the 'square' on the front)
white paint (I used functional white by Sherwin Williams)
2 hinges
1 set of gate hardware
wood putty
sand paper
Once you get the boards cut to the right sizes it is seriously SO simple!
We already had the wood, hinges, paint, wood putty and sandpaper from previous projects, so this project cost me an whooping $8.97 for the gate hardware!
The letters in this pictures correspond with the letters representing the different sized boards above. the pink 'A's' are to show the boards behind the C
Simply lay your 2 wide boards (B boards) parallel to each other and spread out to reach 31.5".
Line up your 7 3" boards (A boards) perpendicular across them, spacing evenly, and screw the boards together. Now you have your base.
Flip the entire base over. Yur last 2 boards (C boards) are going to go on each end, fitting between the B's, to make the 'square' look. You may have to shave them down a little if they don't quite fit. Screw them in to the A boards behind them.
Seriously, that's it! Fill your screw holes with wood putty, paint, distress and done!
Hanging it was easy as well, treat it just as you would hanging a door. Line up the hinges where you want them and screw them in. We used the hinges from the door was that was previously up, and put the gate hardware on last to make sure it was exactly where we wanted it. We have our gate 2.5 inches off the ground so it swings easy.
If any of my followers makes one of these I would love to see pictures!!
Xoxo
Brittney
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