DIY Crafts

French Door Island,

I adore this French Door Island!  This is the second one I’ve finished. The first island I finished was in white, and it had a floor, whereas this one is open on the bottom.  I think I like having a floor in there better (even though it is mega heavy), but either way, such a cool piece.

I am not a carpenter, so all the glory of putting this together goes to my builder friend, Roger.  I show him my ideas and he makes it happen.  He’s good like that.  Everyone needs a “Roger” in their life.  I brought him an old panel door and a French door.  He pulled it all together.

Once I brought this project back to my garage, it was time to get started.  Since I had already done a white version, I felt like this one wanted to be black. 

Let’s Get Started!

I started by sanding the door on top with my DeWalt Orbital Sander.  It was very chippy and that wasn’t quite the look I wanted, so it took quite a bit of time to get it to where I was happy with it.  Once I had it where I liked it, I cleaned it up and lightly sanded the French door so that it would be ready for paint. I sanded the French Door with the sanding sponge to be careful of the glass.

I apologize.  The pictures aren’t the best. I had a really hard time photographing it for some reason; probably because of the size of it. 

For the top, I used a mixture of paints to achieve the look.  I’m planning to do a tutorial very soon on how to achieve this look.  It’s hard to explain and easier to demonstrate in video. 

In a nutshell, I base painted the door with “Burlap” by Dixie Belle. Then streaked over that with Miss Lillian’s Swamp Muds in Dark Brown and Dark Gray.  I always go a lot heavier with the brown, because that is the main color I want to see.  And then I kind of blend them a little with an old, soft rag. 

Once that is all completely dry, I then go over the whole top with Miss Lillian’s “Truffle” Antiquing Glaze.  Then the next day I sealed it with Minwax Fast Drying Polyurethane “Clear Satin”.  I do 3 coats of that, lightly sanding between coats.

That’s the top door…  now for the French door.  I lightly sanded it, being very careful not to scratch the glass with the sander or sanding sponge.  I have made that mistake plenty in the past.

Once the French door is lightly sanded, washed down and dried, I then painted it with Dixie Belle’s black “Caviar”.  Two coats, letting dry completely before the second coat.  I used the Minwax Polyurethane for sealing this also, but only one coat since I did not feel it was a high traffic area.

As for the rest of the piece…I stained it with Minwax Dark Walnut and sealed with the Minwax Polyurethane. 

Supplies

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I think that covers it!  Such a gorgeous, solid piece!  It took a little white to find its new home!  Not everyone has room for a piece this size!

Don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions or I left anything out!!

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