Remodelaholic

Submitted by The Modern Parsonage

When we renovated our den, we discovered that the water main for the house sat behind wood paneling that the previous owners had cut and reattached whenever access to it was needed. Since we were drywalling the whole room, we figured that we'd just tack up a door in the space when the time came.

The problem we encountered when the time came was that a plain Jane door was inevitably going to look out of place, particularly in a room that we'd just immaculately designed put so much effort into beautifying. Then inspiration struck. Blogs across the Internet sang praises of faux wainscoting. Our old apartment had faux wainscoting. Little square doors look a lot like faux wainscoting. Maybe this was the solution. Scott whipped out his mathematics prowess (and a miter saw) and got to work framing out the door.

We attached four cabinet-grade magnets to the door and studs to make a detachable panel that was useful, but also easily camouflaged. The next step was installing the trim.

We used a combination of adhesive and finishing nails to hold the squares in place and - trust me - they aren't going anywhere. Scott filled the gaps with DAP caulk and it was time for me to inherit the wall for priming and painting.

See? We're getting there! All told, the wall needed one coat of primer and three coats of wall/trim white paint, but the results are fantastic.

Here it is with the open door, looking useful. But oh!

Also pretty darn gorgeous. I would encourage anyone with a similar dilemma to think outside the box (no pun intended) and incorporate some kind of design element to spruce up an otherwise boring solution. Not only do we have a beautiful wall, but it's also a great foyer space for the backyard entrance. I already have visions of an upholstered bench to round out the space.