Four Sides Down – Zero To Go

Eight rolls of paper towels, 4 packages of steel wool, and a gallon and a half of denatured alcohol later and the doors are stripped. Whew! As I suspected in yesterdays post, the first side I did that was in really, really bad shape was in fact also finished in red tinted shellac. It was just so bad I couldn’t tell. That is one of the reasons it came out so dark. I think the darkness in the wood was also the result of exposure.

The good thing is, though, I have 2 sets of matching sides. The two that were tinted red are a little darker, but they are a good match, and the other two sides that were not tinted look as they should and are also a good match. The plan is to put the tinted ones facing the foyer and the good ones facing the parlor. I will probably see the parlor side a lot more, and the parlor has better lighting.

The Parlor Side


The Foyer Side


For the Foyer Side, the one on the right is the very first door I did. The one on the left was just oiled before I took this picture so it may be hard to tell, but that first one is a little darker. Below is what I started with.

Is There A Door Under There


It may also be hard to tell in the picture, but the panels have some subtle burl grain in them. I just could not be more thrilled with them. The next part of the operation is to add 5-inches to the height. I took a better measurement of the width today and they appear to be dead-on for the pockets. This means I may not have to trim the width any. I had thought they were an inch too wide. Maybe I won’t be going to hell after all. Wouldn’t that be nice.