Refinishing Our New Old Farmhouse Front Door
Hi friend!
This is an article that I’ve been SO excited to finally write and even more excited for you to see! It’s all about refinishing our old new farmhouse front door!
Below is a picture of the door that was here when we moved in and the one we replaced aka the “before door”.
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About Our New Old Front Door
If you read the previous article about our new old storm door then you already know we actually found this old new door in the barn! But not only did we find it in the barn, it’s also an original front door to the farmhouse! It’s a bit confusing to explain but I’ll try.
So the door that we use as our front door leads from a little front porch on the side of the house into the kitchen. The driveway runs right along this side of the house so it makes the most sense as the “front door”. Our house is actually at the end of a paved road that turns into a dirt road at our house. So now it’s basically a dead end road except for farmers.
But 120+ years ago the house was built to face that road. And there were 2 original front doors off a porch on that side of the house. The porch has since been removed or fallen down (we’ll be rebuilding it!) and 1 of the front doors that would have led to the original sitting room (living room) was taken off and covered when the bathroom was relocated.
The second door leads into what used to be the dining room and is now our living room. But when someone added the new wood flooring they didn’t cut the door down to allow it to open. This is fine with me because I’ll be ripping up this flooring soon anyway 😉 Shew! I hope that made sense! If not it will once we replace the original front porch!
The door pictured below is the one in our living room and is an exact match to the door we found in the barn and hung as our new old front door!
Refinishing the New Old Front Door
After finding this door I decided to paint the storm door and strip this one back to a raw natural wood. At first I tried Citristrip because it was still winter and I was doing int inside. There were just too many layers of tough old paint and I wasn’t getting anywhere fast. So I decided to wait for warmer days and get a more powerful stripper.
Once the weather got nice we took the door outside and took it apart. The door had to be cut down a bit to fit the new opening and we wanted to strengthen some weak places with wood conditioner and then wood glue when we put it back together. It still door several coats of stripper and a hand sander to get the frame of the door stripped.
Stripping the Door
After switching to the stripper pictured and linked above we discovered details on the exterior moldings around the glass that you couldn’t see before because there were so many layers of paint! I was SO excited! We had to use a wire brush to gently remove the paint in these intricate areas. I also used a toothpick to get it out of the tiny grooves.
Switching the Hardware on the Door
After getting the door stripped (after 27 coats) and glued back together, the next issue was switching the hardware. Interestingly there were holes for different types of hardware on both sides of the door. Since we already knew by looking at the matching door in our living room that the more decorative molding faced outward we wanted to keep that the same.
This meant coming up with a solution to fill these little holes. At first we thought about wood putty and found a really good match. But when the time came I suggested we try filling it with a knot from another piece of wood and it worked awesome!
It was delicate work removing the knots, one for the outside and one for the inside of the door. But Ed did an amazing job! You wouldn’t know they weren’t just part of the door!
Installing the New Door Hardware
The new hardware we chose has a close resemblance to the original. It also locks with a skeleton key which we think is pretty awesome! 😉
You can find the new hardware HERE!
The Finished New Old Farmhouse Front Door
And here she is in all her natural glory! I finished it with the same clear Miss Mustard Seed wax I used on the storm door and I just LOVE how it turned out!
The old beveled glass is beautiful in and of itself! And it lets so much light into an area of the kitchen that was once dark! We also removed the piece of wood that was on the outside of the transom window and scraped the paint of the inside. I still need to paint the outside frame and eventually want to strip all the transom hardware too.
Refinishing Our New Old Farmhouse Front Door
This new old front door has changed the look of the farmhouse inside and out! We couldn’t be happier and both agree it was worth the wait and the work! We never claim to be restorationists as we’ll always be blending the old with the new, but it feels really good that an original part of the farmhouse found it’s way back to it 🙂
I hope you enjoyed seeing this door be given new life! So many more farmhouse projects to come my friend!
Thanks for stopping by the blog today!
16 Comments
Ramona Myers
Amanda,
The door is amazing! What an incredible amount of work but so worth it. 👍
When we refinished our basement I wanted a sliding barn door to replace the previous door that separated the finished side of the basement from the storage side. Fortunately I found an old farm house door at an Estate Sale and bought it for $10. They were going to throw it away had I not purchased it. 😱
Amanda
Wow what an amazing find! And perfect timing too! I’m sure it looks awesome! Thanks so much btw! ❤️❤️
Denise
Oh my goodness!! Those doors are beautiful! What a wonderful find and a wonderful job on the restoration. I’m sure your fur babes are soaking up the sunshine!!
Amanda
They are! And lots of “window nose and paw art” 😉😂 Thank you so much! ❤️
Deb Pelton
Amanda, just perfect! I think being able to refinish AND install the original door is the best! So excited for you and Ed. One more project down! Keep ticking them off! You’ll be relaxing on that porch more and more.
Amanda
Thank you!! I just don’t think you can beat the original ❤️ And that’s very true!!
Sylvia
Absolutely stunning doors! You can’t beat the old charm. Well done! Love your blog, love your passion for your farmhouse and the simpler life 🙂
Amanda
Oh my goodness thank you so much! I’m loving all of it even more than I thought I would and I’m so glad that transfers here ❤️ So glad you’re along for the ride!
Jeannie
Oh my goodness! That’s the trim that was on the front door of my grandparents’ farm! It had 2/3 window with a panel below & had never been painted. I loved that house!
Amanda
Wow that’s awesome! I’m really glad we were able to bring it back and enjoy those details!
Michele M.
WOW! Looks awesome!!!
Amanda
Thank you!!!!
Alicia Hursley
Great work Amanda! That door looks amazing. I love a good refinishing project. We recently had our kitchen hardwood floors refinished by Fabulous Floors Columbus, and I do really love the results. I can’t wait to try projects like this now for our own front door to start really getting our house the way we want it. Thanks for sharing.
Amanda
Thank you! And awesome! I’ll be trying to refinish the hardwood floors throughout the main floor soon! There is glued down tile on top of them so it will be quite the undertaking but I think it will also be worth it! Good luck with all your projects! ❤️
Rochelle
Ok this is crazy- your “new” door is exactly like my original front door too!!!! I have to send you pics! I didn’t like the way my glass panes didn’t match up and was going to get rid of storm door but glad I didn’t!!
Amanda
Whaaaat?!? Seriously what are the odds?! I’d love to see both doors! What year was your house built?