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Pantry Door – First House Purchase

This. Door. Is. My. Everest. I will never again say to myself, “I could totally strip this down to the bare wood, how hard could it be?” Never again! I have actually said that to myself a million times in my head, but I’ve never pulled the trigger to try it. Well, there is a first (and last) time for everything. Let me back up and start by saying that I made my first purchase for the new house and it’s this (nightmare) beautiful door.

A wooden door

One of my big wishes for this house was to have a large walk in pantry. It will have counters and outlets so I can keep my coffee maker, toaster, mixer, basically all the stuff that I use all the time, but don’t want to keep out in the kitchen because counter top clutter makes me crazy. It also has a window in it due to how the design of the outside of our home worked out. I decided to take advantage of the window and bring more light into our kitchen by using a pantry door with a window as well. This is slightly scary, because I’m not sure I want to see my 42 boxes of macaroni and cheese or industrial sized jar of peanut butter at all times, but I decided to go for it anyway. Maybe it will force me to stay organized? Hmmm, a girl can dream…

Ok so back to the door, it’s going to be a sliding door, because this allowed for the best storage and flow for the kitchen. I didn’t want a traditional looking barn door though, because that’s not really fitting with the cottage/lake house feel for this house. We are going with 5 panel doors for the rest of the home, so when I was at an antique store and spotted this oversized door I thought it would be perfect…besides the 42 layers of paint on it. I think our island is going to be butcher block and I really wanted to carry the wood tone over into the pantry door so I was determined to strip this down to the original wood.

Here check out the many, many, many faces of this door.

A close up of a door

These are only a handful of the progress shots I took, because I wanted to feel like I was making a dent in this project and kept shooting a thousand pics to compare. I also texted my friend Allison who is a furniture refinishing ninja a (in hindsight) poorly worded cryptic text about teaching me her stripper ways…which had her confused about exactly what kind of project I was working on. PAINT stripper, I should have clarified PAINT stripper!

Well the good news is me and my new stripping skills finally got this door naked ;)

A wood door against a tree I won’t be finishing it until I know what the butcher block counter top will look like, but the bare pine wood is so pretty. It still needs a fine sanding and there is a little bit of blue paint in the crevices that I’m hoping to get out, but after 8 coats of paint stripper I need to take a break from this project before I lose my mind. I also needed to share my (almost) victory with someone who would appreciate it more than the Mr.’s “huh cool door”.

So please feast your eyes on this beauty and the gorgeous hardware and imagine it gliding along in my kitchen some day.

A close up of a wooden door

Oh and I would share what products I used, but there were about 4 different bottles of stuff and I can’t say any one worked better for me than another unfortunately. And if you have any tips for this little bit of remaining paint let me know!

Oh and I just got new renderings of our house sent over from the builder that I can share with you, so look for that next week :)

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51 Comments

  1. I hope after all this time you’ve discovered Citristrip. You can accomplish this in about 2 hours, most of which you must just LEAVE THE DARN THING ALONE! Which is the hardest part.
    I use dental tools to pick the bubbled paint out of the corners, but have found an eyeglass repair screw driver to be a great, tiny too.
    Your door is gorgeous. What color did you stain it? Or did you leave it natural?
    I’ve done 15 (so far) antique doors and with the Citristrip took them to bare wood. A 2nd coat will suck the antique stain right out of the wood, so mine are really raw wood. Love ’em!
    Very, very pretty door you made.

  2. I hope after all this time you’ve discovered Citristrip. You can accomplish this in about 2 hours, most of which you must just LEAVE THE DARN THING ALONE! Which is the hardest part.
    I use dental tools to pick the bubbled paint out of the corners, but have found an eyeglass repair screw driver to be a great, tiny too.
    Your door is gorgeous. What color did you stain it? Or did you leave it natural?
    I’ve done 15 (so far) antique doors and with the Citristrip took them to bare wood. A 2nd coat will suck the antique stain right out of the wood, so mine are really raw wood. Love ’em!
    Very, very pretty door you made.

    1. I actually tried Citristrip but the wood was so old it didn’t take the stain evenly and I ended up painting it in the end. Ugh it was a frustrating project but I do love how it turned out :)

  3. Love following along on your house building journey! Was wondering what type of wood you were considering for your kitchen island? We are thinking about using butcher block in our kitchen too! Thank you!

    1. I’m not sure yet! One of the things to figure out, our cabinets are all being built custom so I’m hoping the cabinet maker has some ideas for me on the butcher block too!

  4. Your door is dreamy. What a beauty! I sort of love the bits of paint left behind. If you’re determined to have a completely clean slate I have always had luck with a dremel tool with a cone shaped sanding attachment. And I think the clear glass will be lovely…even if you get the occasional glimpse of peanut butter!

  5. I think a steel crevice brush might get the remainder blue paint off! You know kinda like the ones they use to clean grills and whatnot!

  6. I refinished a door similar to yours for our pantry! Those crevices are the worst ! I used a heat gun to lift it and then I actually was a dental assistant so I had a scaler tool I could use. I also used a small chisel. Your door will look fantastic !!

  7. That door is going to be beautiful. On the other hand, I hate stripping paint or varnish ! Crazy me, I thought I was going to strip the old orange finish off my stair case ! Well I would still be at it a year later, so I went with plan B. Paint ! Someone else can strip that off when I’m gone !

  8. I’ve been quietly following for some time without commenting..Please continue to share with us lurkers who have “been there,done that” over many years.Love it a lot!

  9. I love, love, love this door and I can’t wait to see it in your new home. The hardware is beautiful! You are very wise to have a panty with so much storage and outlets. I need those on my wish list for when I get that beach house.

  11. I’m with Dianne on the frosting of the glass idea so you don’t see the visual clutter. I had our large bathroom window’s glass sandblasted for the frosted look so I wouldn’t have to see the side of our neighbor’s house, but still let in as much light as possible. (I don’t like window coverings of any sort in bathrooms they just seem to collect lots of wet and grimy dust.) I don’t remember what it cost, but when I wanted to do the same treatment to our front door windows, I just bought the spray on frost and it looks every bit as good as the sandblasting job.

    1. Thanks Anne, I’ll have to see how it goes I’m hoping to have pretty shelving with baskets on the wall where the window faces so I think it could be ok!

  12. Beautiful door and hardware. Labor of love, my husband removed layers of paint too. Pantry signs, frosted, bubble, a light stained glass and lacey curtains, lots of options. I understand about the mac and cheese:).
    Have a nice weekend, Kathleen in Az

  13. First let’s just say a PANTRY that has counters, plugs and window!!! Holy cow! This door is gorgeous! I love pine! Always have!! This is going to be gorgeous!! Etsy has cool pantry signs for a door. I’m so happy to be following along ……

  14. That door is beautiful! I absolutely love it. Your hard work has paid off and you’ll be reaping the benefits for a long time to come. :) I love it as you’re doing it with all the paint stripped off, but I also like your far right photo where it still had a little bit of blue showing. Gorgeous either way.

    Not sure I’ve ever commented, but I’ve been following for a little while now and I love your style. I can’t wait to see what you do with your new house. Thanks so much for sharing. :)

  16. That is some serious tenacity and will power that I find very impressive. The end result is breathtaking. That is one Cinderella door and you are its fairy Godmother. Cheers, Ardith

  17. Been there, done that!! AND every time I say, I AM NEVER DOING THAT AGAIN! AND THEN, you find another fabulous something and do it all again. My latest is a buffet off of Craigslist, turned entertainment center. The actually stripping wasn’t bad. but the staining!!!! Five different coats of stain to get to where I wanted it to be. Never again! Until next time.

  19. There goes your gusto again. Great job – totally worth the time and effort. Curious as to why wood countertops over stone? Esthetics?

    1. Hi Maureen, the rest of the counters will be quartz just wanted the island to butcher block to bring some warmth to the kitchen and break up all the white. This house will be a bit more casual feeling so I like the idea of the wood.

  20. I think the door is lovely. You can always frost the glass so you can’t see everything inside. I don’t have an old door but mine has frosted glass. Gives you a slight glimpse at what’s inside, but doesn’t give you hives each time you look at it!

  22. Love the hardware….my favourite part…..you are so fortunate to be able to have a pantry like you are describing….our poor old bungalow is old enough…circa 1950 …..that everything is made for smaller things…like fridges and stoves….and no pantry! ? I too, would love to get the clutter of my counters.

  23. That my dear, like child birth is a LABOR OF LOVE!!! It is like giving birth, you are in a lot of pain during it, but once you get that baby out and they place that child on you and you look at it and all its beauty, you forget the pain involved in getting there. You look at its beauty and your in LOVE with it. I suspect you will Love it more than any NEW thing you could have put in your new home.

    Can wait to see the little beauty in place!!

    Good job!!

  24. If you have a Dremmel, the sanding pad attachments are fantastic for tight spaces. It also has a scraper attachment but it looks like you are beyond that point in the project. Looks beautiful ☺

  27. Hi there! I’ve been reading your blog for some time, but like many I never think to comment… When I read this one today I knew I should put in my two cents because my husband and I displayed the same gusto on our 1950’s layered-in-8-layers-of-paint pine fireplace when we bought our first house 2 years ago. We found that the little wire brushes you can purchase at the hardware store work great…And funny enough, dentist tools! So if you can get your hands on some of those… ;) good luck, it looks awesome already!!

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