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.
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.
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 PAINTÂ stripper!
Well the good news is me and my new stripping skills finally got this door naked ;)
 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.
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 :)
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.
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.
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 :)
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!
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!
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!
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!
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 !!
Thanks for the tips, I need to hit up my dentist friends!
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 !
oh my goodness yes a staircase would be a nightmare!