Building an Entry Door, Part 3 of 3

See how I started building this door
See how I frosted plexiglass and added trim

It is partly because I built it with my hands that I love our entry door.  Having day dreamed of the design sketched on paper and now seeing it every day is surreal.  We do so appreciate it.  The best part is, it was not difficult to do.  You can build your own front entry door too!

After filling the holes, sanding, glazing and caulking the plexiglass in place, we painted our door deep purple with the gallon of leftover paint we used to paint our small end tables, our painted canvas floorcloth, and rear media console. 

Before the door could be complete, I glazed the plexiglass to the timbron I used as stops, added glazier points and more trim to keep the glass in place and waited 3 days, per the instructions on the glazing compound, before it was time to caulk and paint.

Living Room: $500 Furnishing Challenge

Furnishing a nearly empty room with $500

Remember the living room progress we've made?

In January 2013, I set a goal of furnishing our living room for $500, what was left of a $10,000 loan I took out in May 2012 to afford renovation materials for the bedrooms, our gutted bathroom, and our gutted kitchen (which took the bulk of the money).  We kept our electronics budget separate, thankfully, which includes the home theater, software, fans, air purifier, and various discs (CDs, DVDs, blu rays, Games). 

To honor my husband's 3-item dream home list, I knew I had to purchase a papasan chair first for the living room, which used nearly half our furniture budget.  We knew that if we wanted furniture, we needed to build our own.

It has been a 6 month furniture building journey, and I've loved every piece -- knowing we built and designed them, knowing building has saved us money, and knowing that we could custom create pieces we wanted. Using reclaimed wood, scrap pieces, and wood already in the garage, and using the same 3 paints for furniture and 1 container of stain has helped cut down costs, but also coordinate the looks in the living room.

We've kept a list of every piece of furniture we've purchased or made for our living room to help keep us on track with our $500 goal.

Our living room furniture budget (costs rounded up to the next dollar):

• Purchased Papasan chair:  $223 Purchase
• Hand-painted floor cloth:  $40 Project
• 2 - 120" curtain rods:  $32 Purchase
• 2 - Small end tables: $5 Project
• 3 - Hanging Wood Lanterns: $25 Project
• Wooden Lantern Tree: $4 Project
• Reclaimed Wood Coffee Table:  $5 Project
• Reclaimed 1x6 Topped Media Console: $29 Project
• 2x4 and Jalousie Rear Console: $10 Project
• C End Table: $1 Project

$126 left for repairing and slipcovering those sofas!  Then I can crunch numbers for a living room decor budget.  I have pillows to sew, plants to nurse, and second-hand decor for which to hunt.  =D  Admittedly, this is also the part for which I'll need the most help.  Here's to soon turning another new leaf, old living room.

2x4 Rear Console Finishing and Glazing

See how I built the console

Our house is full of old jalousie windows; it is pretty standard where I live.  So spare jalousies are like a pest problem, because they are usually only imagined as glass louvers.  When they are no longer needed as louvers, they hang around in stacks in garages, like mine.  It struck me that our jalousies are sturdy, perhaps tempered, glass panes that could become a free glass accent for our rear console.

After two days of building, I worked over the period of 3 days to finish the console while making the bracelet display for Humble Ride Apparel.  This console marks the first time I had worked with glass and glazing compound, and now have our first mixed material furnishing: