Sometimes when something bad happens, it's an opportunity to make something great of the mess. I think that's what I've done with this project. I have a story to tell here. So if you don't want to read it, just scroll through the pictures. If you do, then read on my friends!
When we first moved into this house I had two kids and now I have five. There have been a lot of changes made to make the house more kid friendly. The first to go was the blinds that were on the windows of the french doors that led to the back yard. Peanut butter and jelly and fabric blinds don't mix well, and they were impossible to clean. But removing them made the doors look so stark and naked.
So I added a window scarf. It was easy to take down and wash. However, I did not know at the time that my 4 year old son would think that it made a perfect "vine" to swing from when he played George of the Jungle. Do you remember that movie?
When he did that, he yanked the curtain rod mount out of the trim molding that it was screwed into. Thinking that I could just remove the piece from the curtain rod mount and use a little wood glue and putty to fix it, I threw it into the
abyss garage. Later that year when the garage got cleaned out, the piece was missing. So much for that idea!
I have a friend who has a job doing trim molding in houses. Surely he could just patch it for me, right? Nope. DH and I went shopping at Lowes to see if we could find a patch. None existed. There were some other plans made which weren't going to work either. Replacing all of the trim molding around the door was gong to be
expensive! It's 5 1/2" molding. That stuff isn't cheap!
Looking around the house at the other arched doorways gave me an idea. I would make it an arch. So, here's the finished product, and then the steps.
This is the wow. There will be more detailed pictures later.
This is the hole that Chris made. That's the pow.
After removing the entire top piece, and doing some measurements...
I cut the board I'd bought, using a piece of cardboard as the template, into an arch.
And re-mitered the side pieces and then nailed it all up there.
I'd love the tell you that I was able to find some really cheap wood appliques to put up there to make it beautiful and easy. Nope. Those things and expensive, and I was going for cheap.
I soon realized that I was going to have to make my own. Since I have some experience with Super Sculpey, I decided that that is what I would use.
I found that a half jellyroll pan made the perfect surface to sculpt on, and the bake the project. I made sure that I made places to put in some nails to prop it up while the wood glue dried.
Left side
After the glue dried, I primed the whole thing with Kilz primer, and then gave it a coat of Valspar semi-gloss. It only took one coat.
center
After the paint dried, I used an acrylic antiquing medium all over, and then wiped it down with a damp cloth.
Right side
The antiquing made all of the details pop. I love how it turned out!
What do you think?
