I am no longer allowed to use a sander. Or sand paper. I’ve screwed up one too many projects (for a grand total of two) and cost us way too much money.
First there was the Stair Banister Fail of 2013. I couldn’t finish what I started and we had to call in the professionals to replace the entire banister. And because I did not learn my lesson, that fail was followed by the Front Door Fail of 2013. An unlucky year for DIY in my home. Coincidence that the year was ’13? I think not.
It started innocently enough. I had repainted our black front door a bright red over a decade ago, and it looked pretty cruddy. I think I used the wrong kind of paint for metal, so it was all drippy and streaky, like this.
You would think a slightly obsessive person like me would not be able to live with that door for ten years, but it’s amazing how young children suck the motivation out of you. So once I got my mojo back, I started to sand off the two layers of paint, with the intention of repainting a smooth metal door. Just some elbow grease and a gallon of paint – piece of cake.
Except it wasn’t. I wasted at least six hours of my life using a palm sander to get the paint off the door. There was paint dust everywhere – on the walls, the floor, my clothes, my hair, my eyes. I was sweeping up dust as far as ten feet away from the front door.
When I was ninety percent finished, I hit an impasse. I simply could not get in the tiny grooves to remove the rest of the paint. Up to this point I had not asked Matt for any help, but I caved and begged him to give it a shot. Less than thirty minutes in, he declared it an impossibility. Once again, I had good intentions and tried my best to do it myself to save us some money. And once again I could NOT do it myself, costing us much more than I had originally budgeted.
We went to Home Depot to order a new door, and fortunately we were told that we did not have to replace the sidelights and frame. We ordered it and waited six weeks. In the meantime, I draped some black netting over the nasty looking door, going with the whole Halloween, creepy-scary vibe in October.
Six weeks came and went, and Matt called Home Depot to see what was going on. He was told that the door was in, but the installers came out and saw that we had sidelights which also needed to be replaced. Turns out the salesperson screwed up; we DID need to replace the whole door, frame and all. Oh, and that will be double the cost, thank you very much.
We went back to Home Depot to pick out a new door, and Matt spent some time arguing over what we were going to pay for their screw up. To make a long story slightly less long, the door was ordered and we waited six more weeks.
Finally, on a bitter cold day in January, our brand new door was installed. The installers got a kick out of what I had written on the old door:
But what was I going to do? I had company in December, and it was embarrassing to welcome someone to my house for the first time with that door. So I did what I often do in embarrassing situations; I tried to be funny. I hope it worked.
And finally, four months and many dollars after I started this hellacious project, it was done. It looks awesome, because I didn’t do it.
By the way, if you need a palm sander, I have two. You can have them for free.
I watch way too much HGTV. I think they make a paint stripper that would have taken the paint off instead of sanding it. I wish that I could do more DIY projects but with my bad back it is out of the question. I still fix simple stuff that I can do. 😉
Simple stuff – that’s what I should stick with. They do make a paint stripper and I’ve used it before, but it’s so full of chemicals. I was trying to be green, but it didn’t work out very well.
Oh man. That SO looks like something I would have done. I blame it all on Pinterest for making everything look so dang easy. I have a few pinterest fails of my own. I LOVE how it looks now though. Super pretty!!
Thank you Meredith! Sadly, I can’t even blame Pinterest. This was all my own dumb idea.
A circular saw? Impressive! I wouldn’t come within ten feet of a tool like that – nothing good would come of that, I’m sure!
I would like to tackle more DIY projects but I’m afraid of messing up. My mom is great at DIY projects, I just bought her a circular saw for her birthday. The DIY gene must have skipped me or else it has not come out yet. I do plan on doing some painting this year. I’ll keep in mind not to sand metal 🙂
I love the message on your door! Oh, don’t feel bad, I am 100% sure that my attempts at something similar would wind up much worse than yours (at least you still had a door after sanding the paint off – I would probably manage to destroy the door itself!)
It would be hard to destroy a metal door with a palm sander, but I know what you mean, Ana Lynn. I am usually much more destructive than I intend to be!
Yeah, I’m not allowed to even think about a DIY project. However I have found that if I open the paint container and look like I might be industrious it is the one thing that gets my husband off the couch faster than me saying hey do you want to go to the Pub?
That is a brilliant move, Kerri! Unfortunately that will not work with my husband – I’m actually a decent painter. If I pulled out the sander, though, I’m pretty sure he’d toss it out the window.
First: the new door look incredible!
Second: this totally brought back memories of the year I decided to strip the wallpaper from our master bedroom (in a different house) and repaint it myself. The wallpaper was on so well, it actually damaged the dry wall getting it off! It took over a month to get it off and then I couldn’t paint until I repaired the dry wall. THEN I discovered something else: I suck at choosing colors. What I envisioned ended up looking horrible, so I PAINTED AGAIN and hated the second color, too! But by then I was too fed up to change it. This burned any DIY desire I would have again for y-e-a-r-s. I did the same thing with our current FR. I chose the wrong color and had to have it painted again. *facepalm*
We had the same thing with wallpaper in our kitchen when we bought the house. Took off drywall with the wallpaper, so we went with it and did a faux Tuscan kind of look. We had professionals fix it when we redid the kitchen last year. Next time, hire someone to help you with picking colors!
HA!!!! Oh you POOR THING!!! What a FREAKING MESS!! And those six PLUS hours you had to attempt to fix the thing and make it pretty and save money and everything!!! Oh honey- I am SO with you in DIY projects. I am so so sorry you had to go through all that mess to get to that
GORGEOUS DOOR!!!!
Whew! Okay- so lesson learned? LOL
Yes – lesson learned! For now 😉
Well, I’m so impressed you tried. The new (professional) door does look pretty darn good!
Thank you Nina! For what it cost (in labor and dollars) it better look good!
I’m probably a tasteless classless person, but I liked your crazy metallic tye-die door. You did a better job than I would have. I wouldn’t have gotten a sander. I would have covered it with spray paint. And why? Because I’m too lazy to sand a door.
But at least you know you are lazy and wouldn’t even attempt it. I clearly am oblivious to my sanding incompetence!
Your new door looks great, and I’m sorry you weren’t able to do it yourself. I hate it when jobs take three times longer than expected and still don’t work out as expected. I like the humorous note you wrote on the old door! 🙂
Thanks Debbie. After looking at the ugly door for a few months, writing that note made me feel better. And it made me giggle too. 🙂
Don’t you hate it when you think a project will be fairly simple (and save money) and it turns into a huge nightmare?!
The new door looks amazing!!!
Thanks Kim. No more potentially big projects for me – I’m retiring!
I too wish I were crafty, but my results when I try to DIY aren’t too pretty either. I’ll just stick to what I’m good at, which is writing poetry. 🙂
A woman who knows what she’s good at and sticks with it – I need to follow your lead!
I too seem to fail at every DIY project I attempt. At least they make for funny stories like this one!
Yes, that’s the only good thing about the whole situation! Well, that and the fact that I got a pretty new door. 🙂
Dana, that is hilarious! I absolutely love DIY FAIL stories- is that wrong? And your new front door is gorgeous! 😉
I love DIY fail stories too, except when they are mine!
All of that and you ordered a black door again!
I love this post though- because that IS totally something that I would have done! Me and DIY does not mesh at all.
Is your b-day in June/July?
I know – I was going to paint it a fun color but once we had to buy a new one I figured I should go classic.
And no – my bday is in October.
It is a beautiful door! Even though it was an expensive DIY… you ended up with a lovely door! I need to see pics of the banister!
Thanks Jodi! I love the way both projects turned out.
Well, you learned something and it ended up looking okay in the end!
Yep – I learned to never attempt something like this again!
Your post is making me rethink my post! I like how you took a fun approach to the prompt. I chuckled and thought of all my DIY projects that ended up costing me more than planned. The new door is beautiful!
Thanks Sarah. I liked your post! When I was trying to decide what to write, I saw this post in my draft folder and thought it fit perfectly!
I hate sanding or anything that creates dust. I give you credit for your efforts. I would have given up pretty early into the project. Your new door is beautiful!
Thanks, Jenny. It was a long time coming, but worth it! I’m still finding paint dust, though. I guess that says something about my cleaning, huh?
Would it make you feel better if I assured you any DIY I ever attempt is a complete and total disaster. And that’s putting it nicely. SNAFU might be a better term. And still laughing about the message on the door. Pure awesome!
Yes, humor I can do. Sanding a door, not so much!
Looks good now and did I tell you that Cassidy painted our white door Tardis blue last weekend? And it’s not done so it just looks a bit weird. It will have “Police Box” stenciling on it soon in white. Because that’s not weird at all.
I did see a pic of that on FB I think. I’m sure it will look cool – at least it’s intentional! And it will match the shed.
Haha, this was a good one! Funny how we always end up spending more even when starting out with the intention of saving money.
I know. And I really, truly started out with the intention of saving money. Sigh.
This is fitting with my post today about HOAs. Based on this post I assume you don’t live under an HOA. Good for you! I love the new door! It’s gorgeous. I’m curious what people said about your door-front note. Hilarious!
No HOA here. We had one in our townhouse – I can imagine they would be very displeased with my door. The installers thought my note was hilarious, and I got a smile out of everyone who came over. They were probably thinking I was a nut, but they smiled on the outside.
That was awesome. Your door did look like a crime against DIY. Ellen
Yep. I know. And the whole time I was sanding, I was thinking, “At least I’ll get a blog post outta this.”
This entire post made me chuckle. I loved that you documented your efforts–and what you wrote on the door: hilarious!!! (Mission accomplished!) And that new door is beautiful. Kind of funny that you ended up going back to a black door too, after all that!
Loved this post!
Thanks, Jennifer. It is funny that I ended up with a black door again – that was not lost on my husband. He didn’t think it was funny though. Oops.
LOL! Wow – I’ve seen several red door fails in my neighborhood. The people across the street from us have it right finally so it’s nice to look at. There should be a paint called Red Door for starters. So anyway I didn’t know you could sand metal? Cringing. At what point in the six hours did you say, “Ut Oh.” That really sounds like something I would do but thank you for the lesson in advance. So you did kitchen, banister and had a door boo boo all in the same year? Girl!
Yep – all three in one year. At least I knew I couldn’t do ANY of the kitchen on my own – we hired professionals from the start! Oh, and I said “ut oh” about 30 minutes in…
I’m laughing WITH you on this one! Oh you poor thing. This is exactly why I don’t ever try to DIY anything. I cannot believe you had to live with that door for so long!!
I know – how embarrassing. We were “that” house for awhile. You just have to laugh though – what else are you going to do?
HA! I really like what you wrote on the door.
First of all – I have NEVER seen a metal door like that! We tend to have plastic UPVC or wooden ones.
Second (this might be *reeeeeally* stoopid) why couldn’t you just paint over the top without sanding out the corner-y bits?
Third – glad it’s fixed…you seem to be something of a menace with those palm sanders – don’t even wait for someone to request them – donate them to a shelter or a project or something, just get them OUT! :p
I couldn’t paint over the top because the paint was all gloopy and bumpy. I wonder how much it would cost me to send YOU my sanders?
More than it would be worth, forsure. If all else fails put them in the street with a ‘free to good home’ sin on top
Haha! I love it! Your message was too funny. I’m terrible at projects like that too. But I rarely start them. Once I decided to take the stripes off my car…that didn’t go well. I learned my lesson.
Oh, that doesn’t sound good Michelle. I learned my lesson too (finally)!
Bah, who cares what the door looks like? Do you still have all that crap behind your shower curtain? I think I like your house!
I almost spit out my coffee when I read your comment, Don. I want you to know that I do write about other things besides the sad state of my home. And yes, I still have all the crap behind my shower curtain. I just stocked up on dog food and toilet paper, so it’s super crowded in there.
The new door looks great. I’m not handy at all so I would’ve done the same thing as you. Your intentions were good!
Yes, good intentions. That excuse didn’t really sit well with my husband though. My good intentions are expensive!
Your NEW door is gorgeous. Your old one? FUNNY. I learned long ago to know my limits when it comes to DIY. I mean for real. But still, that’s not said to make you feel bad because you rock for even trying!!! So much! I don’t even try any longer. I did kick butt at faux paining though, so maybe try something less invasive? Sanding is just icky. And it never goes as planned. 😉
I faux painting in our first townhouse – that I could do! Painting I can handle, sanding clearly not so much.
If it’s any consolation, it’s a lovely front door! 🙁
My sister gets annoyed with me because there are things I just WON’T do (for this very reason). She thinks I’m being ridiculous. I think I’m being practical! I know when I’m going to be an epic fail at something lol.
After learning my less (twice), I think I now have that knowledge too, Chris. I’ll stick with smaller and cheaper DIY from now on!
Ha! This is so me! I desperately want to be a successful DIYer. I have the drive, but I’m sometimes seriously lacking in the skill dept. I tend to start things impulsively and the lose the energy to see them through. Drives my husband cuh-razy.
Mine too! Hence the lifelong ban on the sander. Do you want it? 😉
The door looks gorgeous Dana and don’t feel bad, because if I had done any of these DIY’s it would have come out probably even worse, because I truly am not a crafty/hands-on person by nature at all!
Clearly I needed to learn my limits, Janine!