Part of the restoration of the house includes the doors. Most had been covered with a layer of hardboard to mask their character in the last renovation; one which largely escaped this treatment was the kitchen door leading on to the utility. Coated in several thick coats of paint, it had survived fairly unscathed, including some original looking door furniture and hinges. Those coats of paint though had grown deep, masking the joinery below and bridging edges and gaps. It was a little shabby. Certainly not in a chic way.

Although we’re, as a household, big fans of sanding this was perhaps going to be a fool’s errand. Yet we were keen to bring it back to raw wood to accompany the recently sanded beam and future worktops.
As first mate and first sander, Beth decided to expedite the process through internet searches. The result was a local company who would collect and dip your door, chemically scrubbing it of pretty much everything. So we stripped it of metalwork and popped it off its hinges and left it outside one Monday morning to be picked up.

A week or so later it reappeared in one of the sheds, now wood coloured and considerably heavier, full of moisture. The process hadn’t been perfect, there were still some remnants of paint in the grooves but it had been softened to putty and could just be scraped out. A few days to dry out and Beth gave it a jolly good once-over with the sander just to make sure it was extra smooth and silky. Thence the latches and handles got the wire-brush-in-a-power-drill treatment to clean them up, revealing a delightful wrought iron finish to most parts. A few coats of lacquer and some new brass screws brought them back up to standard.

Three hardy coats of varnish to the woodwork and a skim off the bottom (on account of having raised the floor level a touch with the underfloor heating) and suddenly we had a beautiful new door back in place, retaining all the character we craved and the building deserves.