Maps, Rulers and a Door

Day #19 of 31 Days of Storytelling

Late this summer my husband and I saw a bunch of doors on the side of the road with a big FREE sign on them.

You don't have to send me a formal invitation.

I'm in!

But we were in my husband's sedan without the capability to haul anything.

So I sent him back with my car.

The door he picked was a sliding closet door with no hole for a door knob.

Awesome!

It was painted white on one side and had a very light stain on the other.

I knew I wanted to stain it dark.

With the help of Pinterest, I found that wooden sawhorses would make great legs.

But sturdy ones were expensive.

I couldn't take a FREE door and blow it with expensive legs.

I found some solid wooden snack tray tables at a thrift store for $3 a piece.

Monte attached the door to the tables with screws.

The before picture. See the light stain?

Now the fun began.

Sanding (which I just love to do!)

And painting.

I mixed my own cream colored chalk paint
for the legs.

I couldn't get all the white paint off the edges of part of the door so it didn't accept the stain well and streaked.

Yuck.

I love the way the stain looks on the top.

All done. I added rulers to the edges with
hot glue and upholstery tacks to cover the streaks.


It isn't perfect. But it cost less than $20 once I got the rulers.

So now I was ready to concentrate on the other side of the room. 

I have been wanting to back the bookshelves with maps for awhile.

But I didn't want it to be permanent. 

So I took out the shelves and tacked the maps up with 3M poster adhesive that is removable like their other products.

The hardest part was trying to figure out which maps to use where.

Half-way done.

I spent $20 on maps.

Wait.

Did I really spend more on maps then I did on the entire desk?