The Found Door, part 1

One morning, Mr. Limestone spotted this discarded door sitting on the curb waiting for the garbage man. I'm not sure which neighbor decided to trash it but their loss is our gain. We carried it in the house, leaned it against the hallway wall and waited for inspiration.

I batted around a few ideas until I came to the conclusion that turning it into a work table would be a good second life for this. Its long and lean and would make a lovely space to roll out fabric, make invitations or any number of crafty endeavors. And since I have a perfectly unused box room, I had just the place for it.

It was dirty and lumpy with paint drips so while I could have just slapped a new coat of paint over it, I decided it needed to be stripped down before anything other decisions were made about it.

Enter Peel Away. If you've been a really long time reader of this blog, you'll remember my experience with striping. So I went back to this goopy green magic potion to get rid of the paint.


First I removed the hardware.


Then loaded the door up with the stuff - think frosting a cake.


Covered with parchment paper (Peel Away sells their own papers but I find wax paper to be a lot cheaper and work just as well.) and let sit for 24 hours.


The next morning I went out there with scraper in hand. The term "Peel Away" is a little misleading. Sure, some of it peels. But most of it has to be forcefully evicted with a sharp edge.


Scrape. Scrape. Scrape.

Scrape. Scrape. Scrape.

Scrape. Scrape. Scrape.


Two hours and two blisters later, this is the result. Close but no cigar.


I had hoped to finish the stripping this weekend but the upcyling gods did not smile upon me. Another coat is working its magic now. I'll have to clean it off in the dark tonight.

(Ran out of wax paper, turned to cling wrap to finish the job.)

Wish me luck.