Lace Window Screen

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I love Pinterest.

Really, though, who doesn't?

I've pinned so many things that most ideas get forgotten or pushed aside for the newest "That is so cool!" pin.  And then there are the ones that you pin thinking, "O my goodness, how awesome would that be in my house!," all the while knowing it would never happen, so they kinda get pushed aside as well.

There was one in my early pinning days that I thought was just beautiful and a REALLY cool idea, so naturally I pinned it, even with that voice in the back of my mind reminding me how totally impractical it is.

But it was so pretty it was hard to forget.

Source

See?  How lovely is that?

But how silly!

That white, dainty lace would be brown in no time flat {at my house anyways}, with all kinds of bugs stuck in it.  You could probably only wash it so much {read: spray it with the water hose} before it was just terribly tattered.  It would be pretty for a little while but you would end up replacing it more than anyone would like.

So, once again, that practical side of me RUINED that lovely scene.  No lace screens for me.  But the girl can still dream.

Weellllll....

Remember how we added on a new laundry/mud room?  If you saw that post, you probably know where this is headed.  {I really meant to get this post done sooner, but such is life.....}

In doing the new room as inexpensively as possible, we shopped second-hand for some of our major parts.  And the new entry door was one of those items.  {Sorry I don't have a full before pic.  The hubby was SO SWEET to disassemble the door for me before I got those pics, and although he offered to put it back together for me for that pic, I couldn't do that to him.}

I'm going to guess 70/80's with the door style.  But it is solid wood with a louvered-glass full window.  For 20 bucks.  I couldn't pass up solid wood for $20!  Most hollow-core metal doors we looked at were at least $80 and that was with just a window up top.  So we jumped on it, embracing the louvered window.  

What was also different about this door is that because the glass opens out, the screen was on the INSIDE.  Where it would be protected from the elements.  Where lace would stay white!  YAY!

Ok, now do you see where I'm headed? (:

I actually had some old lace curtains in my linen closet that were still in the house when we moved in.  You can see them in use in the Living Room post.  My mom had picked them out when I was growing up here, so I was a bit sentimental about them.  But we have reworked that room a bit, which I hope to reveal soon, so I had these curtains to spare.

I did refinish the door a bit, just to freshen it up.  It was painted white at one time but that paint job was in bad shape, so I scraped off as much as I could, used paint stripper for most of the rest, then sanded off the stubborn stuff.  Once I had it all off, I painted the exterior side white {to match the trim on the house} but left the interior unpainted wood {which matches the other doors in the house}.

I also painted the metal trim piece that holds the glass louvers in place.  It was plain ol' aluminum and the finish was pretty bad but a couple of coats of spray paint fixed that!

The last thing to do was the screen, which ended up being much easier than I expected.

I removed the old screen from its frame, then laid it on top of my lace curtain.  I cut around the old screen, giving myself about an inch leeway just in case.  Then I laid the cut lace piece on the screen frame and reinserted the metal tube thingies {real technical, I know} to hold the lace in place.  I would imagine all these steps are how you would replace old screens on your windows, but I've never done that so....  If you have, you'll be a pro at this! ;)

Because I gave myself that little bit of play room I did have some lace sticking out from the frame.  I tried trimming with scissors and with an Exacto knife, but found the best way to remove the excess lace was actually by burning it off with a lighter.  You have to be careful to not really light it on fire but get the flame just close enough to "melt" the threads.  These curtains are probably like a polyester something-or-other blend so they melted pretty easy.

But that was pretty much it.  I put the screen in place on the door, and voila!

I love the look and the dual purpose it serves:  a screen {although we rarely open the louvers} and a window covering.  The lace still acts like a curtain {although I'm not sure what else I expected it to act like?!}, letting in natural light into the space but adding a bit of privacy as well.  As I mentioned before, the way our house sits on the property, most people assume that is our front door, so I like having it semi-transparent.

I've contemplated using this same technique but as indoor shutters.  Just haven't found the right windows yet. Anyone wanna try and share? (:

So, what do you think?  Does lace work as a window screen after all?

ttfn,

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