Monday, August 19, 2013

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? (:

19 comments:

  1. Love this! I'd be willing to try indoor shutters but need to find the right materials. I'm actually redoing our bedroom with a beach vibe and was thinking about making shutters for our sliding door. This might be the perfect project! Thanks for sharing. Stop by my Friday's Five Features tomorrow and link up this post (and others)! diy-vintage-chic.blogspot.com

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    1. I bet that would be really lovely! Thanks for visiting, and for the invite! (:

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  2. This is such a neat idea! And beautiful! I am pinning :) Love that your using the sentimental curtains and a used door!
    - Lora @ Craftivity Designs

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  3. That is so gorgeous! I love love love lace (Just pinned this to my lace board) and this is just perfect. Im going to have to figure out how I can incorporate a lace window/door/screen into my house now. Thanks for sharing!

    I would love for you to share this (and any other post!) at my Life of the Party link up! It just opened! Im going to poke around your blog a little more. :)
    http://thegrantlife.com/life-of-the-party-1/

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    1. Thank you! I'm so glad it inspired you! (: And thank you for the invite. I will definitely check it out!

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    1. Thank you for the sweet compliment! (: I'm so glad you visited!

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  5. We will be buying a new home soon and I am going to do this. What a wonderful idea. You can change for the different seasons also. Thank you so much, Trish Butler

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    1. That is such a great idea! Thank YOU for sharing (: And thanks for visiting! Good luck with your new home. (:

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  6. Jenni this is beautiful! I've seen it on pinterest a few times and have always wanted to try it! I'm gonna have to do it when I re do our front porch! I'm planning on painting the door yellow so a lace screen door would be so pretty! I would love it if you would share this on my Monday link party!!

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  7. Very nice idea!! Your window screen turned out beautifully. Please link-up this terrific post at our rules free Blog Strut Link Party/blog hop, Thursdays at 5:00 PM PST. Our Blog Strut isn't your average blog hop, it offers many ways to promote and give exposure to your blog and posts. We pin all links, featured posts, as well as offer free co-host spots and button/logo redesign, plus free social network link ups. Join us and show what you’ve got!! http://www.mypersonalaccent.com/linkyparty/

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  8. Wow, that is beautiful!!! I wonder if you could do a temporary inverted screen like that by spraying that Christmas snow window froster stuff over a lace stencil... I might have to try that since I don't have a door like yours!

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  9. What a great idea! I'd love if you'd link up to The DIYers. http://homecomingmn.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-diyers-and-last-weeks-top-three.html

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  10. Awesome! I think this turned out awesome! I am pretty sure I have those lace screens pinned too, but I love that you came up with a solution on how to make them work! You are one of my picks this week at Give Me The Goods! I would love for you to come by and grab your feature button!! Thanks for linking up!!!
    Amber@ Dimples & Pig Tales

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    1. Oh my! Thanks so much! That made my Monday! (: So glad you visited!

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  11. This is just plain gorgeous! What a good idea!

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  12. I will have to check this out. These are much more appealing than normal window screens. It is amazing how simple this is, yet we haven't thought of it before. I wonder if this would ever become so popular that companies would start making screens that look like this.

    Alena | http://www.customscreens.com.au

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  13. I was just sitting here wondering if anyone had come up with a screen that looked like lace! You came up with a great solution! Screens are so unattractive, adding the lace made a world of difference:)

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So what did you think? I'd love to know!

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