New-to-Me Front Door

One of the things I have planned on changing in our house since the beginning is our front door.  There is nothing technically wrong with the one we have, it's a solid wood door with an oak veneer and a small 1970s octagon window.  Even though my kids really like it, it just doesn't match the rest of the house! So, I'd been looking for a replacement for a long time, and this year, I finally tracked one down!

The additional challenge of replacing this door is that the size is not standard.  Our main floor has 9' ceilings, and the doorways are 7' tall instead of the standard 6'8".  I can find 6'8" pretty easily, or I can find 8'.  That additional 4" from the standard height has been a bit of a mystery.  So, I had resigned to either building my own or modifying the door we have.  I even had a larger window ready to go.

Then the new door appeared on Instagram.  The only catch: it was in Ohio, and I am in Minnesota.  I had a loose plan to help a friend move to New York state this summer, so I jumped on the chance to get it!  When the NY trip didn't materialize, I took the big kids on a Chicago trip instead.  

We had a great time travelling right after the end of the school year, and it was nice to get a break from the chaos of renovations at home.  And I think we all needed the little break from the nearly-two-year-olds.  It was a great time!  Sue the T-Rex was the biggest highlight of the trip!

​So, now that I have a new door, I have some work to do to make it the perfect fit for our house.  I've been stripping the shellac and linseed oil layers off with denatured alcohol and 0000 steel wool.  It's a gross process, but the grain of the wood is really coming through!  Unlike the rest of the wood in our living and dining rooms, this isn't oak.  This is Douglas fir, but the tight grain and the coloring blends perfectly with the century-old oak.  

The best we could figure, is that this door is from the 1880s from a house along the Ohio/West Virginia border.  It's absolutely gorgeous, just the right size, and the three true divided lights are the perfect complement to the woodwork and windows in this house.  

So, now that I have it stripped and the original hardware serviced, I have to modify it to really work as our door.  I have to move the mortises for the hinges, plug and re-drill the deadbolt, and change where the latch plate connects on the door frame.  Luckily, I shouldn't need to do much else to the door frame.  With a new door, I can better get it sealed as well.