Hello my friends!
The house is rocking along, making progress here and there. After Haven, I jumped back into things, while my parents went up to their mountain house to take care of their garden. Mom met up with 3 of her brothers up there and they had the chance to catch up, which doesn’t come often enough these days. And I painted my interior doors dark brown.
After they returned home, my dad has been hard at work in his garden in Marietta as well and one afternoon while I was sitting on the porch, he came in with a whole 5 gallon bucket of tomatoes that he had just picked.
He wanted me to be sure and show off his crop of tomatoes.
Take a picture of these, he said, and show them on your blawggg. 🙂 And so I am.
While they were gone, I took time to do a few updates at the house, some painting and updating. It’s looking goooooooooood! Yes, I’m excited and happy.
Before: These are the old brass hardware that go on my stair railings that I took down to paint the walls and they needed freshening up, so I got out my Rust-Oleum Oil rubbed bronze spray paint that they nicely sent me to use. Rust-Oleum is a Haven sponsor and I got to know those girls. They have been great to send me some products to use in my house. Big thanks for that!
Freshly sprayed with Rust-Oleum (my fave oil rubbed bronze spray paint), they are now freshened up and ready to rehang.
Another update with Rust-Oleum spray paint is my vent covers for the house. They are old, yucky and definitely need an update. I could go out and buy new, but I figured with some spray paint, they will be just fine. I took the first batch outside with my Primer and favorite off-white spray paint, Heirloom White, the perfect neutral in satin.
Lined up waiting for their spraying debut.
A nice coat of metal primer and they will be ready for the paint.
Two thin coats of Heirloom White and they are looking a whole lot better.
Back on the wall, they look great now. I haven’t put screws back in the wall, but I’ll work my way through the house getting these painted and mounted again. Easy update and saves some money. I love that part!
Next, it was time to tackle those doors. I told you a few weeks ago that I was painting my interior doors black and I did it! I decided on a really deep dark brown/black like I did in my old house for the vanity. It is not quite as stark as jet black and it will have a warmer feel with my brown wood floors.
I used Valspar paint and primer in one and it really covers great. It would have been nice to cover in one coat, but it did take 2 to get it nice and smooth. The color is Fired Earth by Valspar.
My favorite way to paint doors and furniture is with a brush and small foam roller. Those foam rollers leave a nice smooth surface once it dries.
And here’s the first door after 2 coats of paint. I love them! This might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I absolutely love it in this house with the light walls.
I’m not finished with this one yet, don’t worry. My door knobs in this house are all over the place, from bright brass to antique brass. I plan to replace them all eventually with antique brass lever style. Maybe a few at a time when I find the right ones.
Check out these retro ones from the 70’s. I don’t hate them, but they don’t all match, so I think it would be better to just replace them all and I do love the lever style. You know, for older folks like me. 
My hinges are antique brass too, so I’ll just stay in that family.
And just so you can see the hallway with all the doors coming off it, here you go! Imagine this with my dark wood floors and I think it’s going to look smashing. Just the way I envisioned in my head. Love when that happens!
Other side of the hallway. There are 6 doors total coming off this hallway and I finished them all. Now I just need to move downstairs to the den and finish painting that room along with the doors there. Ooooo, it’s all coming together nicely.
So, that’s what I was up to last week! As always, you can follow along with my house renovations by clicking on the house on my right sidebar, which will take you here, for all the updates.
I wish you all a very Happy 4th of July tomorrow. Enjoy and celebrate.
There’s a song I’ve been listening to on the radio that has really touched my heart lately: Steven Curtis Chapman’s Long Way Home. It’s sweet and happy and has such a nice message and it really speaks to the journey towards home that I’ve been on this past year, getting back into a house of my own. Of course, I know my “real” home is not on this earth, but as we all follow the road that will ultimately lead us to that home, this song speaks volumes to me and makes me get teary-eyed every time I hear it. I smile and cry all at the same time.
Sometimes it is just a long way home….
You probably won’t be able to resist singing along with me. So tell me what you think!
Hi Rhoda! Its looking good and I do like the dark doors – they will look fantastic with a dark floor! Happy Fourth! Enjoy the tomatoes! ;-))
Oh Rhoda it is coming along sooooo nice! LOVE the doors to and the paint job on those vents. Good way to recycle them and same money to and they don’t wind up in some landfill some where.
LOL I look so forward to your posts about your home. I get the biggest kick out of your Dad and Mom. Sure wish I could meet them and you to! He’s a hoot with his tomatoes! Those things are fine! They’re as big as the bread you put them on!! Tell him he did a great job with them! I would be excited if I got that much out of my garden to! We’re getting about 1/2 bucket each time now from our own garden. I sure hope I can get some of them put up.
Can’t wait to see more of your home later. I look so forward to your posts about it like I said but I do know you are past ready to be done with it. But knowing you like I do, you wont be done when you do get into it. They’ll always be neat things you find that will always make it better so it wont ever really be totally finished if you’re like me with that. 😉
Loving those doors And those tomatoes!
Your dad is too cute! Those tomatoes look yummy! Your doors look beautiful in black. Great job! Megan
Rhoda,
This is the first time I have ever left a comment, but I have been following your journey for a couple of years now. Thank you for your wonderful testimony and attitude towards life. I am truly blessed by your blog
You are so lucky to have your sweet dad! My dad will be 81 on Sunday and he is staying with us a couple of nights because he still has no electricity due to the storm last week. I cherish him so much…he is patient and kind and loving and thankful and funny and it has been a pleasure to have him here with us. We lost my mom last summer and I am hanging onto my dad for dear life and holding onto every memory and laugh and talk. Sorry to get so sentimental, just seeing the picture of your sweet and very capable dad made me smile and look over at mine sitting here in my kitchen with me!
Wow !Love those tomotoes! Thank you for sharing your journey. I love all of the updates and I love that song too. I cried the first time I heard it.
Wow, those tomatoes look great. Your parents are such hard workers. Treasure this time with your parents. Your house is coming along great. Those door knobs from the 70’s look like the ones in my house. We built in the late 80’s. Love your updates on your blog. Too hot to do any yard sales here in Alabama. Still miss seeing you at yards sales in the Birmingham area. And Publix, also. I am so glad life is treating you will. When we trust in God things have a way of working out for us. Best of luck.
Rhoda,
I have to correct my last note. We built our house in the late 70’s.
I, too, love those little foam rollers! I used them when painting my kitchen cabinets.
The doors truly look amazing. I wanted to paint all our doors black upstairs by my husband and son freaked … and since they live here too I gave in. But not before painting one door in my entry black. And it looks smashing!
Oh, and tell you dad his tomatoes are AMAZING! Yum. Think I’ll have me a tomato salad with lunch today!
🙂
Linda
I LOVE your doors Rhoda! I have been following along with all of your house progress – it is coming along so great!!
Gosh its really coming along Rhoda. I remember doing up a place once and all the old brass window fittings had been painted over, I soaked them in turpentine and scrubbed away for days, they still didn’t look great then found a place that clean them for you. Wow! what a difference it saved me $100 of dollars because the solid brass ones are very expensive in NZ.
I love reading your updates on the house 🙂
Lee
Rhoda, Your dad is amazing , those are really great looking tomatoes. Your home is coming along so beautifully. (hope I spelled that right)
You father has to be one of the sweetest people I have ever saw! He is just a sight! Reminds me of my Grandfather. A great man. You father looks like such a hard worker!
Hi Rhoda,
I came across your blog because I am considering starting a similar project. We have those same old doors throughout our house & I bought Valspar latex paint in anticipation that I would paint them as you did. But now I’m having second thoughts about using latex… maybe I should use water-based enamel, I wouldn’t know, I’m not an expert. I’d like to know how your doors are looking now that is more than 2 years later. Is the Valspar latex paint on your doors peeling, has the paint scratched off or do they still look intact?
I’d also like to know if that first picture of the doors in your post is one of the doors with primer? Which primer did you use? Was there any sanding in your prep?
Hope to hear good thoughts from you soon 🙂 Thank you in advance for your help!!
Hi, Hilary, I did prime all my doors and trim with a good primer. Any oil based primer will work, but I used Zinsser’s shellac primer from Rustoleum. They sent it to me. It’s really good stuff, but an oil-based one will work just as well. You want a good primer first and then everything should stick. I have had no problems with my latex paint peeling off the doors at all. They still look just as good as when I painted them. I didn’t sand either. My doors were smooth, but had to be covered with primer first before painting. Don’t skip that step if your doors are stained already.