Wednesday, March 12, 2008

My Colonial Doors



















Elizabeth and Frank came up with the idea of having a day where everyone does a post with a "door" theme. And today's the day! It's a blog-group-art event! Check out the list below to see everyone from around the world who's participating. So here we go:

Our house has many different styled doors, most tending toward the rustic, since the original part of the house was built around 1720. Over the years it has been added on to and changed in all sorts of bizarre and interesting ways. We've been trying to bring it back to the colonial era. It's been a neverending renovation-- and we've done almost all of it ourselves. (Believe me, it's better to pay someone to dig a new septic field.) Along the way we've made a lot of discoveries...

The green door with the wreath (at the top of this post) is where the original front door of the house was located. The door is definitely not colonial-- it dates from about the Victorian era-- but it's nice, because it lets more light in to the room.





































Inside there's a half door that leads to a little room we call the library. We think this room was actually a small barn that used to be on the property, and that it was added onto the house in the late 1800's. (I tried to show the door with the top part only cracked open, but the floor is so tilted that it just swung back before I could snap a picture! Life in an old house can be a little off-kilter...)



















This door was rescued from our neighbor's dumpster. (Oh please don't get me started on people throwing away lovely old doors and windows and beams...) This room is in the part of the house that was added on in the 1960's. And believe me, it looked it! (We called this the "time warp" house when we bought it-- old wide board floors paired with... mmm... orange shag carpeting. Nice!) We have been trying to bring this part of the house "back in time" a bit, and really liked the roughness of the door.



















And lastly is my favorite-- our bedroom door. You can get a rough idea from this picture of how low the ceilings are upstairs. (I'm 5'9" and in my bare feet I can put my hands flat on the ceiling.) The right hand panel is one solid piece of wood measuring 23 inches wide. Now, given that the door is the same age as the house, imagine how old that tree had to be when it was cut to make a panel of this width!

So there you have it-- a sampling of my colonial doors. Nothing fancy-- but they have served their purpose for a long, long time. There's something very comforting about that.

Here's a list of everyone participating today. (Apologies to anyone left off the list!):


Elizabeth Wix, "The House in Marrakesh", Marrakesh, Morroco

Frank Gardner, "My Paint Box", San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

Ambera Wellmann, Halifax, Nova
Scotia, Canada

Constance, "Rochambeau"

Jennifer Thermes, "Art-Words-Life" - Connecticut , USA

Joanne Giesbrecht,"Thistledown Arts", Alberta, Canada

Eric Orchard, Nova Scotia, Canada

Jack Riddle, Portland, Maine, USA

Christine Mercer-Vernon, "An Artist's Log", Pennsylvania, USA

Faye Christian Phillips , Kentucky, USA

Britt-Arnhild, Norway

Kate and Roger "The Skophammers", Norfolk, Virginia, USA

Terry Rafferty, USA

Barbara,"Ramblings from an English Garden", London, United Kingdom

Pam Aries,"Art and Soul", Charleston, S.C. ,USA

Mary Sheehan Winn," Just Painting", Florida, USA

"Some Pink Flowers", St. Augustine, Florida, USA

Rima, "The Hermitage", Scotland

Merisi,"Merisi's Vienna for Beginners", Austria

Paz, "Paz's New York Minute", New York

"Down Under Dale", Australia

The Aesthete, "Aesthete's Lament", USA

Mari/ Kameravena, Finland

Maryam, "My Marrakech", Morocco

Willow from "Willow's Cottage", California, USA

Ari, "Typo Blog", Finland

Lea,"Tales from the Labyrinth",USA

Stephanie, "Rodrigvitzstyle"

Madelyn,"Persisting Stars", Vancouver, Canada

Leslie,"Snips and Snails and Puppy Dogs Tales", Pennsylvania, USA

Karen Cole,"Artsortments", Pennsylvania, USA

Barrie, San Diego, California, USA

Sherry/Cherie, Toronto, Canada

Claudia Schmid, London, United Kingdom

Sue, "The Magic Armchair Traveller", Congresbury, Bristol, United Kingdom

Gemma Wiseman, "Greyscaale Territory", Australia

Neulekirppu, Finland

Laura Fortune, "Amongst The Oaks",California, USA

Sara Lorayne, "Come Away With Me", California, USA

30 comments:

virtual nexus said...

Lovely to see some original architecture within a home, and fascinated by the renovations you've done. This has been a great theme.
I've already had a french polisher offer to renovate two of my doors!!

Anonymous said...

Your blog is new to me and I just found it beacaue of our joint door around the world event :-)

From what I can see here you are doing a wonderful job with your colonial style home.

I love the door which can be opened in two halves.

Elizabeth said...

A wonderful old house.
I like the door shutting while you were trying to photgraph it - I first read it as 'naughty' which is rather fun.
I like youe wreath on the front door.
I used to make dozens for them every fall on Long Island.
Such fun to make.
Your house is lovely.

Barbara O'Connor said...

Oh wow - what a fun project! I love your doors!! The half door is my favorite.

Frank Gardner said...

Hi Jennifer, I LOVE that "Mr. Ed" barn door that you have. It is great seeing inside doors. I feel like we went in the outside door and into your home.
Thanks for sharing. You have some beautiful wooden doors.

Anonymous said...

The doors you live with have so much history and so many stories I bet! My favorite is the one you rescued from your neighbors dumpster! Have they seen it in your home?

It is fun to see your world. Thank you for the peek!

Constance

Jennifer Thermes said...

Thanks, everyone!

And Frank-- I'm chuckling-- I never thought of the half door as a "Mr. Ed" door-- but you're right-- it really is!

Frank Gardner said...

It is such a "Mr. Ed" door and I have always wanted one. We decided to nix the idea where we were going to put one and did a double door instead.
Oh Wilbur.

Christine Mercer-Vernon said...

how fabulous that you live with all those doors, and the history that comes with them!! the wide plank one's are so rich, i can't imagine all of the people who have touched them in all the years your house has stood. the half door is my favorite!

Andromeda Jazmon said...

I love this! I heard about you doing this at Read, Write, Believe, and I had to post a door photo too. Great fun!

Andromeda Jazmon said...

Also - you DO have wonderful doors. Fabulous!

Sara said...

This was so much fun to read, Jennifer. I linked to you today, as Cloudscome noted, and now I'm promising myself to take some pictures of doors!

Gates, too. I love cool gates.

Jennifer Thermes said...

Hi Constance-- No, my neighbors haven't seen the door! Interestingly, their house is circa 1740, and years ago somebody (not them) remade it into a contemporary home. (And not a very nice one, either.) Now, I have nothing against that style, but I can't understand why anyone would take a lovely old farmhouse and change it like that.

Frank-- Well I will say-- kids LOVE Mr. Ed doors!

Christine-- That's a part of my fascination with old houses-- how many people have lived here and what have they seen through the years?

Jennifer Thermes said...

Cloudscome- Thank you! I'm glad you're taking part, too!

Sara- Super! The more the merrier. And yes, gates are cool. It's amazing how much symbolism there is in everyday things.

Unknown said...

Wow! What history you live with and lovingly restore. I LOVE your doors and look forward to looking deeper within you door here...

Leslie said...

Thanks for sharing these beautiful doors today! I love that you rescued a door from your neighbor's trash.

Tricia said...

I love this idea! All these doors are amazing. I've added my own, from Tibet and China at:
http://missrumphiuseffect.blogspot.com/2008/03/heavenly-doors.html

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

Your colonial doors are wonderful....thanks for the tour. I agree, how fascinating to think about the tree that was cut down to make your bedroom door...also that the door has been there since the beginning; I'd always be wondering and pondering about all the people who passed through that door...who were they, what they thought about, did they ever wonder about future people who would live within those walls...on and on!

Ambera said...

the second door from the top is a stunner. we used to have a front door just like it where i grew up. It brings back a lot of memories...nice pictures!

Jennifer Thermes said...

Stephanie- Thanks!

Leslie-- It's amazing what people throw away. Guess it's that "one man's trash is another man's treasure" thing...

Tricia-- Glad you joined in! I'm on my way over to check out your doors.

Sara-- Yes, an old house really does make you think along those lines. Actually, living here was what inspired my first two books. I should post some more about that.

Ambera-- I'm so glad it brought back good memories! Thanks for stopping by.

Sherry said...

I do love these doors -- rustic, old, well used -- they have a history...and I love colonial homes!

Merisi said...

You certainly have a very interesting collection of doors in your home! The wide open upper half of the door makes for a really intriguing picture (good door! *g*), and the 23 inch panel of your bedroom door certainly is a historic treasure. Thank you for sharing! :-)

Jennifer Thermes said...

Thanks, Sherry and Vienna!

This has certainly been a fun day of crossing paths and meeting new people!

Pam Aries said...

What a neat take on the Doors theme1 This is so wonderful! I love that we can all meet up..knocking on Doors!

Vivian Mahoney said...

I love your doors! Especially the one you found in your neighbor's dumpster.

Barrie said...

I LOVE half-doors! How fun to have discovered another author's blog on this door jaunt around the world. :)

Anonymous said...

I love your doors. Thanks for sharing them with us.

Paz

Jennifer Thermes said...

Hi Pam, Hipwritermama, Barrie and Paz-- Thanks, I'm glad you all enjoyed my doors!

Bonnie Jacobs said...

Who knew doors could be so fascinating? I mentioned you when I wrote about doors today:

http://bonniesbooks.blogspot.com/2008/03/youre-door-able.html

Jennifer Thermes said...

Thanks, Bonnie!