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:
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!!
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.
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.
Oh wow - what a fun project! I love your doors!! The half door is my favorite.
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.
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
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!
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.
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!
I love this! I heard about you doing this at Read, Write, Believe, and I had to post a door photo too. Great fun!
Also - you DO have wonderful doors. Fabulous!
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.
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?
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.
Wow! What history you live with and lovingly restore. I LOVE your doors and look forward to looking deeper within you door here...
Thanks for sharing these beautiful doors today! I love that you rescued a door from your neighbor's trash.
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
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!
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!
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.
I do love these doors -- rustic, old, well used -- they have a history...and I love colonial homes!
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! :-)
Thanks, Sherry and Vienna!
This has certainly been a fun day of crossing paths and meeting new people!
What a neat take on the Doors theme1 This is so wonderful! I love that we can all meet up..knocking on Doors!
I love your doors! Especially the one you found in your neighbor's dumpster.
I LOVE half-doors! How fun to have discovered another author's blog on this door jaunt around the world. :)
I love your doors. Thanks for sharing them with us.
Paz
Hi Pam, Hipwritermama, Barrie and Paz-- Thanks, I'm glad you all enjoyed my doors!
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
Thanks, Bonnie!
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