DIY Vintage Farmhouse Door Tutorial For Front Porch

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I'm not sure what to really call this thing. It's like a door, but miniature. Heavy like a door for sure :)  I'm just using it on my porch, but there are a ton of different ways you can display it and put it in your house. I found something similar to this at a vintage sale I went a few months back, and they were asking gobs of money for it, like $130. Yeah. It was so cute, me and my friend had to make one for ourselves. We made both of ours for about $16 each...minus the wreath and bow. So, total, maybe in the low $20s.

I've been loving my porch this past year ever since I redecorated it and thought this would be the perfect addition.

The supplies I used:
1 piece of bead board cut at 18x32" (I bought a 32"x48"' piece and cut mine to size)
1 piece of 1/4" plywood 18x24" (I bought a 2x4' piece and cut it to size)
2 - 2x4s miter cut so the longest side is 57"
2 - 2x4s miter cut so the longest side is 23.5"
1 - 2x4 cut at 16.5"
Nail gun/ 1" nails
1" screws
Mending plates
Paint
Java glaze
Vinyl "welcome" (got mine from the Silhouette store)
Ribbon or bow
Hanger
Wreath

First step: If you didn't have the lumber store cut your wood yet, do that. I used my Dremel Ultra Saw to cut both my bead board and plywood to size.

 I then lined up the bead board and plywood on the ground and left a little gap in the middle. I measured the length of the two boards first and made that the longest length of the two side 2x4s (57"). I then placed those together an decided on the width of the top and bottom boards. (that's where I got the measurements from above) I made sure my 2x4s overlapped the plywood and bead board by about an inch on the sides.

 Once the boards were cut, I laid them on a flat surface and squared them.

 I then used mending plates to secure all of them together. You can also use wood glue and a 2" screw through the side to help it stay secure.

 I then measured the middle section and cut out the middle 2x4 to fit, which was 16.5". At his point, I also measured about 22" down from the top on both sides and placed the top of my 2x4 on these points. I didn't do this until I realized I needed to at the end, but at this point, use mending plates to secure the 2x4 middle section to the sides.

 I placed the plywood on the top and secured it in place using my nail gun.

 I then placed the bead board on the bottom and secure that too. At this point, I decided to secure the corners with the screws to give it more stability.

 Now that it was all together, I painted it with some white latex paint.

 I decided to give it a little wear and distressed the edges and some of the wood with sandpaper.

 I used some glaze on the edges and in the middle part on the bead board.

 I made my bow and secured it to the center of the middle 2x4. I also added the hanger on the bead board for my wreath.

 I chose this "welcome" from the Silhouette design store and cut it out with my Silhouette. I used some transfer tape to place it on the board.

 And here it is all done!

 You can't see it very well on my porch from this angle, but I think it added the perfect 'welcoming' touch :)

 I did end up scrunching up the bow a little bit to give it more bounce. I wasn't too happy with the rigidity of it before.

 The wreath I got from Hobby Lobby. I don't recall how much that cost, but I know they still carry it (at least as of me writing this post :) ).

This porch has come a long way since this:

Yeah. It seriously looked like that, maybe worse for years :/ Nothing like a first impression coming into my house, huh? lol Sometimes things just tend to get neglected....which makes it that more fun to spruce them up! :)


pin for later:

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