Je t'adore, door

The mudroom door has been a long, slow project. But very enjoyable, nonetheless. The key item was to strip off the white paint (big suprise), but there are loads of other tasks to do when you're restoring an exterior door, it turns out. Here's our list of things we did to bring this door back to its former glory:

1. Remove from hinges and remove the glass window. Take off all the hardware. Sometimes I've been lazy and thought, nah, I'll just do something in situ - but I've learned to just take things fully apart and fix them, then put them back. It does seem to save time in the long run even though it seems like a pain at the time.
2. Rip strips of fir, bring to cabinet shop to get more of the window stay moulding made that was destroyed when taking out glass.
3. Strip all the paint. Then fill holes, sand to feather in scuffs, clean anything else.
4. Stain the door.
5. Strip all the paint off the hardware.
6. In our case, we then put it back on (security issues), temporarily filling the glass void with OSB. Ken fixed some 'wallered-out' holes where the hinges attach to the frame using the old toothpick trick.
7. We soon got the moulding strips back, stained them, and then re-glazed the glass window. This is Ken's specialty.
8. Puttied any remaining holes.
9. We had a long waiting period (other projects), but now we've varnished the door with spar varnish. Man is that stuff thick! 2-3 coats. For the second coat, I used a foam brush, which was much better than bristle - it went on thinner and a bit more even, perhaps. The door is now gleaming.
10. Weatherstripped. We used spring bronze, recommended by Joe. It seems to be working and is very authentic indeed.
11. Added hardware and a kickplate. The kickplate arrived via UPS literally as I was varnishing the door! The nice UPS man saw me with the brush and politely told me he'd leave the package on the deck. I told him that the package was a gift for that very door! Ah, it was meant to be, ma cherie (wait, is door a feminine or masculine noun? La porte, right - feminine. Of course).
12. And, added the second of our two knockers.

I think it's done and ready for snow to pile up.