our new handpainted screen door

The story begins a few years ago at an art fair in Frankfort. We met a wonderful woman named Cathy Newstead who had a door like this in her booth. I love it the minute I saw it. While I knew it was out of my price range, I boldly approached and asked if she might be interested in a trade. In return, I offered anything from my booth or my sewing skills for some custom project. She chose both.

Now the interesting thing about trades is this: they always come at just the right time. When Cathy had the door finished, she called to say she had an opportunity to sell it. I was happy to wait for the next one. It took a  bit of time and patience. Once the door arrived here at our house, we realized there were some construction issues with our current door frame. You might be able to tell the door is propped in place here. The door frame needed replacing as it had rotted on the bottom and would not hold a hinge!

So we headed off to Odom with some old doorknobs and other reusable building supplies that I cleaned out of the shed. The door frame we found was just the right size and painted white already! Not only that, but we left with some credit for our next project. Very cool.

We decided to have some friends over for a bonfire that weekend. In another conversation about trading some blackberries from our patch in the backyard, the door project came up. The next day, our friend arrived and helped to install it. It turned out so much better than we ever imagined, with a great story too!

Thank you so much Cathy and John! We love our new door and are very satisfied when we hear that summery sound of a screen door snapping closed. It has transformed the appearance of our home, and we hope it will impart peace both inside and out.