Hooked on: Dutch Doors

Today I'm linking to Julia at Hooked on Houses for her "Hooked On..." party! Go check out her site to see what everyone else is so happy about.

~Please also be sure to check back here soon. This is post #198, and I have several special things planned for #200!~

I've always thought Dutch Doors were so cute!

Love the finish on this one!

That's a mud room I'd love to come home to!

If my girls' play house looked like this, I bet they'd stay out for hours!

(Images from Google)

When Kate at Centsational Girl asked me about a Dutch Door I'd mentioned in a comment on her blog, I knew what I'd share for this week's "Hooked On" party.

Our Living room is just a long room set on one side of our home. When you closed the door to the Living room, you were really isolated from the rest of the house, especially since it opens from the Kitchen, which is usually a hub for traffic. (In hindsight, I bet T wishes he still had some isolation in there from all the estrogen in our home)

T got it in his head one day that he was going to make a Dutch door for the Living room. Knowing that this would involve lots of hammering, drilling, and a fair amount of cursing, I kept my mouth shut and waited to see the results. T is not a carpenter, but he is pretty handy, and I liked the results.

Looks like sort of a regular door, huh?

Ta da! This is a door with super powers! (It is a pity the view you have is of the heinous brass reading lamp he won't let me get rid of...)

I have no idea what the hardware on this baby is called, but this is a shot of the top of the little ledge that graces the lower half of the door.

Here's a photo from the front. The brass hurts my heart.

Photo of the underside of the top portion of the door. This is what clicks and holds the two doors together when they shut so they don't swing around.

T is a total MacGyver. He didn't build the door out of floss and twigs or anything, but he did manage to saw a completely fine door in half and rig it up as a Dutch door.

Now I can see what the kids are doing (trying to teach Michaela Byrd to somersault..she'd have none of it!) while I'm in the kitchen. It also works for yappy dogs...I can shut Emma Woodhouse in there when we have company!

But I can't leave a face like that on the other side of the door for too long!

I can't remember the total cost of this project, but it was considerably less than calling a carpenter over. If your husband is handy, or if you let your kids play with power tools, this could be an easy fix for you!

{What are you hooked on this week?}