I have been looking forward to having doors on my studio since I was able to move in and use the room once the hardwood floors were finished.  This room is fairly isolated from the rest of the house, but it’s still nice to have a door to close out sound, keep the critters out when needed, and give a cue when I need to be left alone.  They are see-through and not sound-proof, so it’s not so much about privacy as it is about letting my two-and-four-legged housemates know that mom is working.  The two-legged folks are more respectful than the four-legged variety, who step in my paint, roll around in my still-life vignettes, and walk across my keyboard.

As I’ve shared before, the studio is intended to be a formal living room.  There are times when I imagine how fun this room would be to decorate as a living room, but it gets much more use as my studio.  The nice thing is that putting French doors on this room still makes sense if future owners want to use it as a formal living room, but it makes the room more versatile.  It can be a workout studio, an office, a library…really anything!

But, for now, it’s my studio.

We were fortunate that the doorway was a standard size for French doors, so we didn’t have to mess with widening or narrowing the opening or having custom doors made.  Jeff and I watched some videos on installing doors and debated doing it ourselves, but we decided to hire it out.  Hanging a door is the kind of thing that takes someone who knows what they are doing an hour or less.  If you have to learn as you go, it can be a frustrating, all-day event.  We have plenty of DIY projects on our plate, so we hired the same contractor who is renovating our kitchen and pool.

Here is what the opening looked like initially…

It’s just framed out in what is known as “clamshell molding”, which is popular in mid-century houses.  We initially thought we’d change all of the moldings in the house to something that was a bit more interesting, but after purchasing some chair rail and picture frame molding for the hallway, we decided our money would be better spent elsewhere!  Prices of trim have just skyrocketed!  The nice thing is that clamshell molding is pretty inconspicuous.  It doesn’t scream any particular style, but just frames things out quietly and simply.

I was so excited on door install day!  They removed the trim carefully and were able to reuse all but one piece.

We are going to install chair rail and picture frame molding in the hall, but we were waiting until the door was done.

I knew I would like the door for the seclusion it offers, but I didn’t know it would add so much architectural detail to the foyer.  It really adds a lot!

They hung the door, caulked the seams, and filled and sanded the holes in the trim. I also asked if they could change out the hardware to brass.  We don’t have any brushed nickel in the house, so the hinges felt a little out of place.   I thought that might be a huge bother, but they said it was no problem and were able to easily make that switch.  I told them I could take it from there!

As a part of this whole project, I decided I needed to pin myself down and paint the rest of the walls in the studio.  I built that up in my head as something that was going to be a real pain, mostly because of that large white cabinet.  It is so heavy without the drawers filled and now they are filled, so I figured the likelihood of me even being able to budge it was pretty low.  I decided to give it a try, though, before I removed all of the drawers and asked the guys for help.  It turns out, we left ourselves a little gift.  We put the cabinet on felt sliders!  I was able to slide it out pretty easily to access the wall.

I confess that I was considering committing what I estimated was one of the worst sins in painting – I was just going to paint around the piece.  I used to really turn my nose up at people who did that, thinking it would be purely done out of laziness, but life has taught me that sometimes you just don’t have the help or the physical capability to move something, so you just do your best.  Six months in an orthopedic boot, on crutches, and on a knee scooter will humble you and give you a better perspective on things like that!

So, anyway, it took a coat of primer and two coats of paint to cover this minty green, but I was able to get it all done in one day.  If you’re wondering why I used primer, I might not have if I had applied this paint myself.  Since it was an unknown product with an unknown history, the safest and best option is to prime it.  I’m glad I did because there was some kind of residue on the walls that made the primer slide in places.

As I’ve mentioned before, the minty green was a lovely color, but I wanted clean, white walls for my studio for the sake of a purer light.  Any color on the walls, floor, and ceiling will reflect around the room, so all of that needs to be considered in any room, but especially in a studio.

The doors came with a film on the glass, which I left in place to act as masking.

Once the paint was dry, I used a craft knife to cut the film…

…and peel it off.  It was a little unsatisfying to peel one side off only to still see the mess on the other side, but it all started to come together once I worked on the second side of each door.

Jeff and I installed some new unlacquered brass knobs over the weekend and the door project was done!

They look sooooooo good!  They are painted in Light Blue by Farrow & Ball.  I used Modern Emulsion on the walls and Modern Eggshell on the trim and doors.

Just a note for my real mom and all of my internet moms out there, I cleaned both sides of the windows thoroughly, but I still have some streaks and I need to hit them again.  Let’s just look at the hardware, though.  Since the door operates on a ball catch, I just needed dummy knobs (meaning they don’t need to turn or latch.)  I ordered unlacquered brass rosette knobs from Nostalgic Warehouse.  is a sister brand of Grandeur Hardware, which is where I ordered my other knobs from.  These knobs aren’t matching knobs, but they are similar in style, so I felt like they worked.  They also look nice with the style and scale of the doors.  When it comes to hardware in a house, continuity is a good thing, but I think it’s more important that the hardware feels of the same era and style.  It doesn’t have to be identical and it’s perhaps more interesting if it isn’t.

And, since these are unlacquered, I can’t wait to see how they mellow over the years.

The studio walls are painted in Benjamin Moore’s Decorator White and the trim is in a bright white right out of the can.  I love how the soft, slightly off-white plays with the bright white trim and the Light Blue doors.  Then, the brass just pops.  It all makes me smile.

The only residents who aren’t so sure about the door are Sebastian and the kitties.  As soon as the door closes, all three are sitting on the other side looking in at me.

Even as I was opening and closing the doors to take pictures, the animals were right there making sure they could still walk through.

I also love how this antique white cabinet I purchased from Ekster antiques this fall looks against the white walls and next to the new French doors.  This side of the studio finally got the attention it deserved.

You can tell by his expression exactly what Sebastian thinks about the doors.

So, one more project is checked off the list!  I do still need to install the shoe molding in this room, but we’ll get to that eventually.  I’ll have to do another renovation recap because there’s been some progress on the pool and the kitchen.  We’re also about to dig into some landscaping work, trim in the hallway, and more glue-removing and painting.

You can find more posts about the studio transformation HERE and about our 1970 home renovation HERE.