January 29, 2008

Why Does it Have to Go There?

When we bought the place, this door was the access to the furnace. This is the first thing one sees when they enter our house. Our plan was to wall off the existing access door, and make access available from the mud room. I wanted the cold air return vent to be in the ceiling, hidden from view.

What ended up happening? A hole was cut in the wall...which, as far as I was concerned, was the same problem. I didn't want a cheesy metal vent in the wall.

So I started looking for decorative grilles. The ones I liked all had a hefty price tag on them....anywhere from $200-$500. I needed something a lot cheaper so when I found this cool metal piece at Aurora Mills Architectural Salvage, one of my favorite haunts, I knew we could make it work. This is actually the grille from an old register cover. Mark salvaged the grille, and we screwed it to the wall. I have one coat of paint on it....still needs another. But, as with all the painting that still needs to be done....this will have to wait.

3 comments:

Oh Mandie said...

I buy metal grilles at our local salvage yard too! (yay for cheap metal!) I stick em in my garden, they look awesome with veggies and flowers vined on them!

CSD Faux Finishing said...

Beautiful use of a recycled piece. Enviornmentally sound & pretty all in one :)

Michelle Engel Bencsko said...

Fabulous Door! Fabulous Grill!! 120% improvement. Isn't amazing what people will live with? I can't imagine looking at that crap door every time I walked in the house. Great work!