Auntie B's Wax

Once upon a time there was a convent.  The convent was attached to the school I attended for six years.  After some time the convent ceased to be a convent because, well, there were no nuns left to live there.  The building was put to use, but some time after that some people decided to tear down the convent.  Much to my delight a salvage hunt was offered to the people of the parish to which this school/convent belonged.  That is to say one could go through the building and take whatever she wanted, free of charge.

By the time I could get to the convent it had been picked apart pretty well, but there were things remaining that no one even thought of taking.  I was armed with my little screwdriver and helped myself to things like doorknobs and keyhole plates.  Then I got to thinking, if I’m going to take these little pieces of hardware, why not take the entire door?  Most of the doors weren’t worth taking and didn’t have interesting features.  However, I decided to take both of the french doors that led onto what used to be a little balcony.  Husby helped me, of course, and rolled his eyes knowing it would be a long time before I could think of something to do with the doors, much less actually doing that something I thought of.

There are actually two doors here, one in front of the other. Dimensions each: about 7 feet by 3 feet. Weight: approximately two tons. Of course I would strip and turn the wood of these into whatever color suits the room they live in. Another plus ~ I have the original hardware.

Husby was right.  It’s been over ten years since I retrieved the doors and only now have I figured out what I want to do with them ~ turn them into a door-enclosed bookcase.  It would be a huge bookcase, but what a conversation piece!  However, there are some very serious obstacles.

1)  The doors weigh about five-hundred pounds each.  (The picture caption above says weight is about two tons.  It doesn’t really matter which is more accurate as long as you get the idea that they’re heavy.

2)  I would have to get rid of a piano in order to put the gigantic bookcase where I wanted it.

3)  Husby didn’t think he had the expertise nor the tools to build the bookcase.  Initially I thought I would do it myself, but after hearing even he couldn’t do it, I figured it was way out of my league.

The first two obstacles would be a pain, but doable.  The third?  Who would I hire to do this massive undertaking?  Then, a lightbulb went on above my head.  Ray!  Ray is a professional cabinet-maker!  He could do it for me!

Luckily for me we were going out for a long-overdue Dive Night with Ruthie and Ray and the nightcap would be at our house.  I posed the situation to Ray and then took him down to the basement to see the doors.  He didn’t look thrilled.  He came up with all sorts of carpentry complexities that I didn’t understand and said he would “check around” to see if it could be done.  Apparently my idea is way more complicated that I thought it would be.

So, on the very good chance that Ray can’t or won’t take on the project, my brain has been scurrying around trying to think of new ideas for the doors.  If I ever put them to use I’ll be sure to let you know how the project turns out.  In the meantime, I welcome any ideas you may have.  I need all the help I can get.

Read Full Post »