Our Lovely Screen Door!

I love screen doors.  Not storm doors with a small screened area you can open, but an actual screen door.  I love being able to leave the main door open in the evenings and hear nature through a screen door.  There's something soothing about it.  I've always loved the old fashioned wood screen doors.  So, when I think of my living space in my tiny house, I couldn't imagine not sitting on my couch, listening to the birds and crickets through my own screen door! 

I've noticed a lot of tiny houses don't even bother with screen doors.  I don't know why.  It helps make the space seem even bigger and more open.  And they really are not that hard to make.  All you need is some scrap lumber, wood glue, a few tools and a roll of screen!

We ripped down some plain 2X4's to the desired thickness.  We used our Kreg's Jig to drill some screw holes.  We could have just glued it together with good wood glue but since we have that handy tool, we use it as much as we can.  We cut the bottom center support board down the middle, clamped it together and cut out a small tree shape with our jig saw.  A lot of the old fashioned doors had this design. 

We glued all the pieces together, sank a few screws in the appropriate areas, and clamped it together to dry.  We plugged the screw holes with a dowel rod, glued them in place and cut them flush.  After the door had set overnight to let the glue dry, we sanded it.

We found a screen door hardware kit that came with the hinges and handles.  The hinges are spring tension so they return the door to the closed position when you let go of it.  The handle is a fixed one, without a catch.  We'll be using a hook & eye latch on the inside to keep it closed when we are home.  Mainly, to keep our cat from pushing it open and getting out whenever he wants. 
 

We cut some small thin strips of wood from scrapes and nailed it on the inside of the frame.  This is to hold and cover the edge of the screen.  Kind of like a trim piece.  Kind of hard to see in this picture.  We will do the same on the other side once the screen is in place.  We used the same stain on this as we used on the main door. 

My husband found a picture of a really cool door with a wire spider's web in the corner.  He asked if I would like something like that..as if he even had to ask!!  He found some old scrape barb wire on the property and got some steel baling wire to connect it with.  The barb wire was a bit tough to bend into shape.  I think it turned out awesome! 

We used metal screen in our door so or cat won't be able to claw it up. Not that he's ever done it before but just in case. It wasn't that much more in cost than the vinyl stuff but was a bit harder to stretch tight in the frame.  

We covered the backside edges of screen with some more thin strips of wood.  This gave it a nice clean look and covered up shard edges.  We added our hook & eye latch (upper left corner of pic).  We also put a strip of rolled foam against the door jam inside so when the door slams shut, it wouldn't be wood against wood. 

Door finished!  I just love it so much! 

Close up of the barb wire spider's web. We used some old barb wire staples to hold it in place.

A view from the inside.  Can't wait to get some bird feeders in that tree out front

We are very happy with how the door turned out and how well it works.  It's nice to be able to leave it open at night and listen to the crickets.  We also have a pond in the woods and you can hear the bullfrogs croaking all night.  Sounds of nature are so soothing to me.  Speaking of nature..while we were working, we had a visitor!  

We woke up to find this Eastern Grey Tree Frog perched on the top of our ladder.  There was a bit of standing water from the rain and he was just soaking it up!  He stayed there most of the morning with us going up and down the ladder.  Never paid much attention to us. 

About lunchtime he migrated up onto the porch and perched on top of my broom.  He stayed there for a few hours before moving to a nearby tree.  I hope to see him around a bit..I love frogs and toads.  :)

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