Castle Door

We used to have this really terrible, tiny bathroom in the middle of what could be a really fantastic large room if it was removed!  But that's another story for another time.  It had this wide but small window close to the ceiling and as it didn't let in enough sunlight it was decided to enlarge the hole down to the floor.  This left a gaping hole in the wall to our courtyard - 2.1 metres by 1.5 metres - which meant we couldn't buy an 'off the shelf' door.  So long story short here is the progression of the CASTLE DOOR! (Mysterious music plays).

Materials:

5 Thick (5cm) planks to fit your door frame
Wood glue (lots)
Mullioned Windows
Nails to nail in trim
Screws for hinges
4 Large brass hinges
2 Brass Elephant door handles (or other)
1 Door lock with key (preferably brass)
Black gloss paint
A good primer

Tools:

Circular saw
Belt sander
Philips Screwdriver
Chisel

Step 1: Hole in the Wall With Door Frame Added

Step 2: Glue Together 5 Large Pieces of Wood

The wood were some large planks (3 metres tall by 5 centimetres thick) of pine bought from a timber yard at an horrendous price!  These were well glued together with wood glue, clamped and left for a couple of days to dry properly.  The planks were sanded with a belt sander to make them smooth and so that you wouldn't see where the seams were.

Cut in the door lock and check position on door frame and cut hole for lock in door frame.

Then out came the circular saw.  I measured the door frame to make sure that when I cut this wood to size it would fit, as they say measure twice cut once!

Well you guessed it, it fit like a glove.  Being such a large door, and heavy I used 4 large brass hinges to secure it to the door frame.  Remember to chisel out the wood for the hinges in the door frame as well as the door.

Step 3: Cut the Holes for the Glass

I'm sorry that I don't have pictures of me using the circular saw to cut the windows into the door but I figured you'd work that one out.

We found some really old windows with mullion glass where the frames had almost disintegrated - we bought 4 for 10 bucks each.  I butchered one to repair the other three.  These were then screwed to the cut outs and I used a moulded trim to finish them off.  I stained and varnished the trim.  I think the best effect was to turn the mullioned glass sideways instead of the usual upright position.

The pictures here show the door being suspended by large screws I screwed into the door so that when I had painted one side I could simply revolve the door and paint the other side.

Step 4: The Finishing Touches

I painted the door with two coats of primer and two coats of black paint.  The final coat I dragged a pattern through the wet paint which gave the door a deep wood grain effect - superb.

We've now been using this door for about 2 and a half years and it still looks and works as well as the first day I put it in.

I will be very happy to answer any questions or offer suggestions to problems you might have with this.