They were pretty easy to make, and pretty when finished. I honestly don't know why we put it off.
On the other hand, I know exactly why we put off making the door. It was hard, really hard. First came the threshold, this wasn't difficult so much as time consuming. The final product is actually three thresholds combined to make one, as you can see below.
The demaraction between hardwood floor and porch didn't line up with where the door should hang, so we had to make the threshold wider, hence the three. The wood you see on the bottom is actually two pieces combined, and the metal/rubber one on top is used just to cover it up and make everything look nice.
To be honest, I don't even want to write about the door. Just rehashing all the issues for this entry is enough to send me running for my aspirin. You see, the problem is that doors are very complicated, and meant to be built by professionals. With no professionals available, Steve did most the research and all the work. From what little I know, you aren't supposed to create a door from solid wood because it is more likely to warp. But shaving down two pieces of cedar and fitting them together (not to mention around a window) was next to impossible. So we just didn't. Instead, using a multitude of tools, Steve created the joints from solid cedar. We figured that if the door did warp, then we'd just fix it. Having already built a little house, a few home repairs seem easy.
We used wood glue and clamps to hold everything together while it dried.
Using brads, we added a little frame around the window on both sides of the door, just in case the glue and pressure aren't enough. Plus, it just looks nice. Before the knob and lock we had to sand a lot--glue is messy. And then the real nightmare began. Nothing wanted to line up right. First was trying to get the door hardware to fit with the frame, which it didn't at first, or second. And don't get me started on trying to hang the blasted thing! It took a week of tinkering, and at some point we got frustrated and thought sanding the door down might help it fit better. Stupid. We made the door to fill the frame, so shaving it down wasn't a good idea. So now there are some gaps, which concern me more than Steve, as I'm extremly paranoid about bugs. But I guess that's what weather stripping is for.
I thought it turned out nice for all its flaws and imperfections.
