lively home | Bland Little Owl Art and Rambling

Yes. you read right.

Today we are talking doors.

After not writing for nearly two years (I’ve been busy, having children and doing some fun projects) I’ve decided to open a new door and try to keep posting more often. Well, here and on my new blog.

So what a better way than to post about a door…. A door to our downstairs toilet.

I have to admit, I’m one of these people that see a blank space and just need to fill it with something visually attractive. I was thinking about this door since we had the house renovated and eventually I went online and bought some Calvin and Hobbs collection books.

If you don’t know who Calvin and Hobbs are – they are a comic duo from the mind of the great Bill Watterson. My eldest looks a bit like Calvin and he has the same fun loving adventurous spirit so I thought it would be a great choice. (Plus the comic strips are full of little life lessons, a great read for the toilet!)

I was sure there would be loads of projects like this online, but when I looked for how to do it I couldn’t find anything. So here is how I did it:

First I painted the door white so the comic won’t disappear on a dark surface once it was glued on.
painting the door white
While the door was drying I could go through the comic books and cut out the strips I wanted to use.
Obviously this is a much better way to pass the time than watching paint dry, and as you can imagine took a lot longer than the door took to dry anyway. But it was a fun reading through the books !
Make some glue mixture – dilute PVA glue with water. The misture needs to be quite watery, just like making papier mâché.
Then you can start putting the pieces of paper (in this case the comic strips) to soak for about half a minute – depending on the type of paper, it may be less or more – then place on the door.
Make sure you have a mat down, it can be messy!
You can start from a corner, or you can start from the middle. I tried both on either side of the door, and I have to admit that starting from a corner was much easier due to the shape of the strips.However, if you were sticking random pictures or coloured paper that has no need to be read then you would probably want to start from the middle with your favourite image as a centre piece and work your way out.
Once you cover as much surface as you want, let the whole thing dry.
Now, take the PVA pot and brush PVA on everything. This helps to glue the paper more to the door, but more importantly protects it from dirt and scratches.
That’s it! you’re all done!