The Death of the Cat Door

This is a big day for me guys.  I've been waiting on this post for nearly 2 years now- actually, longer.  From the first moment we set foot in our big, disgusting project house back in August of 2010, I've wanted to tear out and fix the Cat Door in the basement.

 

For those of you new to One Project at a Time, the Cat Door is an actual pet door that was installed in one of the closets of our Family Room, presumably so the previous owner's cats could get by and poop in the closet.  Perhaps it was genius in functionality for the previous family, but for us, it was a big, weird hole in a door.  While I always thought the Cat Door would be the first thing to go, we've somehow managed to live with it for nearly 2 years. It's even become a natural part of our family's dialogue. We refer to it as "The Cat Closet," even though I can assure you we never have or will store cats in it. Ryder plays "Cat Ball" and uses the door as a goal, and tells these amazing stories to anyone that will listen about the big scary cat that lives in our closet. And as sweet and funny as that all is, we're done. It's time. The Cat Door must go. 

In our typical fashion, the Hubs wanted to throw this one and purchase a new door, and I wanted to work with what we had. In the end I appealed to his cheap frugal side as a new solid 6 panel wood door cost about $300, and I negotiated that we should at least try my idea first, which was free. I started with my t square, cleaning cutting out the old hole.

Next I cut a new filler piece (making sure I matched the grain of the wood in the same direction.) My fit was really tight, so I lined the edges with wood glue and tapped it in with a rubber mallet.

Then I applied wood filler to all the edges. 

 

A coat of primer, three coats of paint (Benjamin Moore Impervo with a microfiber roller), and a fancy new door knob later and we are in business.

I'm so happy with how this room is coming together.  Just a few quick projects left and you can stick a fork in it!