Don't leave me hanging!

March 1, 2015 9:41 AM

What interesting thing can I hang on the back of my front door to disguise some ugly holes?

This is the world's longest question about a door, but here goes.... Have a lovely (but not amazingly lovely) panelled oak front door. It was more or less natural, save for a polyurethane that has yellowed significantly over time. When we moved into the house we wanted to keep the door natural; sadly, the previous owners--in keeping with their hulk-smash approach to all things DIY--had bored huge, irregular holes through the door in an attempt to install a door knocker. They took whatever hardware was on the door and left us with a very injured door.

The holes were so huge that they required a combo of dowels/sawdust and wood filler to plug. After the surgery, it was just easier to paint the outside of the front door. For a variety of reasons (laziness chief among them), we didn't paint the inside of the front door. The polyurethane has fared better here, and looks ok with our foyer paint. The thing is, you can see where we've patched the holes through the door, and it's rather unattractive (the patches are all clustered in the centre 2/3s up from the floor -- exactly where you would hang a wreath or, as it happens, a door knocker).

I'd like to hang something cool on the back of the door to disguise the patched areas and to delight me as I head out on a long commute every morning. But I'm stumped! I don't want a picture frame or a wreath or anything like that, and I'd prefer it had a low profile so I don't need to worry about it banging up against the wall when the door's open. I thought of some sort of cool medallion? Flag? Compass or similar instruments like that? I am totally up for something bizarre or unusual.

Metafilter -- share your creative ideas with me. Please!! And tell me where to find them! (I am just outside Toronto, Canada.)

posted by Mrs. Rattery to Home & Garden (13 answers total)

Have you already considered a door harp?
posted by bonobothegreat at 9:50 AM on March 1, 2015 [4 favorites]

Best answer: A (smaller) old timey pull-down wall chart?

A fabric wall hanging?

Both links go to Etsy searches, as a starting point for ideas.
posted by deludingmyself at 9:50 AM on March 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

I've seen around the internet recently where people are filling knots and holes with glow in the dark resin. I don't know how you'd do that on a vertical surface like a door, but the effect is pretty cool.
posted by phunniemee at 9:51 AM on March 1, 2015 [3 favorites]

My go-to super-cheap wall hanging is fabric stretched over a wood canvass-stretching frame. You'd have to figure out how to secure it so it didn't fall off when the door opened, but it's light and low-profile. Some people do the same type thing by covering a piece of styrofoam with fabric.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 10:12 AM on March 1, 2015 [2 favorites]

Yep, the fabric approach is one I've taken before with unsightly doors.
posted by limeonaire at 10:48 AM on March 1, 2015

A mini quilt!
posted by ocherdraco at 10:52 AM on March 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

A smaller door.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 11:13 AM on March 1, 2015 [3 favorites]

A macrame wall hanging, perhaps with cool beads. It will let the door show through while obscuring the repairs. And it will be lightweight.
posted by carmicha at 11:28 AM on March 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

I would put a thing over it to keep the evil eye away. My landlady has a largeish one of these over her door and I've always liked it.
posted by jessamyn at 1:05 PM on March 1, 2015

If the hole placement worked out right, I'd get a strip or two of vintage horse brasses. They're typically about 4" wide when mounted on leather, and anywhere from 12" to 30" long depending on how many medallions are mounted. Of course, that's how I roll.
posted by drlith at 3:25 PM on March 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: These are great -- I'd never even heard of door harps. Thanks and keep 'em coming!
posted by Mrs. Rattery at 4:29 PM on March 1, 2015

Put a bird on it!

Seriously, if you think you might be interested in an art piece, "mixed media assemblage" (or "mixed media collage") is always a fun term to search at Etsy, and will yield a lot of results of different sizes, weights, styles and price ranges.
posted by taz at 7:08 AM on March 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I'm late here, but I'd put a barometer up to check the "weather" forecast on the way out the door. You could get a nice vintage one pretty cheap.
posted by chrispy108 at 1:31 PM on March 6, 2015