Most hotels feature hallways with uniform doors that step into most often interchangeable rooms--maybe the views are different or one room may have two queen beds and another a single king. Unique and different is left for the B&B's and boutique hotels. Uniformity is fine and perhaps even comforting for some travelers that find the same predictable room in Chicago that they would find in Memphis. Large apartment complexes are the same but the fine-ness and the comfort found in uniformity is dialed down a notch or two. Even if my apartment has the same floor plan as the one next door, how we furnish them speaks to who we are as individuals. Shouldn't our doors also stand out and apart from everyone else's? Or at the very least break up the monotony of passing down the hallway? Periodically, my complex management office will promote door decorating contests to help establish a sense of community engagement. Community engagement means happier tenants which reduces turnover and increases security.
I have on occasion entered the contests and at times I have decorated my door just because. When my little neighbor came along, I began decorating my door to provide her with entertainment. And then when the pandemic came along and we were encouraged to keep to ourselves, I began decorating their door for their birthdays. Now birthday doors have become a tradition. Even now that they moved across the complex, I still take my decorations and my glue gun in the small hours of the night to set up the door for their enjoyment the next day. What follows are some of my more notable doors--or at least ones that I have photos of.
This was my first place winning Halloween door, I have won a couple of times. The cat was a favorite lasted several years. With his green eyes and motion sensing yowling, he scared at least one delivery guy. Apartment life usually means that storage is a premium so the cat became a door pet and got different bows and head gear to celebrate each season. I was sad to say goodbye to the Door Cat.
Here is a Christmas door. Notice the Door Cat with his Santa hat and festive ribbon bow on the left. The large nutcracker was a gift from my older brother a number of years ago. I added the light strings to brighten up the door. Clearly, I'm a big fan of sparkly lights.
And below is my Thanksgiving door. There wasn't an incentive contest for this door. I had two rolls of fall ribbon and I wanted to see what the effect of weaving them together on the door would be like.
The weaving was surprisingly not difficult at all. I used the hot glue gun to secure the ends and was able to weave the ribbons without any issue or a need for do overs. Again notice the Door Cat and his charming fall decor.
There have been other doors over the years but these are representative of my style. The Door Cat is gone but a couple of years ago I found a Door Fox. Now he lives at the door and gets seasonal adjustments to his attire. I will post a photo of him at the end of this post.
When Halloween comes around again, I might see if I can find Door Cat 2.0 because I miss the fellow and his scratchy growly greeting when I come home.
This was my first birthday door. Target had a flower kit in their party department with 4 different sizes of flowers. I was able to use 3 of the flowers to create the flowers here. I wasn't really able to figure out how their flower centers worked so I devised my own centers using a pair of multi-blade scissors. I added the butterflies and found the board on sale at either Michaels or Hobby Lobby which I added the birthday wish. I purchase the paper on sale at which ever craft store is offering paper or paper pads on sale. In recent years that has mostly been Joanns. Frequently on holidays Joanns has paper for 10 for $2. Last month Joanns had a special for 10 for $3 for even their speciality paper--I was able to stock up the pricer usually out of my budget glitter paper. Now with a fresh new stock, I really must make sure that I am not wasting my money by using rather than hoarding the specially paper.
A few weeks after the flower door, I created this door for my little neighbor's 4th birthday. None of the images are original to me. I found them on the Internet and enlarged them for the door. Since the doors are solely for personal use and the images have been altered significantly from the original, from my understanding, they fall outside copyright and land in the fair use arena. The tree, though. I cut free handed. I found the heart wall art on clearance at Hobby Lobby and added the Happy Birthday ribbons to the front. My neighbor is fond of balloons, so I added the balloons to the animals.
With the pandemic in full rage, I used my scissors to help pass the time which explains the sheer volume of animals that I created for this door.
I will add the other photos of other doors at the end now. This last year, I have branched out a bit with adding flowers to add dimensions. I'm also getting more confident with my scissors and want to start branching out with my own designs and creations.
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