Aug
10

Decorative Door stops

Posted by & filed under DIY crafts, Home decor.

It’s Landee from Landee See Landee Do. Today I’d like to talk about some ugly things. Door stops! They are things we all have in our homes and we allow them to reside there, no questions asked.    And we don’t have just one… we have them everywhere we look!   Around every corner!


These hideous beasts are these “boing boing” doorstops (official name from here on out).



Ug.  They do have one redeeming quality though.  Once discovered, they have the ability to keep a scooting/crawling baby entertained for a good 10 minutes (which is 2 hours in adult time).   But, other than that, these brassy coiled atrocities are nothing but eyesores.


Today, we shall fix that.


I admit I do have an ulterior motive behind this project.  I’ve been needing to replace or move my “boing boing” in my entry way since the genius who installed it had some miscalculations.



See how the front door easily glides right past it?


I didn’t discover this, however, until I hung a mirror behind the door a couple of years ago.



Someone is lucky that I want to refinish that mirror anyway.


Anyway, so I’ve been needing to do something about this situation for quite some time.  And what I came up with was easy as pie and took mere minutes!

I went to Lowe’s and got a package of 2 “large craft finials” (found back by the lumber near the mouldings, etc.) for $2.93.



These were perfect because they already had the screw in the bottom.  

I dug out our trim work paint from the basement, painted the finial the same color and allowed it to dry.


Next I stuck one of these bumpers onto the end where the door would be hitting (package of 12 for $2.58, also found at Lowe’s).


Then I removed the “boing boing” and used the existing hole to install the new finial!


Due to the difference in length, it lines up perfectly now and the mirror is safe!


Not to mention no more eye sore in the front entry.  :)

A little side note: I probably wouldn’t install one of these in a narrow, high traffic area such as a hallway.  I can imagine they would not be great to stub your toe on!  But it’s perfect for an out-of-the-way-behind-a-door area of a contained room or entry way.



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19 Responses to “Decorative Door stops”

  5. Jennifer

    That is awesome! I’ve got 3 missing BOING BOINGS in my house. My son couldn’t keep his hands off of them when he was in the crawling stage. I’m going to have to hunt those down. Looks very nice. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  6. Amanda

    This is a great idea, and looks totally stylish! When we finally put doors back up this will be on my to do list!

    Reply

  8. Jenny

    That is really cool! However, be careful if you have the kind of baby that likes to find things to get in trouble with. I can just see a baby picking off the bumpers and choking.

    Reply

    • landeelu

      Jenny, that is a valid concern. I headed over to mine and tried to get the bumper off and couldn’t (they must have a strong adhesive), but I don’t pretend to be as focused and determined as a 10 month old! One solution might be to drive a small brad into the end, securing the bumper on. If you set it down a little lower than the bumper surface, your door should still be cushioned when it hits the end.

      Reply

  9. Standsmom

    Cute! How do you come up with this stuff??? I must say, there are only a few sounds that make me insane! And the sound of that boing boing is one of them.

    Reply

  17. Carrie @ Hazardous Design

    This is such a great idea! We live in a house built in the 1800′s and there’s an original doorstop in our hallway that looks similar to yours. Next time I’m at Lowe’s you can bet I’ll be picking up a bunch of these to replace my “boing boing” door stops with your DIY “historically accurate” ones. Thanks!

    Reply