~ by lindele

Putting designs around your door is a great way to add a Middle Earth feel to any room.

You will need:

– Wood (one long plank per side should do the trick)

– A router or paint (I’d suggest paint if you’re not used to the router)

– Hammer and nails

First, decide whether you want to completely remove your current molding, just remove the top of it, or simply add one board (I’d suggest just adding the boards unless you’re experienced in woodworking).

Then, measure the length of your door. A single is probably around 35 inches. Cut the board to that length. Decide how high you want your decoration to be, but make sure that it doesn’t come too close to the ceiling. It should be about the height of the original molding. Once that’s done, cut the board down to that height.

Here’s the tricky part. If you’ve decided to just add a board above the molding, skip down to the next paragraph. If you decided to only remove the top of the molding, trace the angles that it uses to fit into the rest of the molding onto the board and cut it accordingly. If you have decided to add a completely different molding onto your door, trace the angles of all three and cut the boards accordingly.

Now, decide what design you want on your new decoration. I translated sayings into Elvish and put them into Tengwar, but you can do that with Cirth as well, just add a border of leaves, or use English (or whatever your native tongue is) sayings and put them in a fancy script. If you decide to use Tengwar or Cirth, those are some nice web pages for using them (from omniglot.com).

Next, trace/draw your design onto the boards with pencil. Then carefully paint over the pencil (use a fine-tipped brush) or route them out. If you are routing, safety first! Use a sanding pad to hold the board down and wear safety glasses. Then you can either stain your boards (I’d suggest this for those who routed) or just leave them. You can also paint inside the route and sand off the excess when your done, but you can also do this after it is stained (make sure the contrast is enough).

The final step-attaching the boards. Use a stud-finder to locate studs, center the board, and hammer it in.

Now you have a Middle-earth Entrance!