I stumbled upon 'Old Door Heaven' the other day... and wandered in. For those of you who don't know me well, I have this "thing" for old doors, not a borderline obsession mind you, a full blown one! *LOL* I've been known to scavenge for them like a Door Vulture... picking up some old beauties even curbside... or at demolition and remodeling sites as I beg the construction workers to allow me the privelege of hauling away the old Doors they're discarding. "Whaddya gonna do with those old Doors?" is my pick-up line, yeah, they probably think I'm the crazy old Door Woman, I don't care, usually they're just amused, thankful and oblige, even helping this ole Gal load them up. *Smiles* Yep, I have no pride when it comes to old Doors and their spectacular hardware... I'm just that smitten with them. The Man sighs every time I drag bring a new one Home... Friends and Family have often affectionately dubbed this ole Homestead 'Dawn's House Of Doors'. *wink* Last year for my Birthday I asked for... and got... a spectacular old Door... there's a Post in the archives of it... and I was as delighted about The Man caving and getting it for me as I would have been if he'd bought me a piece of Jewelry with precious Gemstones. He doesn't 'get it', and I suppose most people wouldn't, unless they too have an old Door obsession or fetish?! To me the possibilities are endless with Doors... so many ideas and vision... and the History of each one, where it came from, what lay behind it for oh so many years, what did it go 'to' or 'from', who passed through it? If old Doors could only talk... the stories they could tell!!!
So, here I was, wandering an Eastside Mall that doesn't boast any Antique Stores or Architectural Salvage Shops... not expecting to discover anything that would make my Heart jump out of my chest... when I spy a new Art Gallery that had just opened there. Now, being an Artist, I also love Art, so of coarse I wander in... not at all expecting to enter into the realms of 'Door Heaven'. But, there in a portion of the Gallery it was... an entire section of 'Architectural Art' on display and for sale... and the Doors... OMG... TO DIE FOR my Friends, the patinas and sizing of these Old Doors was MAGNIFICENT!!! *swooning as I swear I saw the Heavens part and Angels descending with Harps playing Angelic Music* These collections of old pairs of Doors must have come from various old Missions, either International ones or those you would expect to see from such States as New Mexico or here in Arizona... heavy detailed Spanish styled old Doors with the most fabulous patinas and hues of crackled and chippy paint imaginable! And the hardware was reminiscent of Gladiator days... huge Bronze discs, thick chains and Metal decorations and bindings! The huge size of these massive old Doors was truly magnificent, dwarfing me, each one would take three corn fed Men and a Boy to lift! Honestly, my photos don't do them justice... and, alas, I ran out of storage space on my memory card before I could photograph them all!!! *Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, don't you hate it when that happens!?!?!* Actually I was deleting other lovely photos just to get these few precious shots... because you know how Art Galleries are, they profile a variety of Artists, topics and Works and then, poof, gone... I just couldn't risk that my Friends! Granted, the price on these Found Treasures was outside of my budget... probably a relief since how one would transport them via a PT Cruiser, alone, defies all logic and isn't the least bit reality based! *LOL* Though, mind you, I HAVE transported old Doors in it, you'd be surprised what you can do when you're determined and on a Mission... even Mission Impossible... Dawn... The Bohemian