Laundry Chute Redo

We bought our house nearly 5 years ago. It's a few decades old. It is a serious fixer-upper. Head to toe, inside and out. Slowly, one project at a time, we are getting it done. Here's the latest one: the U.G.L.Y. laundry chute!!

Old hardware, painted over hinges, my daughters signature at age 4, horrible paint job by the previous owners... Not every home has a chute and even though it's an eyesore, I have absolutely loved having it!  This project has been on the to do list ever since we bought the house. In the years we've been here I have been thinking about how I wanted this to look. I didn't want this to be a hugely expensive project. I decided I wanted it to look a little more substantial, newer; just a simple facelift.

The first thing I did was remove the door and the current hardware, which was buried in I don't know how many layers of paint.  I had to pry them off with a screw driver after the screws were removed.

Then I covered the surrounding wall and the chute opening with plastic and sprayed paint stripper on the door and the frame.

After 20-30 minutes I scraped off the layers of paint, as directed on the can.

Gross.

Then I sanded it all smooth, down to the original primer.

I decided to install cove molding around the outside, just to dress it up a bit. I tried to teach myself how to use the miter saw (Hubs was out of town). I cut one piece. Fail. So I waited several days until the hubs was home and he showed me. So much for impressing him by doing this all by myself! And I could have sworn I cut it the way he showed me, but end results prove otherwise. Anyway, I cut the last three pieces. I attached the molding with liquid nails. Love that stuff!

Why is it my polish is always chipped when I take pictures??

Then I filled all the gaps, primed it, and painted it.

I then caulked everywhere that needed it.

And lastly, I installed {self closing!} hinges, and a new knob. Hopefully there will be no more slamming of the chute door! A girl can dream.

Here is a side by side before/after:

What do you think? Much better, right? You think my family will use it more often now?? Yeah, me either.

Vinyl makes everything just a bit nicer, yes?

Thank you for sticking through this long-ish post (I even left a lot out!). Hope you all have a great week!

Entered into: