Learning a lesson from a door that wouldn’t close

I am certain that when the antique armoire was first created in France its carved and ornately trimmed doors must have closed perfectly.

Just by observation, anyone can tell there was absolutely no detail left undone. The brass inlaid key hole on one of its two doors indicated it could also be locked. However, since we have owned it, one of its doors has always stood slightly ajar with no key available to lock it.

This gorgeous piece was given to us almost eight years ago by a dear friend. She and her husband purchased it more than 30 years ago at an antique market in New York. Since then, the armoire has been in three bedrooms in two different states — not including the places it resided over the many years before they bought it.

Even with the door ajar, the antique armoire strikes a lovely figure in our master bedroom. Beautifully designed with the finest stained wood, ornately carved detailing and hand-painted scenes featuring people in festive clothes, it is truly an amazing piece of furniture.

Many years and multiple moves have left it a bit warped, but its beauty far outweighs the fact it’s not exactly square at present. But the one door refusing to close bothered me. It didn’t have to lock, but I did want its doors to close.

For years I have investigated how I could solve this door closing issue. I sought out professional help to give me advice or to actually resolve it for me.

“It’s going to be really involved and complicated,” I heard from more than one source. So, for all these years, the door has stubbornly refused to totally close.

As with many things in life that we feel are too complicated to deal with, we put them on the “one day I will get to it” list. Days turned into weeks, which turned into years. I almost became accustomed to the large door remaining ajar.

However, my wife, Debra, reminded me about it at least once a month. When our son, Blake, was home last Christmas he said, “Dad, when are you going to get that door fixed? Seeing that every day would drive me crazy!” I smiled. “Imagine how it feels,” I mumbled back.

One of the first things I placed on my New Year’s resolution list was the “closing of the door.” I didn’t know exactly where to begin the process again and, as with most resolutions, a couple of weeks into January, I had already forgotten about it. Then, out of the blue a few days ago, it happened. I had a creative epiphany. I was in the garage of another house we own putting away some Christmas decorations when I decided to place something in one of the old cabinets that hung on the wall.

The old, wooden cabinets were held shut with a simple piece of carved wood that could be turned to release the doors. As I turned it, I realized this would be a perfect solution to my problem. I borrowed one of the small, wooden pieces and raced back home to try it. It seemed to be the answer.

Now, all I needed to do was add some ornamentation, a little stain, gold wax and, of course, a special screw. It took just a jiffy to install and, with a simple turn — for the first time since we owned the cabinet — the door closed snugly. I stood back and held my breath! It stayed and its addition didn’t take away from the integrity of the cabinet.

I couldn’t wait to call Debra into the room to witness the doors being closed. I demonstrated by opening it and closing it again. I then texted both a close-up and a full-scale photo of the armoire to Blake. I couldn’t believe the problem was actually handled!

For several years I had made a huge mountain out of a little molehill. I was making the solution much harder than it needed to be. I was over-thinking the process.

The gorgeous antique armoire that came from across the ocean taught me a valuable lesson. Sometimes the solutions to our problems are simple. Sometimes we make things much more complicated than they need to be. We all need to remember that many times, to solve the problems in our lives — the ones that seem so complicated — all we are missing is one little piece.

This story was originally published January 26, 2017 at 10:35 AM with the headline "Learning a lesson from a door that wouldn’t close."