The Great Door Fiasco

So we got a new door. The process should have been all butterflies and gumdrops, but remember what I said about my world? Yea. :-/ The first issue was that my husband and I couldn't agree on a style. I wanted a plain black door. Something simple. He wanted something with windows up top. Now don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with more detailed doors, in fact many people prefer them. However, I wanted a simple backdrop to display my wreaths. In my opinion, wreaths MAKE a door.

 

You can't convince me that this wreath doesn't take this door to another level

 

 

 

So because I wanted a plain door and because it was the cheaper option the hubby agreed. Win for me! However, when we got up to the counter we found out that it would be an extra $200 to get the door in black. Insane! And to top it off, since we wanted black (and we weren't budging on that) it would take another month for them to get the door in. No thank you! The point was to get the door that day, and I would be a fool to pay an extra 200 bucks when I was standing in Lowes with all types of black paint. So we moseyed on over to the paint counter after inquiring about which paint would be best for the job.

 

 

Sherwin-Williams Exterior Satin is what was recommended. We didn't need a whole gallon so we paid our $18.99 and got a move on...much better than $200 wouldn't you say? We purchased that white door LIKE A BOSS!

But the next morning my husband woke up with a change of heart. He still wanted the door with the windows and said that even if it cost more money we should get what we really wanted. I DID have what I really wanted, but if the Peeping Tom friendly feature meant so much to him then he could have at it. So we once again made our way up to Lowes. Whomp, whomp, whomp.


Finally we found the door he wanted, but there was only one left in stock. The man took it down and I instantly noticed the slightest, teeny tiny ding in it. Not wanting to exchange the door in the first place I quickly pointed it out. Yea, I was being a bit petty, but it paid off. To my surprise the associate knocked the price down so that the door was even cheaper than the original one we had without the windows. I was definitely on board with that!! Like magic, I turned into a happy camper. :-D

Now all we had to do was paint the door, easy right? Wrong! We probably considered divorce five times just painting the darn thing! Tensions always run high when my husband and I take on a project. We're both very passionate people and believe that things should be done 'just so'. Unfortunately for us, our 'just so's' never seem to align. Really it shouldn't be that hard to slap some paint on a door...but it was, Lord knows it was.  If patience really isn't your thing or you and your work partner's relationship is like mine and the hubby's, just pay the money. By the time it was all said and done, we would have gladly paid  $200 OR MORE just to be done with it. The next day I got smart and went it alone. It was a much smoother process, if I say so myself :)

 

Letting our little guy get in on the action :-) BTW when painting your door do NOT use a sponge-that was just for him ;-)

So now that the door was painted all we had to do was have the man come put it on--unscrew a few screws, screw in a few screws--done--go on about the day. Cute idea. Coming behind someone who couldn't have cared less about the house attributed to all kinds of problems. Some mastermind had the bright idea to install the door UNDER the siding...so the siding on the side had to be removed *groans*.

A hot mess!!

 



Surprise, surprise...the frame was poorly pieced together with basically just scrap wood.  Now, I'm all about saving a buck, but come on people--do things right. Who would purposely do this to their home?! The gentleman doing the job was a professional, and there was no way he was going to leave it like that. So it turned into another trip to the home improvement store (this time Home Depot) for wood and a whole 101 in woodcutting. What I thought would have been maybe a two hour job tops turned into a whole day ordeal.

 

The Work Station

From 12:00 pm until 8:00 pm our house was filled with the sound of sawing, nailing, and banging--the joys of cleaning up someone else's mess! The guy doing our door was an absolute sweetheart though, didn't even charge extra. Of course we still paid him more--anything less would have been unethical, but it's good to know there are still good people in the world. Unfortunately, we ended up missing our good friends wedding anniversary celebration in the process, but since we were stationary it gave me a chance to work on my flower pots. Gotta find the rainbow in every cloud :-)

 

Container gardening anyone?

Now that the door is on it makes the house look a whole lot better--I mean a whole lot. And once I get my wreath I am sure it will work wonders.  Already our neighbors are stopping us when we're out in the yard and telling us how nice everything looks. Our adopted auntie across the street loves updating us on how slow the cars go pass our house trying to get a good look.

 

Drive slow homie-- in my Paul Wall voice! :-) 

But without a doubt we still have a lonnnng way to go. Ha! After all that I almost forgot to add an 'after' pic of the door. One moment please...

Yup, had to run outside real quick...SMH. It's a bit dark, but you get the point.

All I can say is that we're trying. We're definitely a lot further along than when we started! And I suppose that's all we can ask for!