the new door

I see I've let the blog go for over six months, and of course I let my 365 collage project slide; however, that isn't to say I've been idle. When the weather warmed up in April I just had to get going on DIY house projects. It takes me much longer to do these projects than videos on YouTube would lead you to believe, especially since I'm often doing things for the first time, and using new tools, too.

Anyway I thought I'd do a few posts on some of the projects I worked on to remind myself of what I got accomplished.

The Old Door

This is the front door that used to be on my house. I never liked it. The design just isn't my cup of tea and seems out of place on a near-mid-century ranch-style house. The glass was single panes and transferred cold into the house. The door and handles were poorly fitted and it was sometimes tricky to unlock. I also worried that it afforded easy entry for would-be burglars. It would be easy to break a few panes of glass, reach through the opening, and unlock the door. My dilemma was that much as I disliked the door I couldn't quite justify the expense to replace it.

One Friday night last November, as I sat watching Netflix, someone solved my problem: they kicked in the door. I guess they realized someone was home because they immediately ran off. The door was in bad shape, but I covered the big hole with plywood on both sides and the next day I started shopping for a new door. Decisions, decisions! Wood, steel or fiberglass? Left or right inswing? Painted or primed? What kind of handle? What kind of deadbolt? Hardware finish? Doorbell button? How to install it?

The New Door

I lived with the old boarded up door for about two months. I had to wait for an installer to measure my door & check the door frame, then wait for the door to arrive, and then another wait for the installer to fit me into his schedule. I opted to get an unpainted door because I didn't like the colors that were available and because it saved me almost $200 to paint it myself. That was about my only part in the process aside from picking out the door and all the hardware to go with it.

I really like my front door now.  I have a different pot next to it now, but so far I haven't been able to keep anything I've planted alive. I was hoping to grow something tall and green but he summer heat just fried everything I planted. Someday I'm going to remove that weird pipe sticking out of the top of my porch light. It connects to an electrical outlet and was installed by the previous owners. I'm pretty sure it's not up to electrical code. (Maybe next year...)