kitchen door

After all the outside work we tackled this summer, I am so glad to be back inside.

I like outside. I really do. But outside work feels a lot more like work to me. 

And I usually end up killing plants. It's just one of my weaknesses.

Inside work is still work, but I like it - So it is better.

At least in my mind that makes sense.

We moved to an inside project that we have been just putting off forever - The back door.

Hero and I were absolutely not in love with this door:

There is nothing wrong with this door. Not really. It's a fine door.

But it has a few problems -

One - It's all door, with a little tiny window. It sucked the light out of the kitchen.

Two - It opens into the house. I know this is normal, but we really wanted a door that opened out, because this is what happens when we open the door:

There is no place for the door to go with the cabinet behind it. There is just not that much space in this small kitchen for this to work well. It was like an awkward dance trying to get in and out while closing the door and taking off shoes. It didn't improve things if there was more than one person.

Three - When the door is closed, the refrigerator door will only open so far (A hazard we anticipated when we moved the fridge to that spot, but really - what a pain.)

And Four - This is what we were looking at on the outside:

Could be worse. 

And this thing's mechanism was totally shot - It either didn't close all the way and the wind would bang it around or it would slam shut. We really had to watch our ankles coming in.

So we jettisoned the doors. You know by now, that "we" is code for Hero.

I have the best husband! 

Hero and I like to go on dates. We love to spend time together. We love doing fun projects together.

We called this a date, so we get to spend time together and get a fun project done. 

It's a win - win - win.

Have you ever tried to take a picture like this? You cannot really see much detail, but it's kind of cool  looking. Just thought I would throw it in.

And from the outside.

This door opening is not that big - Just like the rest of the house. 

We scouted out doors and found the best price at Lowe's for the one we wanted. We wanted an out swing door, all glass with the panes and the blind inside the glass. It was about $700. 

Ouch.

I knew from our research that that was the going rate. Hero had two $100 Lowe's gift cards that helped bring the price down, so we were ready to go for it.

But before we did, Hero had a genius idea.

Did you know that one of Hero's hobbies is Craig's List?

That man will look for and sell all kinds of things on Craig's List - cars, bikes, furniture, dish washer - So of course he checked it out to see if by some chance there was the exact door we were looking for out there for our home.

And there was! It was just what we needed and so was much less money. The person who was selling it had ordered the very same door from Lowe's and he got two in delivery by mistake. Lowe's told him to keep them both and he decided to sell one on the List. As a bonus, he was willing to accept the 2 gift cards as part of the payment. Yay!

(You just never know what is out there on Craig's List - This door is not a regular size, it is out swinging and had to open the correct way. What are the chances? You should totally look at other options when you are ready to buy. It might be out there.)

Ever wonder what your house would like like without a door? It might be something like this.

Even without the trim, we are IN LOVE! What a difference!

This door addressed all our wishes - Lot's of light streaming in (except when we don't want it to, then we pull down the shade), it opens out, so there is no blocking the way in or out of the house, the fridge door opens like a champ and it is so great looking:

See?

Here it is with the shade down - It is a piece of cake to bring on the shade.

Holy cow - This door really changed the way the kitchen looks and functions. Sure, we've come a long way on improving the kitchen (check it out here, here, and here), but this door has done wonders for the feel of this space.

Sometimes those projects that get put off make a pretty big impact, and then we wonder why we put it off for so long. Go ahead - finish up the projects that need to be finished! You will get them off your list and you get to enjoy them.

We still need to trim it up correctly and then we can finally put the bead board up on that wall. I'll show that next time.