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.

fort

Here is where we left off on the saddest, most unfortunate looking tree in the neighborhood:

A four foot stump.

It is an improvement (understatement), but I'm sure all this guy's tree friends are still making fun of him. The squirrels and the birds have abandoned him (not his fault), but we have big plans for this former tree - A tree fort!

The missionaries from our church came over to help Hero get this thing up quick. While missionaries main purpose is sharing the good news of the gospel, they can take advantage of opportunities to help and serve where needed.

I think they were thrilled to come over and build a tree fort - What boy wouldn't love this? Or any girl, for that matter.

Here is how I think Hero made this tree fort happen - 

1. Dreams up some crazy dream like building a mansion out in the back yard on the tree stump. It could have stairs and pulleys and running water, with balconies and secret passages and a satellite system.

2, He reigns that dream in just a touch.

3. Makes a trip to Lowe's "to get some ideas". Comes home with real windows.

4. Combs Pinterest to come up with a fort that is in the budget and doable in a few days.

5. Back to Lowe's for supplies.

6. Grabs the missionaries and puts them to work. They don't have any written out plans, just Hero measuring and cutting and handing things off to be put together.

7. Back to Lowe's for more supplies.

8. Tries a few things, tweaks a few things and nails a few things.

9. It comes together.

10. And he makes it look so simple.

11. Relaxes a bit. Liam gets in on the relaxing part.

Easy!

(Liam is laying on the hammock pole. It will connect to the tree trunk on the other end.)

I painted this thing up while Hero took a break and went to work. 

So dang cute!

And the grandkiddos love it! Well, only Jett has any awareness of it, but he loves it! He likes to take snacks out there, and toy cars out there and sometimes he just sits out there.

Got a cute little table and chairs set from IKEA to finish it up. 

Now they can dream all kinds of stuff up out there - That they are in a mansion with pulleys and a satellite system.

Before:

And after:

All the neighborhood trees wish they were as cool.

the most unfortunate looking tree

We really like trees.

We all grew up in Michigan, and trees (and water) are part of our heritage and landscape. We feel hopeful with new buds in the spring, we like the shade in summer and we like to play in the leaves in autumn.

We even like them in the winter - Not sure why though.

Anyway - We have two trees on our property. This is one of them.

You might think it looks just fine. But there is a problem:

It's in the wires. Ugh.

To solve that problem, several years ago, someone lopped off the top. Since then it had been growing again and looking so sad.

We were sad to take it down, as we knew there were happy critters living in it (think squirrels and birds), but it just had to go. It was destined to become a big problem real soon.

And like I said, just not good looking at all.

I secretly think Hero was totally excited to go to the rental place and pick out some beefy chain saw to play with for the day. Since Colin was home, he got in on the action, too. 

I was safely at work.

And it's down. Really. Just like that. 

The details are a little sketchy to me (remember I was at work blissfully unaware that my so was wielding a chainsaw around), but I understand that a few branches were taken off that might interfere with the wires, the tow rope was tied on, one of them cut and the other pulled.

And done.

Colin doesn't even realize what he is doing is work. He is just loving this.

Not sure where Hero is standing to take this photo. Some things are better unknown.

Moving right along - little bits and pieces of tree. 

The neighbor's little dog barked at them all. day. long. That's always fun.

Firewood for the fire pit - Yay!

And there it is. Done and done.

Hero left the stump at 4 feet high to build something awesome for the grandkiddos.

(Look at that cute little lineup of arborvitaes, which will probably provide some privacy in, oh, about 17 years.)

It's good! We love it!

We miss the idea of the tree, though. We are really trying to think how we can get another tree in our yard that won't get into the overhead wires or the underground sprinklers.

the shed and the bushes

We are making some progress in the back yard. This is the first of a few posts about bringing our backyard out of it's pathetic, neglected state.

I love privacy. Who doesn't?

I love things open and wide, too. At the big house, our neighborhood did not allow fences, so it looked like our backyard went on forever. We actually had a really great treeline along the back that kind of defined our yard, and some arborvitaes along half of one side. It was somewhat private with openness. 

That made sense.

Anyway - At the small house, we have fences. And we have bushes. The bushes are great because of the privacy thing. They are not so great because they take work to be maintained. (Imagine Hero balancing on top of a tall ladder with a wicked looking hedge trimmer extended out as far as possible over the fluffy hedges. And me trying to stay clear of that beasty trimmer while holding the ladder steady. Fortunately, we had no injuries.)

So at this house, we like the privacy all around.

The hedges along the sides are decent - meaning there are no gaping holes (well, there is one, but we have hope it will fill in), give lots of privacy and are pretty healthy looking. We trimmed those babies up and left them alone.

Along the back - different story.

First there is this:

The ugliest shed in town. 

It has no foundation but has a wood floor (great for creepy critters to hang out under). 

It is pink. Yes, pink.

The previous owner really tried to spruce this up and fixed the roof with tar. It doesn't leak, but it seeped into the cracks on the inside and looks a little wonky.

And the doors. The squeaky, screechy doors that barely open. 

Here it is in all it's glory. 

Here are the bushes on the back fence line. Very sparse and sickly looking.

And we have a very unfortunate looking evergreen that needs to come down (another story for another day) that will leave a giant gap in the hedge.

Wow - just looking at these photos - what an icky backyard we started with.

Have hope if you are thinking you may have a yard that is this sad (You probably don't though.)

Hero just pulled all these out with his bare hands!

Ok - not really. He used a cool thing called a "come-along" that he hooked up to the very unfortunate looking evergreen. 

(There are not photos of the action, as I was no where to be found while Hero worked his fingers to the bone.)

But I did stop at 7-Eleven to get him a giant slurpee!

That pile of bushes got dragged to the curb and hauled off by the city. Hooray!

Here's how it looked without the bushes - all except one, lone shrub. It is different than the others and actually had pretty flowers on it. But it, too, soon went the way of all it's buddies.

And here is what we are filling that long empty line with. Two foot tall arborvitaes. I know. It's going to take a decade for them to offer up any privacy at all, but they were only $3 each! The four foot tall arbs were about $15 each. 

We have time. They will grow. 

Although it's a little strange to be so exposed along the back.

Hero was pretty darn sad to see that shed go. He loved having the extra space so he could move around in the garage a little easier. He was actually really resistant to losing that space.

It took some convincing, but he got on board after we looked at these:

Woohoo!