Genius

So after agonizing over our broken fridge door and doing research for a new purchase, Keith came up with a great idea and "fixed" our fridge!

Fridge doors can open from right to left or left to right. You just have to unscrew the hinges and move them to the other side.

After we went to the Sears Outlet Scratch-n-Dent, a light bulb went off in Keith's head. Why not just move the hinges to the right side of the door? It's the left that is completely worn out.

We went home and he gave it a shot. It's missing a plastic washer which we will have to buy, but otherwise it works! No more holding the door with our knee while we open it! And we just saved ourselves $800-900!

We have a bathroon door!

The carpenter came over yesterday and spent the whole day working on it. He trimmed the door, cut and installed all the wood work needed for the opening, and hung the door. Keith installed the door knob and lock hardware.



From the inside.


More "During" photos to come...

How to Paint a 5-panel Door

Today, I painted the door I found in the attic for the half bathroom. We found a carpenter who would do all the door trim and hang the door for us. It works out and costs less than a brand new pre-hung door. Since he's coming tomorrow, I had to finish painting the door today. It's much easier to paint a door while it's down and with no hardware. MUCH easier!


Finished first coat.

For a How-To, use this from This Old House. I LOVE this tutorial!!!


First, clean the door with a damp rag and give it a light sanding. Get in all the crevices.


Using an angled paint brush, paint the "molding". Get in the corners and make sure you don't have any excess painting drips. You want the molding to be defined.


Using a small paint roller meant for doors, paint the "panel" (center rectangular piece) and then the "rails" (the horizontal panels).

Allow the rails to dry a bit before finishing by painting the "stiles" (the two vertical panels on each side). It sounds tedious and you might be wondering why bother? I learned from experience that the results are just better if you paint the door in this methodical manner. The stiles will camouflage any brush/roller marks made from painting the rails.

Maybe tomorrow we'll have a bathroom door! Yay!

Back Door

Our two entry doors are pretty hideous. They are steel doors with one window in them. The back entry door leading to the deck was once a window. Although I appreciate the door, it's smack in the middle of the wall and it's all you see from the living room. The previous owners left us an album of their before and after pictures which is impressive! They gutted the house and even installed all the molding around every door way from scratch.

Anyhoo, if we're going to have a more formal, elegant dining room I would really like to change the back door out. This is what we were thinking. There's no room for french patio doors, but this will work as a single door. It will blend into the setting a little better and provide us with a beautiful view of our yard.



From Lowe's: