This is what the house looked like.
|
| This is actually the picture from the listing (with my husband's notes) because we, in our enthusiasm to move in, never took any before pictures. |
Ok. Maybe not those doors in particular. But the doors they could be!
Something like...
Except white. With Bordeaux shades. Exactly like this.
Shortly after we moved in I decided to price my new doors. Just to know. So that the next time I had a few hundred dollars burning a hole in my pocket I would be prepared.
I gave the salesperson all my specifications. I knew exactly what I wanted and would settle for nothing less.
He gave me the grand total.
$4000
$4000? Oh, is that all? Well then, I'll take three.
Did I mention we have three sliding glass doors to replace?
What I really said was something more like. "WHAOOYYAAIIKSSSNOTHAANNKUU"
Needless to say we are still the proud owners of our original doors.
Even though the dining room door looks like this.
Now, I have to tell you, something has been bothering me about the living room for quite some time now.
Before we moved in we painted the horrid wood paneling, blue. That's because I absolutely refused to move in until at least that was done. Because of an unfortunate misunderstanding at the paint store (and by misunderstanding I mean we were given really bad advice) we were unable to buy paint for the whole house. We did end up with enough paint for most of the house (if we wanted to paint it blue) because we were advised to buy four cans of paint and four cans of primer for the living room. It took less than half a can and that was with multiple coats. The guy told us we would need 11 cans of paint and 11 cans of primer for our dining room. I kid you not. Don't ever ask Sherwin Williams. But do use their paint. It's the best.
I also took the dated and crumbling screens out of the posts between the living room and dining room, then painted the posts and all the trim white.
Even after doing all of that I realized that most of the room is basically the same color.
The carpet is beige.
The fireplace is beige.
The curtains are beige.
Add our brown furniture (leather couch, love-seat and recliner plus the entertainment center) and you are pretty much looking at a sea of
brown/beige
. Can you imagine if I had left the walls brown too?!
The curtains also block a ton of light even when they are open. They only open half way. It gets dark in here and one of the reasons I was excited about having so many glass doors was because of the light.
Did I mention how much I despise that brass curtain rod? Despise.
I honestly wouldn't have minded the curtains so much if it hadn't been for that curtain rod. Despise!
Of course once I get my new doors I'll be able to take those curtains down.
Right?
Four years later and I finally decided enough was enough!
Why get new doors when I could just get new curtains?
Even better, why get new curtains when I could use curtains I already had?
It had never occurred to me before because the curtains and rod that were there were the fancy shmancy kind (I believe you would call them "drapes") with pleats and hooks and a pull string thingy.
I figured that if I was going to replace them I would need new curtains with pleats and hooks and a rod with a pull string thingy.
And if you are going to spend all the money to buy fancy drapes and a fancy rod and a pully string thingy, then you might as well buy the $4000 doors!
Right?
Really though, is it that much harder to pull the curtain closed on the rod than to pull a string? And then pull the curtain closed the rest of the way because the string doesn't quite do the trick.
Plus I really hated those curtains. Especially after my daughter decided to add her own personal artistry and painted them for me. And the kids tore the hem out.
What I would love (aside from $4000 doors) would be curtains like the ones we used to have in the living room of our apartment. Actually we only ever hung one but I had three. Those would be just perfect.
Too bad they are not all fancy shmancy.
So, I bought a cheapo curtain rod.
Took down the fancy shmancy, ugly curtains
And hung the perfect but not fancy shmancy curtains.
Or close them to hide the mess in the backyard. It's left over from the bathroom project. I'll get to it one of these days. It's on my list...
Shortly after we moved in I decided to price my new doors. Just to know. So that the next time I had a few hundred dollars burning a hole in my pocket I would be prepared.
I gave the salesperson all my specifications. I knew exactly what I wanted and would settle for nothing less.
He gave me the grand total.
$4000
$4000? Oh, is that all? Well then, I'll take three.
Did I mention we have three sliding glass doors to replace?
What I really said was something more like. "WHAOOYYAAIIKSSSNOTHAANNKUU"
Needless to say we are still the proud owners of our original doors.
Even though the dining room door looks like this.
|
| I promise that's not fingerprints. It's between the glass. We like to call it "frosted!" |
Before we moved in we painted the horrid wood paneling, blue. That's because I absolutely refused to move in until at least that was done. Because of an unfortunate misunderstanding at the paint store (and by misunderstanding I mean we were given really bad advice) we were unable to buy paint for the whole house. We did end up with enough paint for most of the house (if we wanted to paint it blue) because we were advised to buy four cans of paint and four cans of primer for the living room. It took less than half a can and that was with multiple coats. The guy told us we would need 11 cans of paint and 11 cans of primer for our dining room. I kid you not. Don't ever ask Sherwin Williams. But do use their paint. It's the best.
I also took the dated and crumbling screens out of the posts between the living room and dining room, then painted the posts and all the trim white.
|
|
| The posts are the ones in the top right image. |
The carpet is beige.
The fireplace is beige.
The curtains are beige.
The curtains also block a ton of light even when they are open. They only open half way. It gets dark in here and one of the reasons I was excited about having so many glass doors was because of the light.
Did I mention how much I despise that brass curtain rod? Despise.
I honestly wouldn't have minded the curtains so much if it hadn't been for that curtain rod. Despise!
Of course once I get my new doors I'll be able to take those curtains down.
Right?
Four years later and I finally decided enough was enough!
Why get new doors when I could just get new curtains?
Even better, why get new curtains when I could use curtains I already had?
It had never occurred to me before because the curtains and rod that were there were the fancy shmancy kind (I believe you would call them "drapes") with pleats and hooks and a pull string thingy.
I figured that if I was going to replace them I would need new curtains with pleats and hooks and a rod with a pull string thingy.
|
| Pull String Thingy |
Right?
Really though, is it that much harder to pull the curtain closed on the rod than to pull a string? And then pull the curtain closed the rest of the way because the string doesn't quite do the trick.
Plus I really hated those curtains. Especially after my daughter decided to add her own personal artistry and painted them for me. And the kids tore the hem out.
|
| No that's not some strange glare. |
|
| It's her masterpiece. |
Too bad they are not all fancy shmancy.
So, I bought a cheapo curtain rod.
Took down the fancy shmancy, ugly curtains
|
| That's better already! |
|
| The love-seat is upside down for a reason. It's broken and my husband is trying to fix it. Stay tuned on that one! |
I can even open them all the way and let in the light!
