A New Door

In July 2001, I undertook the first renovation project on my Dallas house.  One aspect was the removal of a set of double hung aluminum framed windows and replacing them with a set of french doors.  Not just any french doors, but ones with the mini-blinds sandwiched between the glass.  One of the best moves I ever made even though the doors have been opened maybe all of 4 times since then.

Somewhere around 2005 my sister purchased a single garden door of the same style but never did anything with it.  Several years later on yet another holiday weekend at my place, I expressed a desire to replace the solid rear door leading from the family room to the carport and driveway with the same style min-blinded glass door.  On a later Thanksgiving weekend some 3-4 years ago (I can't remember exactly which one) Sis showed up with the door in the back of her truck and essentially gave it to me.  I stored it in the back corner of the garage and promptly forgot about it, my interest in further renovations on that house somewhat waned.

I lost my sister in September of 2008 to the return of breast cancer after a long courageous battle with the insidious disease and 6 years remission.  I got a call at work on a Monday that she was in hospice care and she was gone by Friday.  I knew her cell counts had changed but I had no idea she was that sick.  It was so unexpected.....it was so FAST!

The other day I was thinking about her in the midst my ongoing project and I suddenly remembered the door!  The door!  So Tuesday, while I was back in Dallas, I dug the door out of the garage.  The box was showing signs of age (who isn't?) but was still intact.  It was a heavy SOB.  It's at times like this when I wish I had an SO to share the load with!   I managed to get it loaded into the truck for it's journey back to the lake.

After a side day trip to Waco to talk with a man about selling the Waco property, I returned late on Thursday and hit the hay!  On Friday afternoon, after cutting a hole in the wall (see previous blog posting), I decided to install the door too.  Well....., somewhere between Wednesday and Thursday I lost Friday.  I completely zoned and had no idea it was Friday and that I was scheduled to WORK that day....just like every FRIDAY before that.   To me, on that day, it was Thursday!

If I hadn't gotten a text message from a coworker saying she "missed me" at work, I'd have thought Saturday was Friday and showed up Saturday on Friday's schedule and missed 7 hours of work on that day as well!  Does that make sense?  If not, read it again.  JEESH!  A minor faux paux of which my coworkers have not failed at every opportunity to remind me of it.

Anyway, the day was not a total waste.  The door is in and in my humble opinion, it fits well in the design of the house and is much more welcoming than the original one.

The outer "entry" door in the side of the garage:

The outer entry door and the original front entry door still in place inside the garage:

The original entry door with garage removed:

The original entry door removed:

Sis's new 15pane, enclosed mini-blind entry door:

More welcoming, don't you think?

It sure makes for a VAST curb appeal improvement!

Thanks Sis!