HOME IMPROVEMENTS....

So we're about to make some very exciting changes to our house. We've tried for months to find somebody to help us make this change and finally we found somebody that would actually show up and meet with us about this project.

We're getting a new backdoor.

I know. How exciting is that?

Our old back door was leaking and it caused the sub flooring in the kitchen to get wet and there is actually a hole in the sub flooring beneath our kitchen linoleum. Thankfully it's right up against the wall so it's a no-traffic area. Because that would be really bad to have a guest fall through our kitchen floor. Unless it was one of my in-laws.

Oh stop, I'm kidding.

So we found this really nice young man who has a new baby and was recently laid off from his job with a home remodeling company. Not only is he going to install our new door, but he's going to rip up part of the kitchen floor and replace the sub flooring. Then another nice young man is going to come in and replace our whole kitchen floor. We're going with hardwood.

Please don't tell me hardwood is a mistake. Somebody else has already told me that and I really don't want to hear it. We have hardwood in the dining room and I like the idea that the rooms will flow together nicely if we put the same floor in the kitchen.

It's funny how a small job turns into a bigger job or rather several more small jobs. Once I learned how willing and friendly our door guy is and how capable he seemed, I decided to push my luck and ask him if he would be able and willing to replace the interior trim around the same kitchen door he is replacing. And he said sure. Then I decided to ask him if he could replace the interior trim around our front door and he said sure. Then I asked him if he happened to paint, because we've been wanting to paint our red front door and sidelights white and he said that he doesn't paint but that he knows a guy who would do a great job.

Then he left a door catalog for me. A door catalog is not quite as exciting as say...oh...a Talbot's catalog but it's still shopping. Anyway, I knew I wanted something quite simple - one with a window halfway up instead of the full view kind we have now. I picked out three for him to price for us. Then he said I could get any of those doors with a built-in blind.

And I saw sunbeams descend from heaven and blue birds hovering around him and placing a wreath of wild flowers around his head. I think I heard "Bippity Boppity Boo" somewhere in the background.

A built in blind!!!

Oh my heavens. I want it.

Our kitchen door is in the middle of a three sided bay window on the east side of our house. We get lots of sunshine from that bay window most mornings. And I don't like it. I'm very sensitive to light and I don't like all that sunny cheer first thing in the morning.

Perhaps I am a vampire?

So then I asked him to price out all those doors with and without the built in blinds.

Then.

I called Paul to tell him everything I had learned and everything I had asked door guy to fix. I'm sure I could hear him roll his eyes, and I have a feeling he's moving all of our money to a secret account right now. And because I can never leave well enough alone, I said "I've been thinking..." which never bodes well for him. "I've been thinking. While we are having the hardwood put down in the kitchen, might we go ahead and put hardwood in the half bath? After all, it's right off the little hall that's also hardwood and it's so tiny it surely wouldn't be that much more. Perhaps they can use scraps. That would really make things flow nicely, if we went ahead and laid hardwood in there too. You know, continuity in floor coverings."

Because floor continuity is a hot issue right now.

And he said we could see how much it all cost and decide on that when floor guy arrives. But he wasn't totally opposed to the idea.

So.

I've been planning to paint that half bath and redecorate. How simple it would be if I didn't have to protect the vinyl flooring while I'm painting. I already have the fabric for the curtain so it's a project that's been planned for quite a while. Really, it is.

It's so simple. You have a guy come and give you an estimate for a new back door and by the time he leaves you have a new bathroom.

See? How lucky is my husband to have such a logical wife?