A new front door

By Liz on April 10, 2021

My little house’s front door opens into a small space which has a coat closet, small area for boots, shoes, hats, gloves (I call it my mudroom :) ), and the washer and dryer. I.E. the front door opens into a combination foyer/mudroom/laundry room. There is an overhead light but that light was necessary on the sunniest day. I had a dream of some natural light via a door with glass.

Dream come true – today!!

It wasn’t so much the door as having someone install the door and after Handy Bears Handyman family installed my mailbox, I asked about the door and some other things … and then ordered the door and new hardware (lock/deadbolt).

I had seen the door I wanted at my local hardware: craftsman style with a window. The doors are fiberglass and since I was replacing a door with existing hinges and existing holes for lock and deadbolt, I had to provide precise measurements for hinges, hardware “holes” and height/width.

I measured 3x on 3 different sheets of paper to make sure I got same thing each time. Above was what I emailed to the hardware …

Thankfully, all was good … some minor adjustments for the top hinge which Handy Bears was able to do on the wood frame.

The door fits nice and snug. The lockset works beautifully. The old lockset was loose in the door and its insides were not moving well. The old door … was never meant to be a front door. I think it was a “house to garage” door. I tried numerous ways to seal up around it and it was always drafty.

AND … there is natural light in my little entry.

I am SO, SO happy!!!

And that is not all. I had exterior light fixtures that I purchased YEARS ago and just did not install.

Replacing an unattractive brass fixture … brushed nickel like the new door hardware. That black print is a sticker that I need to remove.

When it warms up (see last photo), I will get out my trim paint and touch up the trim. I MIGHT paint the trim black instead of the gray, though …. thinking about it! The “nicks” are from the temporary screen that I have used in the summer. I’m not going with the temp screen this year … I might have a wood screen made, that I can pop in and out. I mostly only want a screen here, early morning when it is cool.

While all of installation was going on, Emmett and I did some training with 5 year old son of Handy Bears. All had been pre-arranged and Eric did beautifully at doing as I asked. Emmett is bark-y with children and we worked on that. Eric was also in the house part of the time. He had his tablet to do some school work and entertainment. He ended up curled up on the daybed in the boy’s room. He could hear and go see his folks and they him. Emmett and I were in my office. All of that, also helped with Emmett as 5 year old boys are not quiet … they run and jump and stomp :) So, we (Emmett and I) practiced being calm and just watching.

Overall, it was a productive and exciting morning and I think all of us are tired!

Oh … the other surprise to the day…

It snowed.

I think there were 3 snow squalls while work was happening. In between, the sun came out.

But, a good time was had by all and my little house has a new front door!