My dad and my uncle came by a few days ago and installed my new front door. It’s changed the whole feel of the exterior of my house. Even my next door neighbor threw a compliment about it over the fence this evening.

Before. You may recall this photo from the home page.

Before. You may recall this photo from the home page.

The whole process was not without some snags. I had ordered a standard size 32 x 80 pre-hung door. Of course, I should know by now that there are zero elements of my house that are “standard size”. Luckily, my dad and my uncle Glen are problem solvers and they were able to figure out how to make it work.

Using a cut-off tool on the siding.

Using a cut-off tool on the siding.

The moulding was about an inch larger than the old one, so they had to cut away some of the siding so that the trim on the new frame would fit flush against the house. Of course, this meant a mid-day trip to Menards to buy a cut-off grinder. We would have gone back to my dad’s house to get his, but rain was moving in and we needed to get the door in.

After a rain delay, which really meant a taco and beer break for the guys, they were able to get the frame in. It was shim city getting the door to be level in all three dimensions, but eventually, they were able to get it hung and swinging! But, once the door was hung and level, I quickly realized that the frames around the little windows are not straight. So that means I get to argue with Home Depot and they are going to have to order me a new door. Bummer.

The new door on hinges.

The new door on hinges.

Then it was onto the new storm door. I ordered a bronze door instead of the regular white and I wasn’t sure if it would look good with the rest of the siding. I was thrilled to see it on the house. It turned out better than I had expected.

Installing the screen door.

Installing the screen door.

Still, even with the crooked windows, the door changes the whole front of the house. Its such a huge difference! And I really need to trim those hedges, yikes.

This door looks awesome!

This door looks awesome!

There are some things still left to do with the interior trim around the door and a new board below the door needs to be installed, but its functional. Once the new door arrives, I think I’m going to continue with my plan to paint it “pimento”. In a way, it works out now, as I’ll be able to paint the new door and install it before removing this one.

Pimento from Behr.

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