THE CANNON FAMILY: The Home Improvement Curse!

Oh my heavens home improvement is frustrating!! Ever since we bought the house nearly two years ago, we've been in the market for a new door. The old one could only open if we lifted the handle and hit our buns against the wood. The glass in the middle was hanging on by a thread after years of being vigorously knocked on my neighborhood children. During these cold months we could feel the freezing air coming through small holes that had formed. It was definitely time for a replacement.

Pella was who I called first. They sent a very nice man over who gave us a bid for $10,000. Holy moley!! If I'm paying that much for a door, it better be made of gold! I thanked him for his time and moved on to a building supply company. They ended up charging me for a door without ever ordering it. After that happened, we decided to go with someone else. I went to a place called The Front Door Company. They seemed nice enough but didn't offer the door I wanted with sidelights. I would have to get the door and sidelights custom made and it would be another fortune.

Feeling defeated, I went to Lowes in search of a power washer for our back deck (another home improvement nightmare!!). I stopped by the door section and ended up talking to a very nice man named Tim who told me he could get me a Pella door, with side lights for a third of the price! I was sold!!

So they ordered the door and I initially told them I wanted Bordeaux because it looked the most brown, but called Tim a few weeks later and told him to change it to Rawhide after realizing Bordeaux was another name for red wine. I didn't want a red door. Tim called the Pella rep and changed the color to Rawhide and we were told to it would be at least 2 months for the door to be made. Changing the color apparently set us back another 3 weeks.

I finally got the call that the door had been delivered to Lowes and they were ready to install. I was sooooo excited because it was freezing outside and I really wanted to start saving on energy bills. I also wanted to get the door installed before Eliza was born. The guys showed up with the door and opened it up for approval. They told me they wouldn't install the door unless I was sure this was the actual one I had ordered. However, when they removed the cardboard from around the door it wasn't brown. It was red!! It was still wood, but a very deep, dark red wood. It was Bordeaux!!

Keep in mind, I was 9 months pregnant at this point and almost always on the verge of tears. I watched Annie with the family the night before and started bawling at the thought of all those sweet girls in an orphanage with no parents to love them. So when I saw the wrong door sitting on my front porch I politely told the men it was the wrong color and that they couldn't install it. I went inside to hyperventilate a little and called Chase. Almost two years of searching and finally picking out a door! How could they send the wrong color! I know these are TOTALLY first world problems but after our wretched patio experience and now this, I was pretty sure our home was cursed and did NOT want to be improved!

I called Tim and tried very calmly through tears to tell him the door had come in the wrong color. He told me I had ordered Bordeaux and I told him I had specifically ordered Rawhide and that I remember having to wait an extra three weeks because we had changed the color. He didn't remember me asking to change the color and I started to have a panic attack. There was NO WAY I was going to be stuck with an expensive door that I didn't like!

A few days passed and after Tim went through all his paperwork, he found the document that had proof I changed the color of the door. They placed all the blame on Pella, gave us a $1,000 discount and told us we would have to wait another month for the right door to be made. I didn't mind waiting after the amazing discount. In fact, I was almost glad that they ordered the wrong door at this point because we saved so much money through their mistake. Hooray!

So another month passed, Eliza was born and the door finally came in while Grandpa was here. They wanted to install the door on a day that was below freezing outside. I didn't think that was a good idea with a newborn in the house. So we waited another week and were finally rewarded with THE MOST beautiful door!! I was so excited when they unwrapped the cardboard this time, because it was EXACTLY what I wanted!!

But we weren't out of the woods yet. The installation guy asked me where my door handle was and if I wanted to use the one from my old door. What?! I didn't know I needed to get a door handle too. I thought that came with the door! He said he could wait about an hour before he needed to head to his next appointment. So I strapped my two week old baby and George in the car, pumped a bottle and met Chase at Lowes. I ran inside to find a door handle while Chase fed Eliza and entertained George in the car. Guess who was there. Tim!! He lead me to the handles and helped me pick out a pretty chrome one in a jiffy. He even helped me fit my key to the lock right there in the store. What a guy!

I took this picture so I could match the metals.

Home improvement is hard!! Sometimes I get frustrated with how much work needs to be done. There's just no time for everything I want to do on my own. I'd love to paint all the walls, but when would I do that? I'd hire someone but then I'd be dealing with paint fumes and a newborn. We want to redo the floors but are told that we need to paint first. We don't want paint on our new wood floors. And before I can paint, I need to get the electrical work done. I don't want to paint first and then have some electrician ruin everything after drilling holes in the wall.

But I tell ya what. This new door makes me VERY happy!! It almost makes our ugly white chipped tile look modern....well, not really, but I'm trying to be optimistic here.