Door-K

Inspirational song: Paint It Black (Rolling Stones)

Last fall, we talked to one of those contractors who camp out at Costco, and signed up to get a new garage door. The guy came to our house, helped us pick out exactly the door we thought we wanted, and then said he would email us an exact quote. We never heard from him again. We emailed and called, and wondered what happened to make him drop off the face of the earth. Back in late January or early February, we saw the same company back in Costco, for the first time, and stopped to say that we'd tried to buy from them, but it seemed to have failed. The lady manning the in-store booth was brand new, and she was so embarrassed to hear that we'd had such a bad experience. She did some sleuthing, and our assumption was correct: that particular guy who came to our house no longer works for the company. But we are not without heart, and we really needed a new garage door, so we gave them one more chance. The next guy who came to our house gave us a quote on the spot, and we wrote up the contract immediately. It was a risk, but a necessary one. In the long run, it's a good thing we ended up waiting a little longer to get the door. The first time, we picked a taupe color. This time we picked the exact deep rum raisin color of the shed, the one the man has been painting across the entire exterior of the house.

The door arrived today. I was surprised when it was just one guy. I expected a team of two or three, but this one guy seemed to have no trouble taking down the old crappy door and putting up our new, beautiful, fully insulated door all by himself. When we got home this evening, I had to run into the garage and open it (because we had just towed the Jeep home from a shop). It was marvelously silent rolling in the new tracks, I did notice. I was in a hurry to kick the dogs out and open the door, so I didn't pay attention to how well the new door kept the garage warmer. The weather has gone south today, with a stiff, cold wind bringing in heavy clouds and the chance of snow later in the week. We made the garage more snug just in time. I just need to remember to see how well it's working. If I'm really lucky it will help lower our gas bills too.

The weather was too crappy to work outside today. We both came down to the basement to work while the garage door was going in. The man picked up a trim brush, and started cutting in the burgundy of the TV room walls. What a relief it was not to have to do the cutting in for even one room. I picked up a roller and did the easy part. Only one wall and the hallway have two coats so far, and I really can't tell whether a third coat will be necessary. I change my mind about it about every 30 minutes. I didn't get out of trim paint completely. I did the baseboards in the bedroom downstairs, on one side of the room. I let myself get too tired, and had an accident carrying the paint can. I didn't lift it high enough, hit one of the posts on the bed, and slopped a triangle of paint ten inches on each side on the carpet. I tried to pull it out as quickly as possible, but the carpet is permanently lighter there. I suppose I know how I'm going to arrange that room now. There will be a bed over that spot. And probably some under-bed storage over it too. It will still be better than it was.