A Pound of Flesh.....

My door is installed! Hazzah!

The installer turned up today to install it, and wouldn't you know, the poor guy was starting his first day installing doors for this company.

He was fabulous, I'm very happy with the service he gave me (I guess the corporate dogma hasn't had a chance to kick in yet), despite all the interesting problems my quirky little flat could throw at him.

It turns out my hinges are part of the door frame (all metal, all the time), and the door frame is kinda back filled with concrete. This meant lots of traipsing up and down stairs for him, to cut and fit the door properly, and the concrete bit made it more difficult for him to drill out a new hole for the deadbolt. I'm not sure how long they usually allow to fit a door, but I'm pretty sure it's not 2.5 to 3 hours! He even helped poke the hinge pins out through the layers of paint so I could take the door off to seal it underneath (which, curiously, he said builders in a lot of new places don't actually do which makes him (and me) cringe).

My new door is in, and I'm excited....

I'd been disillusioned by the project, the roller coaster of my week.

The first excitement was starting by deciding to strip and paint the door jamb before the new door was installed.

It was very closely followed by the frustration of underestimating/not allocating enough time to actually complete the project. So I did about half to three quarters of the job then.

The next day, I decided it would make things a lot easier if I took out the carpet under the door (as planned), and then I'd be able to get alllll the way down to the bottom of the frame.

It was hard work, but mostly fun, especially when I worked out that the best way to get the metal strip that keeps the carpet to the ground at the door up was not by trying to be delicate with it, but to get the claw of the hammer in there and get a bit physical!

The mess was strangely satisfying and very much made me feel that I owned the place, more so than anything else I'd done here.

The carpet was even more manky than I'd realised, and I was delighted to throw even a small piece of it in the bin!

In the process of pulling the carpet up though, I managed to damage the old door even more than it was!!

More of the veneer came off, and the bottom rail of the door kinda fell out...

It was together with masking tape for the last couple of days of it's life!

Anyway, with my powers of destruction having had a chance to stretch their dormant legs, I decided I should get the door jamb finished before the big day (new door installation), arrived.

So on I went, to discover why there were so many layers of paint on the door frame and stuff...

Stripping paint is an AWFUL job, and to make matters worse, I'm not convinced that I helped my cause by stripping it... I thought I'd stripped it pretty well, and sanded it OK... 'till I put some layers back on...

Then, to add insult to injury, after just one coat of the actual paint (on a base coat), I decided to let the cat out of the prison of the bedroom, to discover that the paint I'd put on was enough to make it really hard to shut the door (and it took off some of the paint!!!!!). I then noticed the horridly wonky cut, which explained all kinds of jams!

I left it at that point, and decided to wait for the new door cut by a person who sees the merits of a straight line.

Now, I have to seal and paint the door, finish of the door jamb, and hope that there is room enough in my gorgeously straight cut door to allow for all those layers of paint!!

I worked out why my door frames are a funny colour....

Inside my flat, the door frames are painted teal green, the same as the front of my front door.

In preparation for my door being installed this week, I went out and bought paint for it. It's expensive!! The one litre minimum makes it even more so... enough paint for 16 square metres, to paint what will probably amount to just over one square metre once one makes allowances for all the glass.

I figure the previous owner (with their seeming reluctance to spend money), bought a can of paint and figured that they *had* to use it on more than just the door given its expense. So, now I have teal green paint to strip away, so that I can paint it white... vivid white.

I won't be sad to see the teal green (a colour I usually don't mind), go. Call me old fashioned, but cornices should be white, and so should door jambs... or at least neutral, or part of an explicit design feature...

I can't imagine why anyone would have wanted to draw attention to my unevenly fixed frames!

All I Want For Christmas is My New Front Door

Today is the 53rd day after ordering my door.... I had to call them, because whilst the door is in the state, it's not unpacked yet, which means they can't call me (?).

The upside of my phone call this morning is that I have a fitting date!!!! Next Wednesday (61 days after ordering, but who is counting....) they did offer that I could get it installed next Friday, but I passed on that idea, I need to allow two business days to chase them up if they decide they can't fit it on the day they said they would. It would be a damn shame to have people turning up to our Christmas party giggling over our old door!

8 and a half weeks after order, my door should be fitted... YAY!

I heard a worse story though, my Dad ordered a new front grill door months and months ago, they finally had someone turn up to install it (having taken out the old one and making quite a considerable mess of the tiles etc.), and the door was too big by 40mm..... They sent 3 people out to measure the space before it was manufactured for the space.

They forgot to allow for the thickness of the frame... so, they took the brand new door back, to re-jig it all - probably taking a whole heap more time too, and they left the hole where the door was to go - my Dad had to put the old one back in so they had some sense of security!

At least my door is wood... if it is too big, they just keep cutting till it fits! If it is too small, I think I will cry.

I'm Getting Old and Grumpy

Every time I don't get the service I expect, I tend to wonder if I'm being unrealistic in my expectation. Having said that, I'm really not happy with the process of purchasing a door. I had no idea that it would be so troublesome. Today I called the door company *again* and spoke to someone else. The conversation started like this:

Her: "Good afternoon, welcome to *insert company name*"
Me: "Good afternoon, may I speak with *insert name of rep who sold me the door four and a half weeks ago, happily taking my money....*?"
Her: "No "
Me: "Er, may I talk to someone about my order?" etc.

After more giggling and laughing at my comments and calling me "Darl" several times (which I can usually accept in the vein it was intended, today the familiarity of it annoyed me no end), she told me she'd have to send more emails to head office and call me back tomorrow... I've had the "email head office" used at me in several phone calls, I'll be pleasantly surprised if someone calls me back before I have to start chasing them again...

The four weeks it was going to take to make my non-standard door was up last week... they were waiting on glass... non-standard of course.... and now the "lady" I spoke to today tells me that I might not get my door in this round because lots of people are waiting...

GGGGGggggggRRRRRRRAAAAAAAOOOOOOoooooRRRRRR!

A *large* door company advertises a sale, takes money for doors on order.... and then cannot supply the doors... I was barely prepared to wait the four weeks... it'll be a minimum of six weeks, and could well be more.

No Fuss? My arse!


To top it all off, my door handle on the existing door is getting exceedingly cantankerous, but it was supposed to be replaced last week.... (about the same time we had to start allowing an extra 30 seconds to be able to get in or out of the place, to deal with the stupid handle).

< /rant >

I'm getting a brand spanking new door!

If one takes into account the money I get back from the body corporate, it isn't toooooooooo expensive either, for the difference it will make to my flat.

However, I have to paint my door myself. Apparently, if one stains one's door and it gets a bit of sun, it night need re-doing in as little as 3 months, whereas painting can potentially last for 20 years... and can't possibly cost me the $150 they wanted to charge me for staining/varnishing.

My odd size door does however require a 4 week waiting period, I guess I have time to pick a colour to paint my door!

After ordering a door, I went shopping for bits for Halloween costumes for my partner (now known on my blog as "BabyCakes", because I can, and because he'll probably cringe everytime he reads it! - that, and the fact that those who know him, will know he's not a very "BabyCakes" kinda guy)... so I went shopping for stuff to make BabyCakes and my Halloween costume. Who would have thought finding a Crow-esque long trench coat in spring, in the sub-tropics would be difficult?

Luckily, my costume is much easier to put together!! Unfortunately for you dear reader, I can't reveal my outfiit till after the party... Queen of cheese that I am, I can't be too literal when deciding on an outfit...

I'd best be off to start manufacturing BabyCakes' trench coat, and not wearing out this blog thing in the first day!

Happy Birthday to my brother hiding out on the other side of the world, in Amarillo Texas!
Have a Shiner Bock on me! (I learnt a new word - or beer!)

Doors! Doors!! Get your door needs!

I need a new front door....

Today is the day I go to order one! After months of looking, umming, ahhing, today I actually have enough money in my account to reasonably expect to be able to buy one.

Doors are expensive, especially if one wants some glass/stuff that looks like glass in it, and even more so if one has a no standard size door, and even MORE so if the door is on the larger size of standard.

I've discovered that my lovely home pretty much has nothing that is of a standard size, perhaps because the house was made metric (? well, perhaps....) , but probably because my place was built around the size of a besser brick (see pic if you're not sure of what one is) (? perhaps...).... or just perhaps because the size of the spaces within my flat which were so appealing pre-purchase, dictates that everything must be just *that* bit bigger than standard. Or smaller, if one is looking at the kitchen (really, who the hell thinks that a bench 45cms deep is a good size? or the cupboard that is40cms deep is a useful depth???). Admittedly, when looking at a kitchen devoid of any furnishings/clutter/a fridge.... the narrow workspaces did make the kitchen look big... When looking at flatpack/mass produced kitchen systems, I can now say with out a doubt, it actually is quite a small space... especially if one believes a dishwasher is prerequisite in a modern kitchen (and I do!).


Anyway, back to the door thing... I really liked a door with four glass panels... but when I went to look at it, I was told that although sold as an external door, it is actually made of a material that doesn't do too well if the door is not well protected and maintained rigorously (painted very regularly, on the edges i.e. take the door off every 6-12 months). While I am a new homeowner, and very excited about all things D.I.Y. at the moment, I do understand that this is not altogether likely, and once the water is into the wrong spots, the door is ruined... So, that leaves the (proportionally more expensive) option of solid wood. However, the solid wood door does not come in this particular design... it comes in one with seven panels of glass... which totally changes the proportions of the door... or you can replace three glass panels with horrible beveled wood panels... but not flat wood panels... The seven panel glass might have to do.

Yay! - One decision made (until the next rep tells me the first door I looked at is perfectly fine in the weather - a person with one watch always knows what time it is.... a person with two watches is never quite sure....)

So, at this point, I think I know that I want a solid wood door.. Then I think about the money... and the fact my body corporate will only pay for a basic door... maybe letting more light into my dark hallway is not *that* important... or is it?

Then there are the door handles/locks that cost a minimum of $100 from the door company... that cost $35 at the hardware shop next door.

...to install myself, or to pay someone....

...to paint? to stain?

So many decisions for me to make!


So... I'm about to head off to talk to yet another rep, and see what he has to say, and finally order a new door. Assuming that another decision does not need to be made...