You guys already know about a lot of these plans, but I was thinking earlier today, as I was spending a royal fortune online on door hardware, that it’s funny how one small decision in a remodel can turn into a seriously huge black hole of additional projects. It all started out innocently enough. Here was my train of thought:
1) This is very possibly our forever home, and I don’t love the existing floors.
2) Some day I’d love to put in new hardwood floors throughout the house.
3) On second thought the new floors should definitely go in before our stuff comes at the end of the month. Let’s take advantage of the empty house.
4) In order to put in the new floors, I guess we have to demo everything that will eventually be going out so that we don’t have to patch the wood later (which would be expensive and a huge pain).
5) The old front door sticks really bad when you try to open it. Also the handleset is really difficult to use and needs to be replaced soon. Sounds like it’s time for a new front door.
6) If I had my choice I’d go with a taller double door (the current one feels really squatty with the high ceilings). Which means the threshold will be different per the door installer. Of course.
7) New threshold will change quite a lot, turns out. And it will effect the new floors. So we spring for a new front door now.
8) And also a new handleset ($$$$! ouch!).
9) A new handleset means we need to come out and have a locksmith change the locks. Our home warranty policy pays for all the locks to be changed at once. Of which there are plenty – taking advantage of this deal saves us a lot of money. Here’s what my door hardware currently looks like.
10) Yeah… I’m thinking I maybe should just replace all the door hardware in the house now too. The locksmith confirms I should have the new hardware installed before he comes out.
11) New hardware means new door hinges.
12) New hinges means I should probably just paint all my doors now. I know I can replace the hinges one by one without taking down the doors, but if I’m going to take down the doors to paint them at some point, might as well only unscrew all those hinges one time.
13) If I’m painting all my doors, maybe I should by that paint sprayer I’ve been dreaming of for years…
14) Etc., etc., etc.
Point is – holy domino effect!! Looks like the money I put aside for new bedroom furniture will be dedicated to all aspects of new door hardware. That’s okay though – shopping for door hardware is almost as fun for me as shopping for new headboards. I just wish they didn’t cost about the same in the end! :)
One of my favorite sponsors, Keep.com, has come in handy as I’ve been managing all of these purchases (and my wish lists). Especially for things like door hardware – where I’m comparing a ton of different options. Keep helps me, well, keep track of all my shopping wish lists and potential purchases. Truly, it is SUCH a helpful service. I still use Pinterest for my inspiration images, but I use Keep for my shopping.
Here’s a mini tutorial. Just like Pinterest, you quickly install a Keep It button in your menu bar. Then you do your normal web browsing and online shopping. Any time you come across a product for sale that you love and want to remember for later, you press the Keep It button on your menu bar. A little window pops up that helps you save the keep in the right collection and then you’re done and you can close out the window of the product.
Before I started using Keep, my bookmarks were so completely out of control that they were pretty useless. So then I would literally have like a dozen windows with each a dozen or more tabs each. And then by the time I would actually look through those tabs again, the item would be sold out.
I’ve been using Keep to store all my house finds (and my fashion finds too – it seems like that’s what most keepers use the site for). Here’s my door hardware collection.
The very best part of Keep is getting to follow other keepers. You start finding people that have your same style and the aggregate result ends up being a little like having a personal online shopper! Crowd sourcing at its finest. Thanks to my keepers I found a new suit that has been garnering endless complements at our neighborhood pool:
Here are some more of my boards. I’ll be doing more keeping this weekend as we unpack a lot of our stuff and start to notice holes in the furniture layouts, missing lighting, need for more rugs, etc, etc. Let me know if you join in on the fun so I can follow you. :) Happy weekend!
This post was a collaboration with Keep.com which is a sponsor of LGN. Thank you for supporting our sponsors!
I know exactly what you mean about one project leading to another and another. My husband and I always joke that whenever we do something to our house it's like the book "If you give a mouse a cookie."
Thanks for the info on Keep! I'm definitely going to check it out. -Katie
If you give a mouse a cookie…Or, if you give a designer a new house…;)
So excited to follow your quest through renovating this new home! I'll go check out Keep soon. :)
http://www.lilyonfillmore.com
This post made my head spin. I admire you for keeping it all together.
Ahhh – my blood pressure just went down entirely due to schadenfreude*.
We also are moving into a Project House, and as a former architect, I've been driving myself mad (and had a worrisome cardiac episode… get sleep! hydrate!) frantically bouncing from one pile of ideas to the next. Thank God for my husband, who reminds me: If it's the Forever House, the project opportunities will last, and we'll be able to do a nicer job with more time/money as we get there.
*your Project House is bigger than mine.
Thanks for telling us about Keep. Will have to check it out. It looks like you have your work cut out for you with narrowing down some end products out of so many great choices. And, yes, that suit is fabulous!!
Amy @ http://giftedgabber.blogspot.com/
Oh, how happy I was to read this! Last August I needed a new front door–hence, new hardware. So I opted to change all the hardware throughout the house(makes sense, no?)but paint the doors first. Yes, I did buy the paint sprayer and a bigger compressor. And that's how a custom $2500 door became a month-long project. And in the midst of all that my AC expired. Ah, project homes! Mine is sixty-five years old…
greatly adds to my inspiration
http://goo.gl/KYOws
http://goo.gl/ZuWe8
http://goo.gl/xFEpU
http://goo.gl/uSQOdu
http://goo.gl/RtPvRj
http://goo.gl/rZEzph
http://goo.gl/OqIDF
Your snowball effect sounds just like mine! So I get how things can get out of hand! I'm going to look into Keep, I've never heard of it!
If you give a mouse a cookie…
I love hearing your train of thought. It's so interesting being a part of your home renovations. I'll definitely be looking into keep.com, my bookmarks tend to get out of hand. . .
Ha ha, I love the domino effect of home improvement! I have that happening right now too. I had never heard of Keep and just signed up. I can't see how you add the 'Keep' button to your toolbar though. Any hints?
I love that you have a "sectionals I don't hate" category… It's so hard to find good ones!
It's just ridiculous how all this plays out (and VERY familiar). Love this post!
It's like a huge game of Tetris with doors and floors and hardware! And it is more exciting that new furniture. I know you'll make all the pieces fit and hit high score, too.
Here's how you install the Keep It button in your bookmarks:
http://keep.com/keepit/
Happy keeping guys! Watch out – it's addictive! :)
xo
I'm on Keep too! I'd love it if you followed me!
i just signed up for Keep. We're about to redo our Manhattan apartment kitchen, and this is such a fabulous tool! Can't wait to start using it — I'm at @VirginiaBreen on Keep if you want to follow me!
Here's how you install the Keep It button in your bookmarks:
http://keep.com/keepit/
Happy keeping guys! Watch out – it's addictive! :)
xo
Such a fun sight! I just joined and am definitely following you. :) @sarahtrentacoste
Enjoy reading your blog. If you purchase all of your locks at one time, you can request that they all are keyed to all the same. If you purchase from a lumber yard or someone similar they might be able to rekey them for you. Just a few things I've learned from working at a lumberyard and having a husband who rekeys locks as a sideline.
So it is actually just like Pinterest…… I guess it will playout like a MySpace/Facebook. We will have to see who uses what? All my stuff is currently in a "made-up person" account of Pinterest so I can't see switching now. Thanks for the heads up though.
So it is actually just like Pinterest…… I guess it will playout like a MySpace/Facebook. We will have to see who uses what? All my stuff is currently in a "made-up person" account of Pinterest so I can't see switching now. Thanks for the heads up though.
Will this function work on my iPad? I can't figure out how to install the bookmarking feature.
Hi! Thinking of getting that swimsuit as well–do you have any suggestions re: sizing?
Thanks!
What a neat way to sort great finds! I just joined :).
Hilarious. Oh, and I love your swimsuit and would get one in green and blue if they had it. And keep.com looks like a great idea – I am constantly shopping for things before we are at a point to pull the trigger and that is just the organizer I need.
Hello Ben! You are quite welcome! More articles will be apaierpng here on my website, as I get around to editing them for posting. Five years, and 100,000 miles has taught me some lessons! (Mostly, the hard way!). I am happy to share what I have learned with others. Ride Safe, Barry