For those of you who know me you probably already know about my love for doors and my tenacity to get things done. Today I am renting a U-Haul to pick up yet another door from Larry at The House of Doors in Salem, CT.
Flashback several years back when we were living in Michigan we completely gutted a house. In the process we decided to replace all the doors with solid doors, 27 of them- from where else but The House of Doors. I had worked with them over the years and thought if anyone could get all these doors right it’s these guys. So, of course, I rented a cargo van, drove up through Canada, across New York and into Connecticut to pick them up. Crazy some may say! All may say? After loading them up I drove back but there was a BIG problem. When I got to the Canadian border Customs wouldn’t let me enter into Canada with all these new doors because they said I may be selling them illegally- here we go, I’m now among other things an international door smuggler! To rectify this situation I had to go through a very, very dodgy “bonding process” that put a lock on my van through Canada. You can’t even imagine the process- but as most folks would say it’s another one of Deb’s Lucy Moments! But this isn’t the whole story. The front door I also ordered from here and it wasn’t going to be in for another 6 months or so! It was hand carved in Brazil and it meant that I would be going back to pick it up- but oh so smart this time and I took the Pennsylvania route.
So what’s this all got to do with today? That same front door that I spent so much time waiting for in Michigan, then hand sanding and finishing is the very same door I am picking up today. This time I had an artist at Cathedral Stained Glass in New London, CT create side lights that match the carvings on the door. This meant sketching some designs, working with a graphic artist at Cathedral, ordering and transporting the side lights to their studio to then be etched by Bert Brouillier. Once this was all done I took the sidelights back to, where else, The House of Doors, and had the door system put together. Today I pack and pick it all up-myself! Nahh, I’m not a micro-manager…nah, never been accused of such…I cut my teeth on managing and directing complex technology projects, what can I say?
Wayne Smith (my general contractor for the Kitchen Project) will be doing the install at the end of our work on the kitchen project.
But lest you think I’m done, I need to find a full-view storm door that I can match to my Pella windows which are “deep olive”. Could this mean another U-haul day in my future?
Categories: Kitchen Project
EastSide Nest 
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