Garage Door Choices

I'm thinking we need a carriage house garage door.  And since we just insulated the whole garage last summer, I think it makes sense to get the highest R-value door we can.  But I still want it to look nice.  Does a carriage house style go with a Colonial house?

Here are some choices by Amarr through Costco:

CLASSICA COLLECTION

All the CLASSICA's below we'd get in the 3000 series and would have 13.35 R-value and Lifetime warranties on both paint and workmanship/hardware. All would be $2594 for a solid door, and if we add windows, they jump to $3395.  (Big jump for windows!)  Note that there are three panels on these doors - supposed to make it look like a more realistic carriage house door.  The other doors have 4 or more panels (up and down.)

CLASSICA NORTHAMPTON with THAMES WINDOWS
We'd skip the hinges (long black things on the sides)

CLASSICA NORTHAMPTON with THAMES WINDOWS

CLASSICA SANTIAGO with MADEIRA WINDOWS
We'd get all white, and not paint it grey like they did below.  Try to picture it solid white.  :-)  And no hinges (the long black things on the sides.)

CLASSICA LUCERN CLOSED ARCH
Again, we'd get this in all white and probably no hinges (the long black things on the sides)  Do we need to have windows?  Remember, side entry, so won't be visible from the front of the house.

FIMBEL DESIGNER'S CHOICE COLLECTION
Here is a different line with a higher R-value - 19.40  This door would be $2087 for a solid door, and jump to $2347 with windows.  Like the Classica, it would also have a Lifetime Warranty on both the Paint and Workmanship/Hardware.

FIMBEL BEAD BOARD PANEL with STOCKTON WINDOWS  (no hinges)

OAK SUMMIT COLLECTION 
This is the third line I'd consider with only a 6.58 R-value.  These doors would be $1712 solid or $1964 with windows. These all have a lifetime warranty on the Paint, but the Workmanship/Hardware warranty is only for 3 years.


OAK SUMMIT LONG PANEL BEAD BOARD with MOONLIGHT WINDOWS  (not sure I really dig the arched windows here so picture it with windows above, I guess.  And no hinges, as always)

OAK SUMMIT BEAD BOARD with STOCKTON WINDOWS (yes, this looks exactly like the Fimbel but has the lower R-value and lower price, shorter warranty.)
 

Lastly, we have a traditional door collection that Paul thinks looks ok, especially considering we have a side entry garage, but I just can't get excited about it....

STRATFORD COLLECTION

R-value is 6.58 - same as the Oak Summit Carriage House Collection.  Cost is the cheapest - $1439 for a solid door and $1698 with windows. But YUCK!  :-)  Like the Oak Summit Collection, these have a lifetime warranty on the Paint, but the Workmanship/Hardware warranty is only for 3 years.

STRATFORD TRADITIONAL SHORT PANEL with STOCKTON WINDOWS

STRATFORD TRADITIONAL LONG PANEL  (we'd get it in white)

A Few Other Updates

As mentioned in a previous post, we covered the ugly vinyl flooring in the laundry room in preparation for a new washer and dryer.  We also had a plumber re-do the plumbing so the laundry drains through a pipe and out now, rather than dumping into the slop sink.  That has been a huge improvement - no more worrying that the sink will overflow!

Here are some pics of the new washer/dryer and the new fridge we got at the same time.  Really, the fridge we replaced must have been from 1985 and I think the washer and dryer could have been from 1979 when the house was built!  And they still worked, they were just tiny.  With three kids (soon), we just needed more capacity, and I'm sure these new appliances are more energy efficient, as well.

We were patient about it and have been in the house for over a year and a half now.  Both sets of our parents were on our case about getting the new washer and dryer - so much so that they each gave us money to buy them!!!  THANK YOU!   So we knew it was time based on the "encouragement" from our families - who knows if we'd have broken down otherwise.  :-)

So happy!

 

 

Family Room Updates

Before we moved in, this is what the family room looked like.

 

 

 

We were hesitant to paint the ceiling beams for fear of removing character from the room, but we finally broke down and did it, and are liking the results a lot.  We also did the bookcase, which was previously all dark wood and paneling, too.

Here is one of progress before we got started over the Christmas holiday.  You can see we'd already changed the paint color in the room, but had only done one coat and it really needed a second coat. 

And here are some "after" shots:

 

Goodbye Beautiful 70's Laundry Room Linoleum

We have a new washer and dryer being delivered Thursday and have thankfully taken the plunge to rid the house of this awful linoleum flooring.  Amazingly, this was the floor throughout the whole kitchen before the sellers put the wood floors down.  To make it quick, we just chose a different vinyl tile and Paul and his Dad installed it on Sunday.  It looks SO MUCH BETTER!  My Mom also painted the lower half of the walls the same beige we have everywhere else in the house and we'll do the upper half of the wall later on since there are so many pantry shelves in the way for now.

Garage Updates

Ok, so it's been a little more than a weekend project!  In fact, it's still dragging on now after starting the project at the end of July.  But after taping everything and sanding three times, Paul was finally satisfied that it was ready for paint on Labor Day.  So he put the first coat of primer on.  It really does look a lot better, but now we need to clear out everything and figure out how we want to organize it all.

Weekend Project

I'm pretty sure we have a mouse problem. While they are adorable and I don't mind giving them a nice place to live, it's probably not sanitary, so we have to solve the problem.  I'm going to order some havahart traps for the garage and basement and take them miles away to release them if we ever catch any.  But first, we needed to remove all food sources from the garage (says our nice pest control guy) where we think they might be entering the house.  So.... since we were pulling everything out of the garage to clean up all the bird seed and thistle that has spilled all over the place out there, we decided to wallboard the walls and also put insulation in.  Here's the progress from Day 1:

BEFORE

AFTER

Next we have to tape and mud the joints and do the whole other side of the garage.  It's turned out to be a big job - not all that surprisingly. But hopefully it will be worth it in the end since we enter our house all the time through the garage....

Day 2:

Grouted Guest Bathroom Tub Surround

Not crazy about it with the shower curtain and yellow paint, but it's staying for now.  Can't face re-painting at this point...  we knew it wouldn't be great when we chose the glass border tile, but figured we wouldn't avoid a tile combo we liked just because of our paint color and shower curtain.  We can, fairly easily, change the paint and shower curtain down the road.