My Personal Fixer Upper

I love home improvement shows. This summer I discovered Fixer Upper. After watching several episodes, my husband would find me standing in the kitchen trying to figure out how to open up a wall, so that the kitchen would not be separate from the rest of the house. He would just shake his head.

I’ve also debated about painting the kitchen cabinets. We have a lot of cabinets. It’s probably a lot more work than slapping on a layer of paint.

I finally settled on a smaller project. I would paint the entry way. It is currently a dark wood. I could paint it a light blue. It would be a simple, inexpensive project that I could do myself. Sounds good, right?

My husband wanted to replace a window. It’s a good idea. The window is old, single paned, not insulated. We found a window at the Habitat Re-Store. Got a good deal, so still an inexpensive project, right?

Then an old discussion came out. Our driveway heaves in the winter. The screen door will open just enough for me to squeeze through. The frame for the regular door shifts. It doesn’t close and sometimes doesn’t seal. The window would fit well in the door space and we could put a new door in where the window was. It would require a new staircase outside and reconstructing the interior stairs and landing…

So now we have a two new doors, two new windows, new insulation, new lights, new drywall, and new stairs. Still coming are new flooring, new paint, and new hanging fixtures.

My inexpensive project went from $ to $$$$.

It is keeping my husband out of trouble, so there is that.