Live The Home Life

I’ve moved!

2013-04-01T11:18:00.001-05:00

Not physically—Lord knows I have plenty left to do around this construction site—but if you are looking for more Live The Home Life adventures, I’ve made a blog move. Head on over to www.livethehomelife.com to see what I’ve been up to. See you there!

Hello old friend.

2013-02-21T14:19:00.001-06:00

I know you all are tired at looking at my mushy gushy Valentine post as the first post, so here’s a replacement.

No new DIYs this week BUT this weekend I am determined to put my laundry room back together. Right now we’re dealing with so many sheetrock holes that the laundry room walls look like swiss cheese. Here’s to a pretty laundry room in t-minus 4 days!…that may be pushing it but a girl can hope.

Dear Boyfriend,

2013-02-14T15:59:00.001-06:00

Today I'm taking a few minutes to remind you just how wonderful you are. It is Valentine's Day after all.

You are the best. You are the greatest. I know I'm not the easiest to live with. When all you want to do is watch football on Saturday, I drag you off the couch to help with my latest spur of the moment DIY project.

You are the best. You are the greatest. When my little June Bug wants to chase squirrels in the backyard, you are right beside her plotting the best plan of attack while I watch, smiling.

You are the best. You are the greatest. You let me be exactly who I am without apologies. You love me when I'm covered in saw dust and cheer me on when yet another crazy idea pops into my head.

My nail polish is always chipped, I dig through toolboxes more than purses, and finding a pair of jeans in my closet that isn't covered in paint is a struggle, but you wouldn't have me any other way. You are the best. You are the greatest.

Cara

Gotta get that bloom bloom BLOOM!

2013-02-12T11:07:00.001-06:00

Every year around this time, I get a serious hankering for spring. Warm temps, green yards, a chance to dust off these pasty white legs.

Last month, I feed my gotta-have-a-little-springtime-in-my-life craving by planting a few amaryllis bulbs. Being the brown thumb I am, I was more than pumped when they actually bloomed! Check out the stems on these gals.

I seriously only watered these bulbs three (maybe four) times since I planted them one month ago. Long legged, super low maintenance—what’s not to love?

Want a few of your own? Click here to snag a bulb or two.

Thrifty Finds: Chevron pillow covers

2013-02-11T18:09:00.001-06:00

When Michael moved in last fall and I started man-ifying then den for him (missed that mini makeover? Click here to play catch up), two things happened: 1. we found compromise with the whole mounting-a-deer-head-on-the-wall issue and 2. the front living room began to inch closer to girl-land.

Without much thought, I started picking up girly finds. A floral scented candle here. A pretty coffee table book there. All of which somehow found their perfect resting spot in the living room.

Now, when I happened upon pink and cream chevron throw pillow covers at Hobby Lobby for only $6.99, there were no words. They had to be mine. I know some over you are soooo over chevron, but I’m still onboard that train—catch them on a half off sale week and just you try not to pass out from excitement. These beauties (and their handsome buttoned up friend) were destined for my girlier-by-the-minute living room.

In case you gals are thinking to yourself “my boyfriend/husband would never go for such a girl-centric pillow cover on his couch”, Michael is actually a big fan of the new red and white pillows in the living room. The boy may be colorblind, but I’m cool with it if it means the pink pillows are safe.

The $25/10 Minute DIY Wreath

2013-02-07T14:22:00.001-06:00

There are two things that I desperately want to be in life but know myself well enough to know will never happen : Backup singer extraordinaire for Celine Dion who is called up to fill her stilettos when the Canadian songbird loses her voice in front of a sold out crowd & the girl who has a new front door wreath for every holiday. That being said, I still belt a few notes in the shower so why not take a crack at a new spring wreath?

This lovely little berry friend of mine has been hanging on my front door for well over three years.

Time to give him a rest. Off to Hobby Lobby I went on a cheap & easy DIY wreath mission.

Frame: $6.99

Pre-made fabric flowers for $4.00 a pop @ 50% off. Can I get a Hobby Lobby Halleluiah!

One roll of burlap ribbon for $6.00

Now for the hardest part of this crafty adventure. I just stuck the stems of the flowers into the wreath and tied a bow of burlap ribbon around the bottom of the flowers…I just said it was the hardest part, not that it was hard. If you feel like adding an extra step to give you a better sense of accomplishment on this no-brainer DIY, add a little hot glue into the mix for extra security.

Quarter Round Install How-To

2013-01-31T16:29:00.001-06:00

Back at it in the kitchen! You only thought you were free of my floor reno ramblings.

Last I left you, the tiles were freshly grouted, but one huge eyesore was keeping this floor from the finish line. Time to add quarter round along the edge of the baseboards.

While I’ve heard rumors of some installing quarter round with a good old fashioned hammer and nail, a brad nailer and air compressor knocks this project out in practically no time. I found this 2” brad nailer on Amazon for around $40 and it has worked like a charm for my simple purposes.

I was lucky enough to have a hand-me-down air compressor given to me a couple of years ago…

…and the miter saw that I picked up as a little happy birthday gift for myself a few years ago.

On to the cutting. I started in this corner where the laundry room door ends and cabinets begin. I had to add a small piece of new base trim before I could get started with the quarter round since my door demo got a little out of hand.

I cut the quarter round at 45 degree angles where they met at the corner. The edge of the quarter round that ended where the door trim began, I cut at a 22.5 degree angle. Why 22.5? I seem to remember a DIY quarter round YouTube video that told me to do this, so I went with it. I’ve also seem tons of homes with quarter round cut straight at the edges.

A few pops with the brad nailer and these babies were secure.

Next on the agenda: wood filler, caulk and PLENTY of paint.

It’s a grout party…and you’re invited!

2013-01-29T14:43:00.001-06:00

Happy House-iversary to my little construction site! Three years ago, I moved into my 1960s ranch house complete with filthy carpet (that has since been removed to uncover the original hardwoods), a dark and dated kitchen (which has since been lightened and brightened), a terribly leaky master bathroom (that has since been gutted to the studs & remodeled) and a Pepto-Bismol pink guest bathroom…that is still Pepto-Bismol pink.

Technically, yesterday was my 3 year house-iversary but sometimes a girl just gets busy. We’ll count today as the birthday party, and I can think of no better way to celebrate than by grouting the newly tiled kitchen floor. Who’s with me?!

Last I left you on this project, the groutable vinyl tiles were set in place and looking fine. I’m actually super pumped with the way they turned out. If you are looking for a less labor intensive (and less expensive) flooring option, give these guys serious consideration.

Here is an up-close glimpse of the kitchen floor post tile install/pre-grout…

Now for the tools: Pre-mixed grout (you can mix your own for slightly less money, but I was up for the shortcut), a grout float (more detail on this in a bit), a sponge and bowl of clean water.

Whoever wrote the instructions on the box of tiles was very insistent that the novice grout applier (ahem, me) not smear grout over the entire tile but only as close to the tile joint as possible.

They spoke, I listened. Terrified of ruining the new tiles that we’d so carefully placed, I used a 2” margin float for this gig.

Time to get to work with a little maneuver I like to call the scoop, slap, swipe & scrape.

SCOOP a hearty clump of grout onto the float.

SLAP the grout on the corner joints.

SWIPE grout into the joint. I used small diagonal motions to make sure the grout filled the joint without smearing grout all over the tiles.

SCRAPE the excess grout from the tile. I just held the float at a 90 degree angle and, well, scraped.

I repeated the process over a few tiles but as the back-of-the-tile-box man told me to, I stopped every few feet or so to remove the excess grout so that it would not dry on the tiles.

Using a sponge & clean water, I rubbed the tiles in a circular motion to remove the extra grout.

Once all of the tiles were grouted, I made sure to grout the gaps between the tiles and door trim, since those portions won’t be covered by new quarter round like the edges of the room would be.

24 hours later, the grout was completely dry. I carefully walked on them well before the 24 hours was up, but furniture and puppy toenails dare not set foot until the grout was completely solid.

What Where When Why: Glass Front Fridge-y

2013-01-25T11:08:00.001-06:00

What: A gorgeous glass front sub-zero refrigerator that my gal pal, Jessica, clued me in on.

Where: Magazine Land.

When: Just now when I opened the email from Jessica containing such gloriousness…that she sent me on Wednesday. Bad friend.

Why: Clearly fabulous, but I can’t shake the mini-panic attack just thinking about about the half empty Sierra Mist cans and three week old cheese dip containers that would be fully on display in my house. The maid that comes with the fridge must be hiding in the bottom drawer just waiting to realign coke cans and throw out old milk cartons.

At Home in Arkansas: How to survive a DIY kitchen remodel

2013-01-23T10:03:00.001-06:00

Happy Hump Day, y’all! If you’re in the mood for a little mid-workday procrastination, head over to At Home in Arkansas Magazine’s blog to check out my guest post. Today I’m recapping the realities of diving into (and living through!) a do-it-yourself kitchen remodel. Enjoy!…

Our DIY diva Cara Wilkerson has finally finished her kitchen remodel! Today, she’s giving us a few tips on what to expect when you’re expecting…to begin a kitchen remodel, that is. Follow her story from the beginning by reading her At Home guest blog series here.

Kitchen Progress: Baby Steps

2013-01-22T15:33:00.001-06:00

Happy Tuesday, blog buddies! Nothing terribly interesting is happen around the old construction site other than the eternal saga of piecing my kitchen back together after knocking an enormous hole in the wall.

Just a few door hanging, drywall patching, trim nailing and paint priming steps later, we’re inching our way to the finish line.

The Return of the Brown Thumb

2013-01-17T15:21:00.001-06:00

It’s that time of year again. The time of year when I forget how terribly brown my green thumb is and I take off on an I-can-grow-this tangent. Maybe I’m needing a new project? Maybe it’s that I’m itching for springtime temps?….or maybe it’s the precious little package that arrived on my doorstep from my friends in the gardening blog world?

Two amaryllis bulbs (I only knew what they were after I read the label) perfectly packaged and ready for planting.

Luckily, I had two white ceramic thrift shop pots on hand to house my newest friends.

While step-by-step instructions on how to plant, water and care for these little babies may seem excessive to some, to my fellow lack-luster gardeners and myself, they are much appreciated.

We’ll see what happens over the next few weeks with these guys, but in the meantime, I have a precious new little basket to play with.

Want to join in on all of the bulb planting fun? Click here to pick up and amaryllis or two for yourself!

This & That

2013-01-15T10:58:00.001-06:00

THIS is the laundry room door right after Michael and I finished the install…

THAT is a photo of the stripped screws that almost screwed us…and evidence of the first major DIY freak out we’ve had as a couple.

Cut to the Chase

2013-01-10T11:28:00.001-06:00

Demo? Check. Floor prep? Check, check! Once we finally began laying the tile, we kicked this floor rehab into high gear.

The best part of any DIY project is that moment where you are far enough along where you can finally see what the final product will look like. After a ton of it-looks-SO-goods and a few why-didn’t-we-do-this-sooners, we started to realize that our days of laying perfectly square whole tiles was about to be substituted for the tedious task of cutting individual tiles to fit every edge and corner.

One big reason we chose the groutable vinyl tiles was because we would be able to cut the tricky pieces with a few runs of the jig saw…and jig we did, or jig he did, I should say. I measured, he cut. I thought the poor boyfriend’s hand was permanently attached to that stinkin’ saw after all the tiles were cut.

After hours of measuring, peeling, sticking, rolling, measuring, & cutting, the last little tile found its home.

Next up? Grout…but by this point in the game, a hamburger and glass of wine was looking like more fun.

Tile Time

2013-01-09T16:12:00.001-06:00

We’re back at it in the kitchen. No rest for DIYers.

By this point in the overhaul, I was just about tired of looking at demo and was more than ready to start piecing my kitchen back together again. Yesterday, I left you with the door to the laundry room freshly framed.

With just a couple more steps, the floor would be ready to tile. First, removing demo-ing the opening for the doors left the threshold uneven, so we cut a piece of plywood to make the floor more level, and followed with a layer of self-leveling compound to make sure the tiles will lay nice and flat across the threshold.

Once dry (it took about an hour) we were ready to tile. To save the trouble of having to lay the necessary layer of concrete board over the subfloor needing for ceramic tile, we opted to give Traffic Master’s groutable vinyl tiles a whirl. Thicker than most vinyl tiles, this bad boys look remarkable like their ceramic counterparts, he adhesive backing requires no messy mortar and since they are groutable, it’s dang near impossible to tell them apart—not to mention, you can make tricky cuts with a jig saw in no time. More on that later.

Before we began peeling and sticking, we found the center of the room and laid out a few rows of tiles to make sure there wouldn’t be any awkward short pieces of tile bordering the edges of the room.

This project brought with them several learning lessons for me. The biggest being, if you walk away from the camera, the boyfriend may take advantage of a sneak attack.

Once the center tile was in position, we just started peeling and sticking like crazy, using 1/8 inch tile spaces in between each tile and a rolling pin to make sure the tile adhesive set properly.

Check back soon to see how we tackled the tricky corner and edge pieces and to see the finished floor.

Door Prep Talk

2013-01-08T16:17:00.001-06:00

Oh, boy was it a weekend. Or as the boyfriend referred to it, an I-can’t-wait-to-go-back-to-work-on-Monday-to-get-some-rest kind of weekend. More on what a trooper he is later.

Last I left you, the old linoleum floors were freshly removed from the construction site.

But prep work was far from behind us. Before we could begin installing the new floor, the long awaited doorway connecting the kitchen to the laundry room had to be demo-ed. See that frighteningly patchy eye sore on the wall next to the range?

So long sheetrock.

Our Friday night was dedicated to clearing enough of an opening for a new door and rebuilding the door frame to size. Once the sheetrock was removed (true confession, I got a little hammer happy and took out more than I should have, but nothing that couldn’t be patched later), the exposed studs were sliced and diced.

Note to self: Give the boy a saw and he’s onboard from just about any project.

And new 2x4s were carefully secured in their proper places, with a lot of “wait a minute while I think about this for a second” and a little of “are we sure it needs to move 1/4 of an inch to the left?” Also known as the DIY language of love.

New Year. New Project.

2013-01-03T13:36:00.001-06:00

Last year around this time, I kicked off my kitchen remodel and two months and new cabinet doors/quartz counters/stainless appliances later, this culinary nook was really starting to take shape…but one terrible eyesore remained: The scary linoleum floors. For this January’s welcoming-in-the-new-year project, we are kissing the old floors goodbye.

Every good DIY project comes with a healthy dose of demo, so the quarter round and metal trim between the kitchen floors and hardwoods hit the curb.

Somehow in my mind, I envisioned that the linoleum would roll up nicely and we could haul it out in sizeable chunks. I knew better, but I just couldn’t ditch those rose colored glasses. After two hours of chipping, not even a third of the kitchen floor was up.

After a quick trip to Dad’s to pick up his floor removal tool, we were back in business.

(Insert precious puppy supervisor picture here.)

4 hours later, the floors were up and Michael was really starting to see the type of DIY monster he moved in with. Good news is that I think he’s catching the bug too.

Before & After: Filing-turned-laundry cabinet

2012-12-31T15:27:00.000-06:00

To this girl, there are very few cons of being sucked into the do-it-yourself/furniture rehab world. Trips to thrift shops suddenly become less dusty & dirty and more like treasure troves overflowing with potential. Not to mention the creative (and budget friendly) outlet it dishes up. Give me a tiny price tag on a completely original piece of furniture and it’s game on!

However, once you’ve caught the furniture flipping fever, I’ve found there is a fine line between rehabber and hoarder. I’ve plead guilty more than once to hauling home a thrift store find that I absolutely did not need just because it was a steal…or a piece I’d never seen before…or simply because it fit in the back of my car. Over the past few months, the projects were starting to pile up in my carport, and as the DIY-darling of the neighborhood (the self-appointed title I’ve adopted to make myself feel better about constantly walking the one-more-item-and-my-neighbors-are-going-to-submit-my-carport-to-an-episode-of-Hoarders line), it was time to knock out one of these projects.

This lovely little wooden filing cabinet has been hanging around for months. When the boyfriend and I were recently discussing how big of an eyesore it is to have all of our laundry detergent just sitting on top of the dryer (never mind the enormous hole in the laundry room wall…more on that in next month’s post)…it clicked that this filing cabinet was the perfect size to scoot right next to the dryer for extra laundry room storage. Alright, fella. You’re up!

Since I like to do most of my painting projects inside the house—unless either A. I’m working with oil-based paint or B. it’s the perfect 72 & sunny Arkansas day—the first step was to haul this bad boy to the living room. To protect my floors from paint splotches, I have plenty of old towels on hand and propped the cabinet on scraps of wood so that I could easily reach the very bottom edges.

To prep the drawers, all of the old hardware was removed, the holes filled with wood filler and sanded smooth once dry.

Before painting, I gave the cabinet & drawers a good wipe down and once dry, went to town with a paint brush. The master plan for this piece involved an old, distressed look, so I opted for a flat paint.

After two good coats were dry, it was time to bring a little flare to the boring drawer fronts using a stencil and light gray acrylic craft paint.

Now for the distressing part of this rehab—the boyfriend didn’t understand why I would take something old, paint it like new and beat it up to look old again, but what does he know? With a few swipes of sandpaper on the corners and edges (the areas that would naturally have the most wear and tear over time), we were well on our way to shabby chic.

Last up: new hardware. This is a pretty sturdy piece, so I wanted hefty hardware to live up to it. I found oversized aged metal handles in four different styles, so I snagged one of each. A different handle for each drawer to add a bit of character.

While my laundry room is still a disaster zone, at least this filing-turned-laundry cabinet sits waiting in the living room as the light at the end of the tunnel…and with one less piece of junk in the carport, my neighbors can regain a false sense of hope that I won’t haul home any other finds.

Year End Recap

2012-12-31T11:03:00.001-06:00

Holy smokes. 2012 has been one year overflowing with craziness. There are so many happening that I could recap before the clock strikes midnight and we kick off the new year. To save my wrists from a fate of carpal tunnel and my blog server from crashing with an overload of photos, let’s revisit just one highlight from each month of 2012.

January: Oh, January. You bone chilling month, you. Why not kick off a kitchen remodel during the coldest month of the year when all you crave is warm comfort food that can’t be cooked in a demo-ed kitchen. Why not?

February: The kitchen revamp continues, with refaced cabinets, new quartz counters, stainless appliances and a subway tile backsplash…and a ton of learning lessons along the way.

March: March brought with it much needed relief from the chilly temps with a trip down to Costa Farms in sunny Miami where this brown thumb spent several days strolling through fields of flowers and making new friends from around the blog-o-sphere.

April: Live The Home Life celebrated its 3rd Birthday with a Happy Birthday house tour. So much has changed around the old construction site since then, but it’s still fun to revisit the pictures of my house in its before state and see how far we’ve come. Click here for the tour.

May: So much fun stomping around P. Allen Smith’s Moss Mountain farm as a guest at the Bean2Blog event. I took too many pictures of this amazing wonderland of flowers and folly to post today, so click here to head over to May’s post dedicated solely to the fun had at the farm.

June & July: Wedding bells were ringing and this dedicated bridesmaid was shaking her tail feather at every reception. My all time record number of weddings for the year, the boyfriend and I can successful proclaim ourselves as Wedding Warriors.

August: Another year older and another year wiser. Happy Birthday to me.

September: Adios, amigos! The boyfriend and I were off on a Mexican scuba adventure with the fam.

October: By far the most action packed month of the year for yours truly, my real estate company, The Property Group opened its doors for business.

November: The boyfriend and I moved in together and the joining of our home tastes was remarkably easy. He’s the wonderful type of fella who lives by the “if you like it, I like it” way of life (for the most part). To show my appreciation, I decided to “man up” the den a bit.

And finally…December: This Christmas brought with it so much excitement. Not only was I lucky enough to spend a holiday season with wonderful family and friends, but my precious niece, Louisa, was born smack dab in the middle of the biggest snow storm we’ve ever seen. Who needs power when such a sweet little face can send so much light into the world.

Wishing you all a wonderful 2013 filled with joy, love and inspiration.

Door Bore & Winter Galore

2012-12-19T11:09:00.001-06:00

Are ya’ll tired of hearing about laundry room door yet? I sure am. Unfortunately that’s all that has been going on in my construction site as of late AND with installing new doors being such an all-hands-on-deck-so-that-fingers-and-toes-stay-intact project, there have been little opportunities to take progress pics. In fact, all have for you today from my world of rehabbing is what post demo/pre install of laundry room door #2 looks like.

Fortunately we were able to install the door before dark fell/backyard creatures worked their way inside.

Now on to more important things like wintertime inspiration pics…

Image sources: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

A before & after of epic proportions…said no one ever but me

2012-12-13T15:39:00.001-06:00

Before & afters are my jam and I am stoked for today’s before & after pics. Living room overhauls and rehabbed nightstands have nothing on the beauty of the before & after I am about to throw your way?…Now that you are properly amped enough for a complete let down when I yell PSYCH! let’s get to perhaps the most deceivingly exciting before & after of my DIY lifetime…

Now that this little stinker of a gas pipe has been moved no more than 6 inches to the right, cutting a doorway connecting my laundry room to the kitchen can become a reality. Isn’t that AMAZING?!

Let There Be Light

2012-12-11T14:25:00.001-06:00

Over the past year, much of my DIY life (and patience) has been dedicated to my kitchen. Let’s revisit the before pictures for giggles.

Oooooohhhhhh the good ole days of dark & dated cabinets, nonfunctional kitchen appliances, pink countertops and 40 year old linoleum floors (which are still hanging around). It’s no question that this kitchen has come a long way, but with a few mini projects left to conquer (including those dang floors), I’m getting down to the details. One such detail being the ridiculously dim overhead light that makes reading recipes after dark virtually impossible. Fortunately for me, this activity happens very rarely, but nonetheless, it was time for a change.

Over the weekend, it was out with the old and in with the new. A fabulous little drum shade light fixture that I picked up on Amazon (click here to steal this look). I also covered the giant square hole in my ceiling left over from the removal of Mr. 1963 with a super simple ceiling medallion. Any possible way to avoid patching drywall is fine by me.

The light is installed, my kitchen in lighter and brighter and most importantly, one more nitpicky is crossed off the to-do list.

Reader Redo: Alex’s Annie Sloan Dresser

2012-12-06T17:14:00.001-06:00

Annie Sloan chalk paint is all over the place. If you’ve never heard of it, then you obviously don’t own any hideous hand-me-down furniture that makes you want to loose your lunch every time you look at it. Point blank: Chalk paint makes the un-fabulous fabulous.

Case in point, Alex’s DIY dresser rehab…

The before picture. There’s tons of storage tucked away in this little number, so I don’t blame Alex one bit for wanting to save this little fella.

Here we go!…

Still going!

Puppy thrown in for preciousness and to build anticipation as we anxiously await the ‘after’…

Voila! Pretty stinkin’ adorable right? AND I love that she reused the original hardware…

Have a before & after you want to share? Click here to email pics my way and let’s get to celebrating!

A case of the nitpickies

2012-12-04T16:06:00.001-06:00

It’s the little things that drive you crazy about a DIY project. The big, instant gratification stuff (like knocking holes in walls and painting) is the fun stuff. It’s the little nitpicky items on the DIY to-do list that eat at you and it just so happens I have not one but FOUR of those nitpickies waiting on me in this section of my kitchen…

Nitpicky #1…peeling primer where I primed the windowsill and never painted.

Nitpicky #2…missing trim.

Nitpicky #3…add trim for the can light above the sink.

Nitpicky #4…add a towel bar on the faux drawer below the sink so that dishtowels can dangle in their proper place instead of piling by the sink.

Fortunately with a quick trip to good ‘ol Home Depot for a $20 18” towel bar, this nitcpicky is forever scratched off the driving-Cara-crazy list…

Door Install Date Night

2012-12-03T11:12:00.001-06:00

This weekend Michael and I celebrated the one year mark since our first date and also one month of living under the same roof, so of course we had to celebrate. What better way to honor the occasion than with dinner, a bottle of wine and a two-man DIY project? Nothing says ‘Happy Anniversary’ to my heart like ripping out a 50 year old laundry room door and installing a brand spanking new one.

With the laundry room reno underway and the hot water heater relocated to allow a future doorway connecting the kitchen to the laundry room, the next to-do on the list was to install new exterior doors to the laundry room.

Note: Don’t psych yourself up for sweet step-by-step how-to pictures since the majority of this DIY was spent making sure the door didn’t fall and smash one of us which doesn’t lend itself well to snapping progress pics.

This sad little door was well past its prime and the first step was to remove the door from its hinges and tear out the entire frame with our exceptional crowbar technique.

(This is where I would normally insert a demo pic, but Michael and I must have been more concerned about keeping the soles of our feet free of rusty nails.)

Next, we were off to pick up three new exterior doors. Two for the laundry room and one for the kitchen entrance from the carport.

The good news is we only had one hiccup with this install. The pre-fab trim around the new door frame was one inch too wide to fit in the demo-ed opening.

Using our trusty crowbar, we carefully removed the trim so that the door would fit.

Once the door was in place, we literally just followed the directions included with the door to secure it into place.

We still have to fill the small gaps around the frame with insulation and finish out with trim and paint, but how’s that for romance? A safe and secure laundry room door for two.