Wednesday, August 26, 2009

This is not going as planned...

I love home improvement projects. That is why I was so excited about this post!!!! It was going to be great. I was going to start with this picture...


I was going to point out the HUGE Bradford Pear blocking half of the house. And then I was going to bring up the lovely, Green Bay Packer, green and yellow color scheme they had going. Then I was going to show you this picture...



I was going to point out the fact the Bradford Pear was gone and now our house could be seen from the road!!! I was also going to brag on myself for changing the shutter color from Packers green to a nice, grayish/black color. Easy on the eyes. The new landscaping isn't so shabby either! :) And then I was going to make a joke...

"Hey!!!! Who is that man in my window???"


Very funny...I know. That would have been followed by the explanation that we were having our windows replaced and I was SOOO excited about. This was a major "adult purchase" and I couldn't wait to share the end result. This would mean ridding ourselves of Packers yellow so there would be no evidence of Green Bay on our house!!!!! Thrilled my soul... This picture would have been next, with the caption, "Out with the old"...

Followed by, "In with the new"...


It was gonna be great!!!

I was going to show a close up of the finished product by sharing a picture of Blake painting the last of the yellow trim, sporting a very...interesting outfit...



Followed by this picture that nearly brought tears to my eyes. And his for that matter. You may not be able to tell, but this was was REALLY high up there. A fall would have meant spinal cord injury or worse. That is why it was a very good idea to perform this task while wearing Tevas...



But...instead of sharing this, back in June, I wanted to wait until the project was 100% complete. We were waiting on one LARGE, finishing touch. SOOO, I just sat on this post and waited. And waited. And waited. Until 2 weeks ago. When this happened...

They came to replace our front door!!!! It was going to be so exciting!!!!! I was going to mention how Crosby LOVED watching the men at work. He bounced for an hour without, squealing his heart out! His right quad was huge as a result. Then I was going to show you this...

Nugget had to be right in the middle of everything. That is until his nose got the best of him and he wandered off, ending up in the neighbors house for a few hours. Good thing the vet's dog listens to his owner and stays in his yard... The last picture before the final reveal would have been this...
The HUGE hole in the front of the house where the door once stood. It was going to be awesome to finally see the completed project after 2 months of waiting. It was going to happen this week. Until today...
Looks good. Right???? Let's move in a bit...
Does anything strike you as odd?? We'll move in a little closer...


Yea...it doesn't match!!!!! What???? Basically, the door (on the right in the picture above) is one type of wood. The transom, jam (on the left in the picture above) and the sidelights, are another type of wood. And, as we all know...well except for the makers of this door, different wood types don't always take stain the same way. Here is proof of that! (Oh...the really light wood in the middle is part of the jam that is on the inside of the house and that is going to be painted the color of our inside trim...when I pick that out...so just ignore that...) While we are pleased with the actual door, the rest does not look good. It has a "country feel" to it and I am not fond of that look. Not that there is anything wrong with it if you are a country fan...

So why in the world am I even posting this, you ask??? Well, we have a dilemma on our hands and our brains cannot make a decision. We have to decide what to do with this mess. I could not be more happy with the look of the new door/sidelights/transom. It is all that I had hoped for. But the stain looks awful. These are the options...

A. We should hear from and/or meet with a rep from the door company tomorrow. The only solution that will make us happy is to rip the entire thing out and replace it with a new door/sidelights/transom/jam (there is probably a word for that whole thing but I am unaware of it) made of the SAME wood. Genius idea... Why was that not done in the first place??????

B. We could keep what we have and just paint the ugly part the same color as the trim and it will look much like our old door minus the Green Bay yellow. It would be the color of the new windows. And I realize you can't really tell a difference in the old yellow vs now, but believe me the old was yellow and unattractive... We would keep the door the stained color it is now.

Now that this has happened, I am questioning if having the entire thing stained even looks good on my house. I completely love it on all the new constructions I see but on my house?? Is it as pretty? Does the door get lost in the brick? Does the trim around the window overwhelm the door? We want the door/sidelights/transom/jam to POP when you see it. We want the "WOW"!!!! Will we achieve it with stain?

I need all the help I can get. So far, I am about 50/50 with opinions. Some say paint the ugly wood the color of the window trim and just keep the door stained, as is. Others say have the whole thing replaced and stain it as planned, because the stain, on the same wood as the door, would be beautiful. What do we do?? I need any and all advice, opinions, thoughts you may have. Problem is...it is not Monday. Nobody reads this blog unless it is Monday. So I am probably wasting my finger strength for nothing because no one will read this...

But if you are one of the faithful followers that just happens to see if the blog slacker has blogged anything, she has. And she needs your help!!! Because this is CLEARLY not going as I had planned!!!!!!!

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I say bring on the new and correct stuff! Isn't that a geat word to sum it up....stuff...tell 'em to step on it!

Anonymous said...

I really like the transome and the side lights - it looks really nice - can you paint it and be happy so you don't have to take the whole thing out?

bethdunn said...

I think you should go with your first instinct- staining. It's classy looking, something you already know you're drawn to- so don't settle! The company responsible should not be surprised the woods didn't take the stain the same- I would definitely have them fix the problem- in the long run, you'll be happier!

Anonymous said...

Bring on the stain! Make them bring all the correct stuff & redo it. The stain would look AWESOME on your house & def. a look you are trying to achieve!!!

Sonja said...

See? These anonymous voters know what's going on. They say stain. You know I say stain. Stain it.

STAIN IT!!!!! (when you say that over and over again it sorta sounds like you're using foul language..... just a sidenote.)

Anonymous said...

Firstly, don't get into the part where you're questioning "does this even look good on my house" because it does! You're thinking too much there! Promise it looks great...

I'd say go with your first instinct, too, as others are saying. They should fix it. However, I do not think painting it would look bad... I think that would look good too. I guess I'm saying I don't think you can lose either way, but I would go with how you first envisioned it... with the stain.

That was a lot of rambling- my apologies.

Anne Claire

Anonymous said...

I love the way the door, transom and side lights look on your house. I would ask (sternly, but nicely) that it all be replaced with wood that can be stained the same color. You're going to be there for a long time and you want it to be right. That's what you paid for and that's what you should have.

Anonymous said...

hey, i may be too late on the voting (so typical)....but here are my thoughts.....my preference is stained, but i think if you end up having to paint, it will look nice as well. your house looks so good!!! i had no idea y'all had been doing so much!
miss y'all, hope we get to see y'all over labor day weekend!
kerri

Anonymous said...

sam malone's vote:

"get it fixed"

Beth said...

Danielle, my husband used to work for Pella and he said what companies do is they will make the slab for the door, for instance and then sell it to another company who places it in their frame. He said Pella would make the whole thing themselves to avoid that very thing and that they would warranty theirs for that very thing as well. I would have them rip it out and fix it. If you paid for it, don't let them ruin your vision. I think it will look beautiful, once they get it right. Message me on Facebook if you have any questions, because Matt knows all about this stuff. Paint as well. He managed a Sherwin Williams as well. Geesh, now that I think about it, he should be doing some remodeling projects on our home!

Melissa said...

Well I think I amin the minority here, but my opinion is that I think it would look really good painted...it would coordinate nicely and be so symmetrical with the shutters and trim. But that is just me, and I do think the that if you go the staining route you would need them to startall over. Good luck! And if you have google reader then ur blog posts automatically pop up when there is something new to read. Love ur blog!

ABC said...

having just remodeled a whole house, I know that only one thing makes me happy - to have it exactly as I ordered/wanted/pictured it.

My vote is definitely that they do it over again. They made a mistake. You shouldn't "settle" for their mistake, especially on such a big "adult purchase".

Anonymous said...

Their mistake.....make them get it right and stain it, stain it, stain it like I know you want it!!!! We had a problem with the color stain on our stairway and weren't able to see it until it was too late (in that they would have had to redo all the wood on the stairs and bannister) At the time I didn't have the heart to get them to take it all off and start over. We darkened it another way, but it doesn't wear the same as if it had been stained once the other way. Since your whole deal can be taken out and it's silly that it doesn't match, I'd get it right the way you thought it was going to be. Good luck...let us know how your meeting goes! Love, Ginny

Jill Fields said...

Wow! I am setting up a blog just to get this kind of advice! You people are good!!!