Sometimes the small stuff is worth sweating

Within the first couple of weeks after we moved in, we replaced the carpet in the kitchen and main-floor bathroom with new flooring, painted several rooms, replaced the stove, put in the electric for the new microwave, installed the microwave, went through an epic process of cat-pee de-scenting that I still have to write about someday, and completed several other fairly major projects (all with the help of friends and family, of course).

The fact that the doorway from the kitchen to the dining room had only one saloon-style door wasn't high on our list of situations to rectify. We found the other door in the basement, but didn't bother with it. We had more pressing issues.

This week, I finally got around to it. It turned out that the little plastic thing on the bottom hinge (for the DIY purists out there, I believe the technical term is "coggy-type whatsit") was broken. I acquired a new hinge, and after only an hour of measuring (because the new hinge was, of course, completely different from the old one) and cursing (because apparently I can't measure all that well), I was successful:



It's not a huge accomplishment: the doors stay open all the time anyway, and personally I'm not even all that fond of them. They don't match the style of the dining room or the kitchen. But they are rather quirky, and we don't want to get rid of them. Most importantly, it's one more thing that looks finished.

Until you close them, that is. The doors aren't the same height. Did I mention my measuring skills? Maybe next year...