random thoughts – Day 1,364 – (Monday) – estimates

There was a weather forecast for heavy rain overnight and into today with estimated high winds and notices about potential flooding. There were alerts from National Grid about how they were gearing up for potential outages and it was nice to know they were preparing. My preparations were mostly making sure my phone was charged. In a power failure it would also be a light source.

This morning, when I rolled the trash and recycle bins to the street, the usual giant puddle was at the end of the driveway as testament to the fact it had rained, but overall, the weather didn’t seem to have been as bad as forecast. The basement had a couple wet spots, but nothing like I’ve seen before and that was a relief.

While the weather was less bad than expected, other recent info was less than delightful.

An estimate was received recently for a new front door. I hate the front door to my house. It has a glass pane vertically down the center with a strip of some stupid looking etched frost effect. When the neighbors across the street have cars backed into their driveway with the headlights on, they shine all the way through the house to the far wall in the kitchen. This happens a lot more than seems necessary.

Kind of close to
the door I want.

The door I really want is like the one I had at my little ranch house in Tennessee. It was a Craftsman style door with a paneled leaded glass window high on the door with a rail with dentil molding below the window. 

Since moving in at The BungaLowell, I've looked for such a door online and in person at the big box stores with a focus that varies from casual to highly focused with no tangible results. The Tennessee door was from a big box store, but the exact style doesn’t seem to exist there anymore, although several are kind of sort of close. 

I can settle for a door I like much less than my Tennessee one with a mediocre leaded window from the company I spoke with, for the princely sum of around $6,000. If I get the door I don’t really like with a plain window that I like even less than the leaded one available, it would drop the cost to between $3,000 and $4,000. At least the estimates include installation, but even still, I’ll have to pass. 

I suddenly like the current door a few degrees more now that I have an estimate of what it could cost to replace it. Funny how that works.