Outdoor Projects Progress

First, let’s start with the most satisfying one. A couple of days ago, I showed y’all the 30-minute garage door makeover on the workshop, but someone in the comments suggested that I add the magnetic “window” as well. I ordered them right away, and I was amazed at the difference they made! Just as a reminder, here’s what the workshop looked like with the plain garage door…

I bought these magnetic “windows” (affiliate link) and spent about 10 minutes putting them on the garage door. They come with spacers of various widths that make the placement very easy. And here’s what it looks like now…

I was very skeptical about these, but I think they look fantastic! What I love most about them, aside from how quick and easy they are to attach, is how shiny they are. They have a very glossy finish, so they reflect the light and reflect the trees just like glass windows would.

I absolutely love how this looks. I was so surprised at how much charm and character all of these magnetic accessories add to the door. It’s so nice looking out the back doors of my studio and seeing this charming garage door instead of a plain white door.

Now let’s move on to the studio side steps. I tried to finish these up (the last row of concrete pavers), but the math didn’t math. I went with the heights of each product listed on the website, and based on those, it shoudl have lined up perfectly with the threshold of the studio door. But in reality, nothing is ever as perfect as we hope. And when I went to put those final pavers on, they ended up being about 1/4-inch (or maybe a little more) higher than the threshold.

Of course, if I use them as is, that would cause a tripping hazard coming out of that door, and that won’t do. So I need to come up with a solution to make this final row even with the threshold that will eliminate the tripping hazard while also still allowing for drainage (i.e., no puddling of water) when it rains. It’s a challenge, but I’m 100% sure I can find a solution. I think I have one, so I’ll be testing that out this weekend.

And while we’re here, you can see how bad this door looks. It’s in desperate need of a good cleaning and a fresh coat of paint.

Ever since this new window was put in, there has been nothing to screw the shutters into.

Even if I pushed it back as far as it would go, it was still inches from the trim.

For a while, it was just the two outside screws (the ones going into the stone) holding these shutters up, but the inside edge of each shutter was just free, attached to nothing. That’s why the shutter came down in a big storm with high winds.

So before I could even get to the shutter, I had to build out the sides on the window frame. I used two layers of PVC boards to make up the thickness needed. I attached the two PVC boards to each other with PVC glue, and then screwed them onto the frame of the window. Then I had to caulk everything. This took quite a bit of caulk, so that’s all I could do on the first day since I had to let it dry overnight.

Then on day 2, I got all of the trim painted with three coats of paint, and then I left it to dry really well overnight. In hindsight, I wish I had added those PVC boards to the top as well. I’ll probably end up doing that to make it look more uniform all the way around the window.

So it took two days to get to the point where I could finally screw the shutters back in on the third day. But it’s done.

I really wanted to get my power washer out and clean off all of the dirt on the foundation, but until I get something covering up all of this dirt around the house, it’s just going to look like this again after our next heavy rain. So I need to have a plan in place and have everything on hand and ready to go down to cover the dirt before I waste time power washing.

And finally, I started painting the bedroom door and trim. This thing looks like a mess right now, but I really have confidence that once it’s all done (including the steps), it will look nice. It’s hard to see because of the sun coming through the trees, but I got most of the white finished, and now I just need to paint the gray to make all of that trim blend in with the stone.

I know I’ve gone through many options for this door, but I finally decided to add shutters. I don’t have a picture of the whole house from the street at this point, but when I was pulling into the driveway yesterday, I stopped in front of the house to take it all in, and this section really does need the same amount of blue that the other sections have. I think it will look off without it. And it makes sense in my mind that if this door is going to be white like the windows instead of pink like the doors, then it needs shutters like the windows. So that’s my final decision on this door.

So that’s the progress! And if we continue to have nice weather this weekend, I’ll just keep going on these outdoor projects. I’d love to get the front porch and the bedroom door finished by my birthday, which is when I want to start focusing on the storage room. So we’ll see how much I can get done!