"Where everyone knows your name, and they're always glad you came," would be the bar "Cheers" for some, but for my husband this place is Lowes. Literally, every person who works there knows Neal, and loves him. He's directed customers to the correct aisle, and has given advice to other customers on what supplies/parts they need, while also knowing the name of every cashier, the guys at the pro desk, the window desk (not official name), and the people in the appliances. He's a friendly guy, and all of his friends are at Lowes.
This is evidenced in the miracle that took place in my life. Miracle could be a slight over statement, but as you'll see by the pictures displayed you'll definitely well up with tears of excitement at least.
So, one day Neal called me and said he had been at his second home (Lowes) and his friend (one of the ladies who works there and loves Neal) casually asked him if he needed a front door. Silly Neal forgot that in fact I'm always on the hunt for everything and told her no. She said that a custom-ordered door had been returned and they were trying to sell it for $500. Thankfully since he's under my influences he did eventually remember that I had said a few billion times that our current front door needs to go.
"She's such a snob," you're thinking, "there's nothing wrong with that door," and you're sort of right. The doors were just fine. I didn't really want a double door, and we had figured out the door had been kicked in at some point before we moved in, so we wanted something a bit more secure. But, this was LOW on the priority list because I knew the door I wanted was like $3,000. Other projects were going to take priority over a door.
Since Neal usually goes home (Lowes) multiple times a day, he was back a few hours later, the door was still there, and this time called me to see if I was interested. Of course, I was skeptical. I knew the chances of a returned door being something I actually liked were slim to none. I have specific taste, and I've settled before and regretted it. He texted me this picture:
It was the exact front door I wanted, maybe not in red, but paint is easy. I told him to break any law he needed to in order to ensure that door was mine. I was so nervous that someone would beat me to it. Thankfully no laws were broken.
And clearly I was the winner.
AND, it had been marked down AGAIN from when Neal had been in 3 hours earlier. Please notice the original price: $3041.76, and notice how badly they wanted to be rid of it: $300. Are the tears welling up in your eyes?
So, it came home and I immediately put my best crew to work to get in installed.
Neal, once again blurry in a picture because he's always moving.
My ever-helpful four year old who is using his plastic chain saw to help.
And my six-year-old who's always willing to help as long as it's not too wet, too dirty, too heavy, too hard, too loud or anything else.
The back of the door was ugly brown, and you can see the bottom of the entry light. It's on it's way out too.
It was also incredible that the new hardware we had bought and installed on the white front door after we moved in, fit perfectly in the holes that were already cut in this door.
Now, the red is fun and cute, but I think it needs to be navy blue or mint green. I haven't pulled the trigger yet. I like the red, but I feel like the color is too bright of a shade for a mellow gray house color. I tried a few mint green samples, but it was too light, so I'll be thinking on that for a while.
Inside with a few coats of Benjamin Moore's OC-17, White Dove, and trimmed out.
The outside, trimmed out.
The moral of this story is: be friendly like Neal.
