Breakfast Room Progress - A Door, A Curtain, and a Light Fixture

Sunday, February 20, 2011

We've made a wee bit of progress on our breakfast room at the back of the house. Small progress is better than no progress, right?

First up, a door.

When we first bought the house and moved in one of the first projects we did was build a fence in the backyard so Roary could hang out without running away. (Bad dog.)


The problem was that our house didn't have a back door. Just a lousy side door that led into the driveway. Everytime we wanted to let Roary out we would have to put our shoes / coats on and lead him by the collar into the backyard. It was super, duper annoying. Plus, we have a shared driveway with our neighbours. They have seen me way too many times in less-than-flattering (okay, hideous) get-ups while letting the dog out. 

So we decided to put a door in the back of the house. In the breakfast room. This project was terrifying. Alex rented a diamond-bladed (???) chainsaw and chopped a hole in the side of the house. (See video at the end of this post.)

Even though I would have loved a door with tonnes of charm and character (my dream was to have a wooden, dutch door) our freezing cold winters and piles of snow would make one kind of impractical. We went with a single, steel, french door that matched the windows which would eventually lead out onto the deck.

Please disregard the junk and out-of-control bushes that are all over the yard.
What can I say? Our house is a permanent construction zone.

Please disregard the sad, sad state of our yard.
Again, we live in a permanent construction zone.

Everyone in my family tried to convince me to put double french doors leading out onto the deck but the room is so, so tiny (with two large windows already) that double doors would have left virtually no wall space for furniture placement in the future. The breakfast room could eventually become an office, a playroom, a t.v. room, or a mudroom. 


The trim around the door has finally been painted. If you look closely, though, you'll see that we still have to paint the inside of the door jamb. We'll have to wait until the weather is warm and we can leave the door open while the paint dries.


There was a closet in the room already so we though it made sense to install the door right next to it. We chose a custom "painted white finish" for the door. We didn't realize the colour would be such a stark white. But, what can you do?


When I ordered the tie-up shades for the sunroom (from Pottery Barn) I also ordered a tiny one for the door (hee hee). This is our seventh one so I think I'll stop with the tie-up shades for now. I bought a cheap, magnetic curtain rod and it just stuck to the door. Easy, peasy. 


The curtain just softens the door up a bit. Love. It.

In other news, remember the $39 pendant light that I bought for the room that I liked, but didn't love?

Please disregard the table and chair set which still needs to be painted and recovered.
Well we both had decided that we would keep it there until we found a pendant light that we really loved. Then we would just swap it out and use the white one downstairs in the basement bedroom or laundry room.

Yesterday we stopped into our local lighting store to look at pot lights for the basement reno. Hanging right above the counter was this adorable light fixture:


The picture doesn't do it justice. It is ca-ute. It was even on sale!!!!! We went ahead and ordered it and should expect it in 3-4 weeks. Woohoo!

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Here is a clip of Alex and his best bud knocking the hole in the side of the house. If swearing offends you, don't watch this!! ;)

video

I am so glad that I was not home when they were doing this!!

16 comments:

  1. Fantastic; I bet you're relieved!

    Sue
    xo

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  2. I love your shades! You know that! This is fantastic! What material is this?
    YAY for your door! YAYAYAYYAY!

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  3. I know it feels great to just open the door up to let your dog out! Having a 2 dogs I completely understand!

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  4. The door looks great and I love the shade! Great video of the hole being cut out too :)

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  5. It must have been so fun to push that big block of bricks! I love watching all the changes to your cute cute cute home!!

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  6. not only will it be better now with your dog, but when you have kids, that will be so much better, too! my kids go play in our back yard and i can just stand in the kitchen and watch. what a nice addition that will make life easier for sure!

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  7. Wow, good for you! That's a big project but definitely something that make perfect sense. Good for you! That's some BIG progress!

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  8. The door looks great Sarah. It will make such a difference when the warm weather comes. LOve the pretty little shade as well.
    Kim:)

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  9. Love the new door & your new fixture! Can't wait to see it up! The video is hilarious! Lol!

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  10. Having access to the backyard is a must..great choice to do this!

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  11. What a great project and I love the door. It's just what I want on the side of our house. You can paint steel doors just like any other, so go ahead and paint it to match the trim (or a fun contrasting color from elsewhere in the room, maybe the blue from your chair pads). It's all very cute :). I love your home and yard too.
    Daryl

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  12. The addition of that door just upped the value of your house. That was a great idea. And can I say I am so jealous of your grass? *sigh* I miss having nice grass.

    I love the new light you ordered. The curvy shape is great and I love the finish.

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  13. Looking forward to seeing all of your new rooms!!!

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  14. That turned out so great! I love your door and the curtains look perfect! I bet you are loving to have to open it and let Roary out! Your yard is beautiful and I just want to go sit there in the sun! :) Oh that light is gorgeous, so jealous right now!! :) So glad that it was on sale and I can't wait to see it up! :)

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  15. WoWW!!!!
    Really cute home. The shade is very adorable.Like your designs of your door. It really catches the attention o0f other people.

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