Project SMID: Getting worse before it gets better…

I am so stressed out. It feels like everything is getting worse before it gets better.

The yard is torn up right now because I hired a team to implement my vision for our garden. I designed an english garden layout that will include stone, moss and pea gravel walk ways, a gorgeous antique gate and a wooden trellis that will be full of Jasmine…and a hanging chandelier of’course. The cement patio and geometric pavers doesn’t cut it for me. All of our outdoor furniture is in our house or garage during the construction.

I have old sheets hanging in the windows of my kid’s room until the curtains arrive next week. Every time I walk into that room, I have to go to my zen place and deep breathe so I don’t pull my hair out or freak out.

My dog, Chloe – AKA Pig Dog, who is 14 and still kicking, peed all over the downstairs floor today. This is where we are storing all of the furniture currently and it was practically inside my kids tent. I guess no one heard her scratching to go out with the loud constant jack-hammering that was coming from the outside rework.

…And then I ran into trouble with my doors. These doors are really amazing but they are giving me so much pain. It’s just one more thing on my list. I am now officially crossing the line from borderline insane to totally insane.

My beautiful, gorgeous, stunning white wooden doors with round molding were the find of the century that I got for a steal, and now I am paying for them over and over again.

I had to go and get creative… again. I didn’t want these doors to open like any old door. They needed a crazy new life. They are such a statement. For me, it was too expected to have them bi-fold or swing open. I wanted glamorous barn doors with tough hardware, that slide open and pocket into the wall. I wanted the unusual and the unexpected. I wanted it to be the artwork in the room but functional. I wanted to SMIDthat.

Well, they are all of that with the exception of functional. It’s ok, they will be functional but we (the doors and I) have a real LOVE-HATE relationship right now. The LOVE is still so much stronger, which is why I am still pushing so hard to get this right.

The doors are hanging on a wall track with severe barn door hardware. We carved a u-channel track into the floor so that it is seamless with the floor and friendly to all the little feet in the house and of’course my stilettos.

These doors are seriously heavy in the heaviest possible way. The weight of these doors are causing a lot of rework. The initial team I hired did not install them properly. It is a custom design and a bit tricky but they got lazy.

It requires hitting a structural beam and also additional support underneath the hardware. I identified the original problem from round 1 of the hanging; the doors were leaning slightly. I also gave clear instructions on how to correct the problem. I have an eye for levelness, centering, etc. It makes me a bit buggy when things are not level or aligned properly, which is a bit odd since I love throwing things off a bit with they way I design.

I was promised that they did hit the beam and secured the doors in all areas. Well, they didn’t hit the beam. They didn’t even hit the beam where the beam was right there shouting, “hit me, here I am.” Really?

I just found this out when I noticed a slight lean in the doors again and they were not sliding as easily as before. I am so irritated that I want to hire those guys back just so I can fire them.

A good friend of mine, recommended someone that does this type of custom work. He came today and has me breathing again, which is good. He is going to reopen the wall and install a lower beam, where we didn’t have a chance on hitting wood. He will adjust the center bolts to meet the main beam where we should have been successful. He will also custom solder some of the leg bolts and hardware to provide more support to the entire system…AKA more $, AKA more headache, but worth it because they are so hot!

You will see the final work from the photo shoot on July 27th. These doors will slide open and pocket into the wall. They will close together and be incredible. In the meantime, you know where I will be – my zen place.

-SMID