A shiny new door!

 This weekend we tackled installing a real storm door on our front porch.  I wish I had been smart enough (or not embarassed) to take a picture of the old screen door that was there for literally years.  It was slightly too big for the opening and did not close all the way.  The screening had been busted out on the bottom level by a youngling trying a karate kick and the upper screening was in no great shakes as well.  I wanted a true door that would help block some of the wintry elements so that when you reach the porch in December through whenever winter leaves you have a bit of protection.  

It took most of Saturday but we got the door installed and it is lovely.  There is a screen but the solid bottom will hopefully give stability and prevent cats from trying to climb the screen.  This picture does not show it but above the door is a bit 6 ft long and 36 inch wide opening that we made a frame and screening for as well.  Oh, and the door has an after market door handle with a key lock.  This is so that we can secure the porch if we are in another part of the house and want to give the pets access to the extra room.

Today, we made screens for the top two "windows" beside the door.  That was practically a cake walk for us at this point.  The two openings below those small screened windows though took a goodly amount of time.  Those are plexi glass windows that we made and framed.  We did not want screening because we figured the pets would wreck it and we did not want an indoor pet gaining access to the great outdoors via a torn screen.  Plexiglass is  a bear   interesting to work with.  It is probably easier with a power saw.  Because we don't have that (yet!) we had to score it with a utility knife and then snap it. It did work. There was one jagged section but it is thoroughly covered by the framing so it was not a problem.

The last thing we did was hang out the new mailbox. I bet the mail man is going to be so happy that this job is nearing completion. Our mailbox has been getting moved around a bit while we worked!

Here's a close up of the window!  It is so clear that the cat ran head first into it when they went out onto the porch the first time!

And here is the cat enjoying his new space.  We still have to paint the floor but that won't happen for a few days as I am going camping next weekend!