Finding a Pulse

Hi folks,

Yes, I'm still here, just been in a bit of a hibernation being busy getting ready for baby V's impending arrival (less than 1 month to go!).  Lots to tell you about, I promise!

One of the things on my our to do list for the house, was replace the back door.    As we put the front door replacement dream on hold as it was a nice to have vs a need , and at at over $3k we couldn't justify that much money on a nice to have.  So, the compromise H and I agreed on was to spend a bit more in a new back door which is a need to replace.

Other than the freakish smurf colour, it may not look too bad from afar....  But up close it's a whole other story.

Ummm, yeah.  Rotten frame, and milky glass..... what a warm welcome to our casa!  Like I said.... need!

My dream, as you know, is for a Crestview vintage style door.... but as they don't do door lite kits anymore (boo) and there are no suppliers in Canada (double boo).  I spent ages scouring Craigslist hoping to find a real vintage door, but finding good examples and anything close to the right size proved to be unattainable.  My next step was to see what else there was besides Crestview and Vintage, so I spoke to a local door company a few months ago (while getting prices for the front door) about this dream, and they mentioned a new series by Therma Tru, called the Pulse line, but their price was mucho dinero, waay to much for a back door.  So, I thought my dreams for a retro mod door were in the toilet and mentally prepared myself for a boring old normal door.

Then came the lovely Pam at Retro Renovation, who did a profile on Therma Tru's new doors, and it re-lit my door fire and I decided to give it another whirl.  I tracked down a few other local suppliers that carried the door and asked for pricing..... and as the prices started coming in I started to spy a light at the end of my mod door lovin' tunnel.  There was a huuge variance, and in the end I was able to find a company about 5 min from our house that can get me my door at 1/2 the price of the 1st company, and only ~$100 than the boring plain slab door I had been considering - score!

So, long story short, we pulled the trigger and we have a new backdoor on the way....  A Thermatru Echo offset with 4 lites.

To keep with the vintage vibe, I want to go with a non-round backplate (inspired by some local neighborhood and web images (like this,  this, and this).  So, we'll be pairing with the Weiser Verdani lever to keep with the square theme. So, excited!

The big moral of my door hunt story though, is to always get multiple quotations, because your dream design choice may be more financially attainable then you think!