22.

the doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.
~flora whittemore

ah...the list. supposedly slow and steady wins the race. that is how i am going about this...slowly, deliberately and with thought behind each of these items. i am not just going to fly through willy-nilly. the truth is this: i am a procrastinator and the majority of the 34 things will probably be done in the week before my 35th birthday. but let's hope not. in that spirit, i happily check another one (my second) off the list.

this is what our front door used to look like:


and this is what it looks like today:

a vast improvement even if i do say so myself. don't for a second think that this was easy. this is one of those projects that feels like it should take about 2 hours and ends up taking a week and almost all of wil's naptime minutes during that week. whew. so, 5 coats of black on the door, 3 on each of the sides and 5 coats of white on the trim later and we're in business. i even treated myself to a new knocker, doorbell and doormat to set the whole thing off. i have a little touch up to do but nothing that won't take, oh, 5 hours or so. ha!

i love the finished result and am moving on to refinish the porch and railings next. that was not on my list but maybe i'll give myself bonus points for doing extra credit.

**muchas gracias to mi madre for suggesting the color. see mom...i bet you thought i'd take all the credit.