After 10 Years – Goodbye Old and Hello New
I want to share something with you that I am very excited about. Three of the sliding glass doors on the first floor of my house have finally been replaced! It only took 10 years! I know doors are not too exciting, but they are… so much more than you can imagine for me.
If you have been reading my blog for years, then you may have seen the old sliders in many of my blog post photos, both on the interior and exterior of my house.
When I take photos of the rooms where the doors are I have always tried not to get the doors in my photos since they were showing their 52 years – rotting wood, fogged and pitted glass, no longer slid easily and not airtight, but worst of all from a decorating viewpoint, the interior sliding black screens were on the interior.
Having black screens in a house isn’t bad thing, but when you like white decor, the black screens in my mind stuck out like a sore thumb.
Back in November the doors were supposed to be installed, but the contractors found out after taking the old living room slider out that the new doors were too short.
They temporarily put it in and closed up the top with wood. It stayed like this over the holidays and last week they were back with the right size doors and installed them on two very cold days.
With the large openings open to the outside for a few hours, I just bundled up in the house to stay warm while they installed the 3 doors – living room, kitchen and studioffice/multi-purpose room.
What The Doors First Looked Like
When we first moved into the house 10 years ago, the original doors were stained wood with a black sliding screen door on the inside. The three sliders on the second floor of the house are different from the first floor and have the screens on the outside, so I knew it was possible for sliders to have outside screens.
Soon after we moved into the house, I painted all the doors white…
…but the black screen doors were still in place. After painting the doors I ordered white ones from Home Depot. After a few weeks I got an email saying they no longer had any and canceled the order. I was never able to find white ones that fit, so I lived with the black. We like to have the doors open to the lake breezes when the weather is nice so we needed them.
The color of the exterior trim on the house and doors used to be teal.
About 7 years ago we had the exterior painted in a paint color called Khaki Bronze. Since then the doors have stayed that way until last week.
The Search for New Sliding Glass Doors
This is not a sponsored post. Back in the fall, Ed and I knew we had to get serious about getting the doors replaced. I mentioned to Ed that we bought the house because of the exceptional lake view. With the glass so pitted and fogged it was ruining the view.
After contacting four window and door companies and getting their quotes, Ed and I were shocked at how much getting the three sliding doors was going to cost.
I was also a bit upset that only the most expensive company would be able to do white inside and the tan khaki color on the exterior. I didn’t want white on the exterior as the color wouldn’t coordinate with the rest of the exterior.
I didn’t want to give up on my white on the “inside of the doors and khaki tan on the exterior vision” and did some more Googling. I found a local window and door showroom that sold ProVia doors. I hadn’t heard of them before. It is an Amish owned company in Ohio.
I called the showroom and set up a time to go to see the doors. After seeing the doors in person and asking the owner tons of questions and found out we could get white on the interior and a color called Desert that matched the exterior of the house we were sold.
Oh and they were the least expensive. We also were sold on the fact that the doors were made by skilled Amish, so we knew they would be good.
The New Sliding Glass Doors
It is very hard to take a photo into the sun and this side of my house gets the bright sun all day long so I did my best. This is the kitchen door. It slides open so easily now with only one hand. I needed two hands and all my strength to get the old ones open.
Here is the living room. I didn’t take a photo in the studioffice, but it looks just like these…. very nice… white on the inside, weathertight and the super clear glass is made especially for southern homes to cut glare and keep the hot sun from penetrating the glass.
What I am most happy to see with the new doors is that the exterior color matches the exterior paint color and the sliding screen panel is now on the outside. You can hardly even see the screen doors. :-)
And one other nice feature that I didn’t mention was that the old sliders could not be opened from the outside when they were locked. Now we can lock the doors and open them with a key from both outside and inside.
So from now on I will no longer try to minimize the doors when taking photos for posts as there are no longer any black screens messing with the rooms color balance and color scheme.
I am just so happy to say goodbye to the old rotting wood, not needing to use both hands to open the doors anymore, foggy and pitted glass and black screen doors.
Now I have to go buy a few gallons of glass cleaner as I have to clean the glass frequently so the view out to the lake is always crystal clear. I usually use Windex or Invisible Glass to clean them, but was wondering if you know of another brand of glass cleaner that cleans glass well or any glass cleaning tips that I may not know?
Would you like to save this post?
Enter your email below and I’ll send it to you!
They look great! a million dollar view. I use not warm water, vinegar, bit of alcohol and little squirt of dishwashing liquid in a bucket using cotton towels. We have 13 glass doors, 30 windows.
A wet Norwex enviro and window cloths….no cleaner needed! Can be used on windows and mirrors for years!
Wow! Beautiful results! I recently discovered a glass cleaner called Sprayaway, I bought it at Walmart. It’s the very best at cleaning glass, mirrors and a lot of other surfaces. No streaking! After I disinfect and wash the outside of the porcelain toilet and tank, I use Sprayaway to give them a great shine. I even use it to spray my granite kitchen counter. I’ve accumulated cupboards’ full of expensive glass cleaners that don’t work. Try Sprayaway!
Wow! What a difference the new doors and screens made!
While I like the E-cloths for some things, I don’t like dealing with the wet cloth and/or washing them for small, quick jobs. I’d rather just pull out a glass cleaner product and use a paper towel so I can pitch it in the garbage afterwards. For the majority of my day-to-day glass cleaning, I LOVE the Hope’s Perfect Glass, which is ironic because I had used another Hope’s product for countertops and hated it. Based on that experience, I would have never bought the Hope’s glass cleaner but I used it at my sister’s house and was blown away with the results. It effortlessly produces squeaky clean, streak free glass and mirrors. I had a mirror I couldn’t get clean and streak-free to save my life — tried ALL the glass cleaning tips and tricks I could find with zero success — and Hope’s Perfect Glass cleaned it up beautifully! I even use it on my smooth glass stove cooktop. Best product EVER!
They look wonderful!
Thanks Patty – I am enjoying them.
Love the doors! I was excited to get our back laundry door replaced. Grilles on the inside..easy to clean ☺️
Hi Linda – thanks. Very nice to have a door with a window in your laundry room. :-)
I absolutely loooove the glass chamois cloths that use only water to clean them. Super quick, leaves no lint or streaks and no chemicals 🙂
P S. HOW is it 10 years already??? 😯
Hi Sue – I know 10 years it doesn’t seem possible. After so many readers left me comments about the cloths and water, I bought some – they are amazing. I am not sure how I missed the news about them over the years. :-)
They look so good! My husband works for ProVia. They produce a quality, made to order product and are a wonderful company to work for.
Wow, what a monumental difference the new doors make on your home! The impact of doors cannot be overstated! The value of your home just increased exponentially!
I like Hope’s Perfect Glass spray cleaner for my glass kitchen table. I believe I have seen it at Walmart and the hardware stores. You can buy a refill jug and save too. Enjoy your new view!
To all those who have never seen inside screens when we built our home 21 years ago, 2 – 6’ sliders have inside sliders. Three 8’ sliders have screens that are “hidden” in that they roll up and are contained in the frame. We overlook a golf course so it was important to have an unobstructed view. All the sliders are by Pella.
Try equal parts of rubbing alcohol, white vinegar, and water.
So happy for you! The new sliders look beautiful. Although I do not live in the south, I have been using a product called Squeegee Off that I buy at my local Lowe’s. You dilute a little in hot water and use a window sponge thing and a squeegee. I think they may sell a kit with the products altogether. Works well on my sliders (and other windows too).
Your new doors look sooo good! I’m glad you found the best doors for the best price also! Enjoy!
So happy for you guys!
Well done!
Re your Wal-Mart store area, do you own that Pilates machine ? Have anything negative to share about it? Thank you
Hi Karen – I own a Pilates Reformer. I bought it on QVC about 20 years ago. I love it and have not one negative thing to say about it. It is made by Stamina. It is not the Aero Pilates as they are narrower than mine. The professional ones at Walmart look very similar to mine, but there are a few differences. Truly all of the models will give you results if you do it consistently. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Try e-cloth
us.e-cloth.com
Uses plain water, no chemicals and cleans my sliding door beautifully! I live near farm fields and lots of home construction so lots of dust that gets deposited on my door that turns to mud when it rains.
Hi Marilyn – Thanks for the tip about the e-cloths for windows. So many other readers told me that they use them or similar aslo. I must have missed that memo. :-) I just bought them and they were delivered today. Looking forward to using them, but will wait to the ice storm passes us.
Norwex window cleaning system only uses water on cloth. Two clothes, one to wash and other to dry. Non streak. Great product and long lasting.
Hi Vicky – Thanks for the tip about the cloth cleaning system. I will start using them and ditch the Windex.
Do you have any idea why the screen doors were installed on the inside??! I can’t think of any reasons! These new doors look beautiful! So nice that you could choose the color of both the interior and exterior separately. I had never noticed your previous screen doors… but these are perfect and your lake view is stunning. You always take great photos!!
Hi Lisa- I believe the screens on the inside of the doors was a Pella thing back in the 70’s. I am so happy to finally be able to see the lake clearly clearly now. Thanks about the photos. When I first started blogging I didn’t know much about photography, but when you have to learn for the job, you pick it up fast.
I love using Ultimate Cloth microfiber cloths for cleaning windows (for house and car), using just water and end up streak free. I have no connection with them, but a friend got me started on these about ten years ago. I like the fact that I don’t have to use any chemicals, too.
Your new door walls/sliders are beautiful! Lovely improvement. “Sprayway Glass Cleaner” is one of the best. It’s what the installers used after installing our new hurricane windows too. You can purchase at Walmart (in the automotive section), Sam’s Club in a pack of 4 (BEST value), The Home Depot or Lowe’s. I use inside on all our mirrors, shower doors, granite countertops too as it doesn’t contain ammonia.
Those are beautiful doors!! I know exactly how exciting that is to get doors that work right and look great!! I’ve never seen a screen door installed inside the house. Interesting :)
Enjoy your view 💙
Wow, they look amazing!! And what a view!! As we you get older, you’ll certainly be happy that the doors open & close so easily. Great choice.
Love the new sliders. That would have bugged me too to have the screen on the inside. The Amish really do quality work. We have two end tables and a coffee table that we ordered through an Amish showroom. Love them! No suggestions on glass cleaner, I buy the gallons of glass cleaner at Menards and dilute them into a spray bottle. I like the suggestions noted above. I will look into them. I have a friend who swears by Sprayway, which is ammonia free. Her sliders always look great, but I have not used it yet.
Wow! What a beautiful improvement! I also use microfiber glass cloths from E cloth. No glass cleaner and better cleaning!
My personal tip for cleaning glass: don’t use glass cleaner—it usually causes streaks. I use a microfiber cloth made for windows, lightly dampen it, and wipe windows, mirrors, and even car windows. Let them air-dry or dry with a second cloth. The result is amazingly clear, streak-free glass. I just toss the cloth in the washer after I’m done.
We live on a lake and have sliders and large windows for the view. I use a misting water bottle and reusable glass cleaning cloths. Sold at Lowes & Home Depot. No streaks! And no chemicals!
Beautiful doors – well worth the wait!
I never use glass cleaner anymore. I use something called a Gleen Cloth. I found out about them years ago at an estate sale and have used them ever since. I buy them on Amazon and you only use them with water, you can even wash them in the washing machine. They get my car windows squeaky clean (dog noseprints) in 5 minutes. My whole family uses them now. I used to live on Lake Marion and know what you mean about looking at the lake.