And the Doorknob Fights Back

Posted by Kristin Abraham Jan 24, 2007

If you read (Girl Tackles Doorknob and WINS!) and heard of my doorknob victory you may want to hear about my defeat.

Today I decided to put the bathroom I had a bit of an issue with my expensive hinges and so it was a little difficult to hang the door and it ended up a little tight. But then again it was tight to begin with and a total of 8 layers of paint didn't help much.

I was disappointed that it wasn't shutting properly so I spent a lot of time adjusting the hinges so I could get it to shut. Not perfectly but it shut. Then I turned to the doorknob, which could create more problems because the face plate didnt exactly fit the predrilled holes. I slid the locking mechanism in and lo and behold, the door didn't shut. So I tightened everything a little bit more and pushed the door shut. And then realized I was locked in the bathroom.

I sent a pre-distress email out to my friend Kevin who, rather than being worried about my safety, promptly asked why I had the computer in the bathroom. I explained that I was listening to a book on tape that I had downloaded to my computer. In the meantime I continued working on getting the lock to slide back from the plate while pulling hard on the sticky door with the few fingers I could fit in the remaining doorknob hole. Luckily I was able to free myself in just a few minutes and I'm pretty sure Kevin got his laugh for the day.

Obviously I decided the doorknob should be installed before I try that trick again so I got the knobs ready and inserted into the hole and realized that the screw holes on the knob and the face plate do not line up. It seemed like a manufacturer's defect but I decided to call the company and make sure there wasn't a little trick I was missing. Nope, manufacturer defect. So I have to go to the store and wait in line and return the knobs. And part of them is installed and I'm not taking them out.

To add insult to injury. I purchased shelves from this same store earlier this week and of the 3 shelf kits I bought, every single one was missing a piece or had extra pieces. I had to contact the company to request 8 cross bars (because all were missing) so I could finish the shelf. These boxes were just too heavy for me to return and buy new ones.

And then, I wanted to build some shelves that I saw in a picture in this same store. I bought the supplies but they didn't have all the supplies I'd need and actually the shelves in the picture were not functional so the project required three trips to the store and more cuts than initially planned and a lot of additional support and they still don't look right.

Big sigh. Today has been one of the most frustrating home decorating days in my personal history and I may just focus on some other tasks, something totally unrelated to home decorating.