The Door Story

Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders which You have done,

And Your thoughts toward us;

There is none to compare with You.

If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count.

Psalm 40:5

Hunky and I went and picked up a trailer load of doors for the market today...and I got a surprise. And since I'm on a roll for telling some of the happenings that I have found to be divine, and frankly, astonishing confirmations to proceed with this project in relative confidence, it is now time for the door story:

I took a favorite friend and we went to scope out the competition 3 weeks ago. In truth, having never been, I wanted to go to the nearest Whole Foods Market and Trader Joes--about 40 miles from home, but only after an obligatory stop at my favorite architectural salvage and community development center in Cincinnati.

We walked through the doors of Building Value on Spring Grove and there against the wall was the most gorgeous line-up of doors I have ever seen and very unlike the usual suspects that end up there. They were maple. They were unconventional. They were unique. They were practically new! They were 3 panel hinged single doors, and full-lite glass and maple shoji-style double slide together doors, all 36x80 with hardware that I really liked and the shojis even had the tracks with them. 

They were my doors. 

And they were priced at a reasonable $150 for the singles and $250 for the double sets. (Time out to quit hyperventilating. That really IS a good price, especially with handles and hinges, but STILL...) I took pictures. I put them on my Wise Acres Market Facebook page. All I needed was confirmation that we were nearing an agreement on the building and I would be back to take my babies home.

Cut to Monday. Having heard that we are nearing an agreement, I decide I should go get my doors before somebody else does. But I know they'll be waiting for me, because they are mine. I call just to be sure, and I am told that they can't sell them to me because they have been put onto an online auction that ends...tomorrow. (Preview time is over, there will be no picking and choosing!) I get the info, scope out the site, plan my plan, and make sure I am at a more reliable internet connection than my own as the end of the auction nears.

To say that I prefer the real, physical, raise-my-hand or nod-my-head auction where I can size up the competition, to this cold, anonymous, electronic version I endured on Tuesday is an understatement. But even so the Lord led during the bidding, and I let all the single shojis go, deciding to focus on getting half of the double sets (10 doors), all of the regular doors (8) and the two oddballs. (Including a full lite glass door with sign that says "Quiet Zone, please walk and talk quietly upon entering." For my office, of course.) I got them. 20 of them. At an average price of $80 per door. Happy, happy dance.

So today we arrive to get them, which by the way was a LOT OF WORK, and we discover the reason I liked the hardware: it is EMTEK. 

BE STILL MY BEATING HEART... 

Who knew? The God of the universe has excellent taste in door hardware.

Realizing that not everyone is the kind of architecture geek that I am, let me translate: Emtek is to hardware as Porsche is to car, grass-fed Porterhouse steak is to meat, and...um...Coach is to handbags. (I had to get help with that one.)

We ended up with one more door for $30 as it was cracked and unsold. I tried to talk her down to $25, but she said the hardware was worth $30, and I agreed because I was pretty sure it was worth $60. But actually she was wrong, and so was I. When I got home tonight I looked up the handsets online and they sell at a discounter's for $115.50 each plus shipping. 

:)

If you see me in a neck brace soon, don't panic. It will just be the result of me constantly shaking my head back and forth in wonder as I keep seeing the Lord do all this really, really cool stuff. 

Footnote: So I looked online for 3 panel maple doors, and though I could not find these exactly (I think they're from Japan!) I did come up with a reasonable comparison on sale for $370 ea (not including shipping) and with no hardware. The handsets cost at least $115, and I didn't bother to price out the hinges, b/c I already know those can't be had for under $20 a set. So basically I paid an average of $80 for a door that would have cost over $500.

Spending $1800 for doors worth more than $8000--PRICELESS. But it's still a panic...