Kitchen Reno: Slide on Over

Last weekend's kitchen project was replacing the sliding door to our screened porch.  Honestly it's one of the parts of this whole kitchen thing that was making me pretty nervous.  Sliding doors are expensive and big and I'm pretty sure that replacing one is a 2-person job.  So when it came time to do it, we invited Jason's brother down for a weekend to help.  And he's a carpenter, so he's done this sort of thing before.  
I gotta say, it was great that he was able to come.  He arrived early enough on Friday that he and Jason could go pick up the door from the supplier.  And he brought his daughter with him and she & Sarah had a blast hanging out for a few days.
Now, as a blogger who is pretty devoted to DIY projects, I like to be involved or at least closely observing the work that happens in the house (yeah, I am often on kid wrangling duty for the heavy-lifting sorts of tasks).  But sometimes it's fun to disappear and have projects finished when I return.  Sorta like the magic of television!
I was really hoping that last Saturday would be like that with the guys working hard on the house while the kids and I (my 2 plus their cousin) went to the zoo, alas it was not meant to be.  Some unforeseen complications delayed their progress and there was still a lot left to do (and because I was trying to stay out of the way, there aren't a lot of good progress pics).  By dinnertime they WERE done.  Is anything ever as straightforward as it's supposed to be?  Nope.  Never.  *sigh* So here it is:

The new door has been "in" for a week and I can already say a few things about it:

• It glides so nicely!  The old door was tough to open sometimes.
• HANDLES!  I love that both sides of the door have real handles to grab.  And they don't come off in your hand.
• It locks!  The old door didn't lock.  Yeah, I know we could have just replaced the hardware, but the old door needed to go anyway.
• The insulation is MUCH better.  I used to be able to feel cold radiating from the slider and I can already feel the improvement.
• It's MUCH quieter.  Lawn mowers, barking beagles, chirping birds - all quieter.  
• Definitely much prettier

Tons of work still to do in here (obviously) but it's nice to have this one checked off the to-do list.