scrispin's Profile

Well, bringing home take out, or nuking pre-prepped food from the grocery store, using a dishwasher, popping things in the washing machine, having the roomba vacuum for us . . . so we can sit on the sofa and watch TV . . . has certainly not helped our national waistline. The more energy/electricity our household appliances (and cars!) are using on a daily basis, the less we are. Its a simple physics equation. We take the energy out of the ground (oil) and store it in our bodies (fat). So busying ourselves around the house, and doing a bit more for ourselves, certainly helps tip the scale back a bit.

Consider replacing your vent hood, which is cheap and will get rid of the distracting yellowed color. Give your laminate cabinets a really good cleaning. Add in a backsplash to create some contrast with the white--the cheapest and easiest thing would be to put up stainless steel panels, either the type you can buy from Home Depot (in the lumber department) or Ace in sheets, or pre-made Fastbo panels from Ikea. And figure out one accent color that really appeals to you, like turquoise or bright yellow or red, and tie it in with consistent accents on the countertop--a utensil crock, a set of flour/sugar/salt bins, etc.

Splatgirl--you can definitely replace hardware on storm doors. I did it with three storm-doors/security doors on my house to update the doors without replacing them, using Wright replacement hardware--I had to order it online, because I couldn't find the finish I wanted stocked anywhere locally--but it was pretty straightforward to install.

In my case, I wanted a dead bolt on the inside. But if you don't need your door to lock--seeing as you already have a front door, and aren't putting the door on for added security--you could probably just get a modern latch set like this: http://www.hospitalitydoorhardware.com/interior-door-handles/omnia-industries-1200-interior-door-handle_g274871.html--and install it so that you can open and close the door. When ordering this one, you're supposed to specify door thickness, so you can probably get one that is just right for whichever storm door you choose.

Just in case, you could go talk to a local locksmith about whether this would work, possibly showing him the hardware you want to install. If he tells you there is some fundamental incompatibility between a regular latch set and the way a storm door is constructed, you can always send the hardware back.