Turn buttons & mending braces

The finishing touches were done on the house painting project last week.
I hated the white plastic butterfly shaped "turn buttons" on the bay window screens, so I found some black wrought iron ones not he internet. I installed them myself, it was fairly easy. I think they blend in much better with the dark blue paint color. Here are a couple of pics:





The broken dining room window that happened during the job was replaced and painted. You'd never know it had been damaged.



Lastly, the old hinges from the discarded screen doors that covered my bedroom French doors were removed and the resulting gaps were filled with wood bond and painted. Much cleaner.



When my contractor, Ken, stopped by to get his final payment he pointed out to me that the screen door to the front porch was broken. The wood pieces across the bottom were loosening and getting detached from one another. Great. Another problem. He mentioned that those kind of cedar doors cost $900! REALLY? Not gonna happen. I decided that I'd fix it myself. I bought some metal "mending braces", those little pieces of metal that come with holes and screws to hold things together. I've used these before with great success on furniture. First, I took down the door and wood glued the bottom pieces together. I held them together with some long clasps that I've had forever. They come in handy for any number of handyman projects.



Here's a closeup of the braces themselves. I drilled some small guide holes first with a power drill, and then attached four screws per brace.



Here's the bottom of the door in place. It's not the most elegant of solutions but the $4 the braces cost sure beat $900, thank you very much!!