Lock and Key

Along with pulling up the floors, one of the first projects we undertook was changing out the locks.  The fact that we estimated 1-2 hours to change out 3 handle locks and deadbolts and it took 2 days should have been an indication that we were not being realistic with our move-in timeline . . .

Assuming that this would be a quick, no big deal project, I didn't take many good pictures of the process, sorry!  We had 2 options when we decided to change the locks: we could use the existing handles and dead locks and have them re-keyed or we could go ahead and change them all out to something new.  After weighing the various options we decided to buy new locks and went with the Kwikset Smart Key system.  This system allows us to re-key the locks ourselves anytime we need to.  

After purchasing the new, beautiful locks we pulled the old ones off and realized that instead of cutting standard sized holes, whoever had put them in took some short cuts and only cut the bare minimum hole to jam the locks in.  Enter Greg's drill and chisel.  Many, many hours later, we have door locks that protect our house, look wonderful and are installed correctly!

The boys working

Our new door handle!

The kicker to all the hours spent on this is that Greg and I are hoping to replace the exterior doors sometime later this year (see the picture below to understand why . . . not fans of the 60's slanted windows) and we'll have to go through the whole process all over again . . . at least we'll have experience on our side next time!

We hope to buy new front doors later this year to rid ourselves of the slanted windows and the odd deadbolt location.