Paint project begun

After escaping from the Big Orange Home Improvement store a couple days ago with my ostensibly unbagged TSP substitute concentrate and my Kilz2 primer, I actually mixed up some of the TSP the same day and scrubbed down not only the front door, which I've been fixing to repaint for a year now because it's ugly, but also the patio door that I had installed three years ago and never got around to painting at all (it was preprimed in white, I just never topcoated it).

And then yesterday, I dug out my painting clothes (the same ones I wore to paint the bathroom and part of the kitchen before I moved into the house six years ago). Suitably attired, I (1) put the first finish coat on the patio door and (2) primed the front door. That was all I was able to get done yesterday, but the process is finally started and with luck (aka decent weather) I should be able to finish both of them off next weekend.

One reason I didn't get more done was the amount of time I had to spend dismantling the locksets and deadbolts on both doors so I wouldn't get paint on them, and then reassembling them again when the paint/primer had dried enough, which was easier said than done until I dug out the instructions (and even then, they were a bit vague in places). But I did eventually get both doors buttoned back up, which is good because I don't think my project lead would buy it if I called in to say I had to stay home because I couldn't lock my front door until I figured out how to put the lock back together.

One good thing about taking the patio door lockset off is that the door installer originally assembled it with the levers upside down (they should have been swapped between the inside and the outside), so this was the perfect opportunity to reinstall them correctly. So what if they've been wrong for three years?

The bad thing about only getting one coat on each door is that next weekend I'll have to take the locksets and deadbolts off again. But at least uninstalling and reinstalling them should go quicker next time around. If nothing else, I won't have to hunt up the instructions this time.