The littlest fixes bring the biggest satisfaction

A friend of mine, who is a life coach, once explained to me about something she calls tolerations—those things in your world, little or big, that annoy you or get in your way, but you never do anything about them. The big ones are obvious, like the friend who keeps borrowing money and never paying you back, or the boss that always asks you to do something at the last minute. But the small ones can become almost invisible, little gnats buzzing around your face that you keep swatting away.

My apartment is filled with tolerations. I bet most homes are―the loose door handle, the squeaking floor board, the dripping faucet. I haven't done much major work on my place for quite a while―my day job has kept me quite busy. But that doesn't mean the things that need work don't still come up.

One of my longest standing tolerations is the bi-fold door on my front-hall coat closet.

From the day I moved into the apartment nearly four years ago, this damn door has never been in its track. The peg that's supposed to ride in the track is broken. It has a hinged side, but the leading side swings freely, which means it swings out to hit the light fixture, it swings into the closet too far, and no one can ever line it up to close it properly. I hate it.

Sunday I finally got fed up and went looking for the replacement hardware. Nat, my local hardware store owner and fellow blogger, pointed me straight to the giant wall of door hardware (I love the giant wall of door hardware) and I found just what I needed.

Cut to me trying to get the door down so I can put the pin in. It's a very big door made from two giant slabs of plywood. The pin is a rolling guide wheel on a spring, and while I can get it in the hole I can't pound it in all the way unless I take the door down. Getting at the bi-fold pivots is impossible with my chock-full closets, so I spend an hour trying to get the center hinges off (with 3 of 6 screws stripped). See, this is why I let the tolerations go for so long.

Finally: door off, tap the new pin in place, screw door back on and snap the pin into the track. And it works!! It was actually a really simple fix. One toleration down, dozens to go. I will keep you posted on my progress.