If you subscribe to Real Simple and skip over the editor's note, you're really missing out. Kristin's column is always entertaining. This month, she discussed the Cheap/Fast/Good theory she gleaned from a friend. It basically goes that in party planning (and I would add home improvement projects), you can choose two of the three, but that your selections automatically render the third impossible. For example, the fence we just had put up -- it was FAST and GOOD. It was not CHEAP. Or backyard gardening -- GOOD and CHEAP, but not FAST. This really could apply to lots of scenarios. Using zip ties to secure the goats' shelter -- FAST and CHEAP, but not GOOD (they ate right through them).

So, since this home improvement project really did accomplish all three, I feel it is a great success!

BEFORE

Notice the garage doors. Since we've had the house painted and reroofed this year, those doors that had once seemed just fine have seemed more like a washed-out green.

AFTER

Monday, they got a makeover. Okay, it was CHEAP because all it cost me was a gallon of paint (no primer necessary for metal doors). It was FAST because I knocked it out in a little over an hour. It was GOOD because it coordinates well with the new shingle color and completes the "new house" look that the roof and paint were striving for.

Can you think of a home improvement project you've been able to complete that meets all 3 criteria: CHEAP, FAST, and GOOD?