MORE HOUSE WORK.

It seems to me as if we have been working on our house forever. But then I guess that is the essence of an old house.
About three years ago, or maybe four, I decided that it would be nice to replace the aluminum windows in the back upstairs sunporch with wood windows.
There have been many twists and turns to this project, including a couple of premade window companies who were interested in the job.
They wanted exorbitant amounts of money, and we really did not think we would like the job once it was done.
Then we got the house painted, and while that project was being done we finally decided that perhaps we would like to have my pseudo-cousin Richard do the windows.

Richard is really a stained-glass artisan, and he's my pseudo-cousin by virtue of the fact that we have the same surname and our families are from the same town in Germany a few generations back. These windows are plain and not what Richard would prefer to be doing, which is restoring staned glass windows in churches or making new commissioned stained glass, which he has also done for us, but he is so meticulous that he's the best choice for the job. And fortunately for us, there aren't any churches right now with money to replace their windows.

So a year and a half ago we started thinking about getting the permits, which in a historical district is a problem. More of a problem in my mind than it turned out to be, but there are a lot of hoops to jump through.
Last summer the windows finally got made and they have been sitting around for several months and finally Richard is working on installing them. Of course nothing is plumb. I believe we are probably within a month of the windows being finished.

. This picture shows the size of the crummy old aluminum windows on the sides of the sunporch. They are being replaced with these larger,lower windows which make the whole room look really great. In the meantime I met a roofer who was doing a job down the street, and I really liked him so we are also having our roof replaced. He and his crew have done a really good job and I think they are finished as of today so now we only have the ongoing window project.
When I read in my favorite magazines like American Bungalow, or Style 1900, about people who have done these fabulous rehabs to old houses while they had another job and while they were living in them, with three small children, I am constantly amazed. This job is way at the back of the house, and they did a lot of the job while we were in Hawaii, but there is still a lot of traipsing around

Anyway, the windows are starting to look really wonderful. I doubt it will be done by March 20 when we are having CALS here, which is too bad, because I'd like to show them off.