AN UPDATE ON THE WINDOWS PROJECT

It seems like just yesterday we started this project, but in fact we ordered the windows and they were delivered August a year ago. I have to keep in mind that originally, all I cared about was that I wanted the windows on the outside of the house to look like maybe they were the original ones.

Work started, sort of, in January, and Richard and Candie started pulling out the walls and replacing the insulation while we were in Hawaii.

When we came home in February we decided we really needed to get started on the windows, which meant we had to go back to the City to get the permits. We were very worried, because the historic windows are always examined with a fine tooth comb. It turned out to be easier than we expected but it was very scary nonetheless. We worried about a lot of things that didn't have to be worried about.

After a long time, it seemed to me, of putzing around they eventually got the windows put in. This was in fact a very long job, mostly because the windows are square and the house is not. Richard is a obsessive about things being perfect so in fact every window is level even though there is nothing to judge it from except using a level but they look right. And the inspector was in and out in about 20 minutes when he finally came in and signed off on everything.

Richard also had to work with a slight downward slope of the floor which also makes things look on me. After he finally got the windows installed we decided that maybe we should get rid of the crappy acoustic tile on the ceiling.

Once that was off, they had to scrape off a ton of glue with pieces of tile stuck to it. So they did another labor-intensive job and then put beadboard up on the ceiling which looks like the other sunporches in our house. And they painted it the blue of the sky.

After we saw what lovely painting they did we decided we should have them paint the walls too. Then Richard suggested we put wainscotting halfway up the walls and put beadboard on the bottom and drywall on the top. So they did that. And painted some more. After that was finished mostly, we decided that maybe they should refinish the floor as well.

It is a painted wooden pine floor that we have had a rug over most of the time we've lived there. So right now he is refinishing the floor. It seems like we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but we still need the wainscoting trim, the trim around the windows and the shingles around the windows on the outside of the house. It's going to end up being the nicest room in the house.

In the meantime, I feel like the old Murphy Brown show where she had a painter in her house for about the rest of her life.   I think Richard is also planning on building us some sort of a corner bookcase for one end of the room.