House Made

BIG potatoes
Originally uploaded by merideth.

Okay so it’s not strictly house-related, but after puttying, sanding, and rot-fixing windows all day, I finished up the afternoon with these great finds.

All the joy of a freakin easter egg hunt was had. I felt like I won a prize every time I found a little guy so imagine my ecstasy over the BIG suckers!! I officially giggled and held them up to Beth hollering “LOOK!” whenever I found something.

Best treasure hunt since looking for pirate gold in St. Mark’s when I was little. Waaaaay better payoff.

One does need the occasional break from the drudgery that is window repair.

Click for larger
Originally uploaded by erg1976.

Beth here. 

When we run across something janky in our house, I tend to blame the guy who owned the property directly before us most often. I realize this is unfair, as the house has had 80 years worth of owners, but since he’s the one I know about, he tends to be the one I curse.

But he can rest easy this time. This time, we get to blame THE ORIGINAL OWNERS. I guess cutting corners was not recently invented, as in 1922, in order to save a few bucks, the double-hung windows were put in without ropes or pulleys. We opened up the channel between windows, and…nothing. No weights, no leftover rope, no abandoned pulleys. One might think all the windows must’ve been fixed along the way, but the wood on either side of each window is pretty old, and matches the original studs in the basement. Of course, it IS all redwood, so I guess that’s something advantageous about having an old house.

So now that we know that we don’t have to restore the windows to their original condition, we’re going to try a promised miracle fix called Window Renu. We’ll let y’all know how it goes.

Click to see larger
Originally uploaded by erg1976.

Work on the windows has barely begun, mostly because of a conversation that ensues every weekend morning (Merideth and I take turns playing part A or B):
A: It looks like it’ll be nice out. We should work on the windows today.
B: Mmmmmm.
A: I don’t want to work on the windows today, though. Wanna do something else?*
B: Yeah. Let’s do that.

Because of this conversation, it wasn’t until last night that I finally pulled the trim off the first double-hung window. One of the main problems with our windows is that there is no rope to guide the raising and lowering of the windows. Mostly we just shove them up and down into the desired place, keeping them in position with any manner of objects lying near said window. It is not unusual that there is no rope, as commonly when wooden windows start malfunctioning, the owner would just cut the rope and proceed to our current method of keeping them open and closed via book or shoe.

When I took off the trim last night, I was expecting to find buried pulleys that once held rope. However, it looks like there never was a rope and pulley system…ever. The window frame is unmarred by ANY holes for pulleys or lame attempts to fill those holes. The windows have channels where a rope should reside, but it would have been a rope to nowhere. We’re at a loss. Tomorrow I plan to take a larger trim piece off the space next to the window to see if there were any weights there. Well, maybe tomorrow, depending on how the conversation goes in the morning.

*”Something else” includes, but is not limited to: Watching “Karate Kid” or similar cheesy 80s movie, reading in the porch swing, napping, taking the dog to the lake for a swim, etc.

siding on a spanish house
Originally uploaded by merideth.

Well, I thought we were the only ones, but clearly no. Clearly some other pueblo/spanish bungalow in our neighborhood needed to update its tired stucco with fresh fancy vinyl siding.

You know that bright yellow really does bring out the red tile. Puuuurrty.

And just so you remember, here’s what ours looked like when we bought it. Looks like the salesman bought that color in bulk.

Saturday AM: Make extensive list of all things required to work on windows. Measure windows, refer to “Working Windows” many times, etc.

Noon: Proceed to Home Depot and paint store for items needed.

2 PM: Return home. Well look at that! The Harry Potter book arrived!

2 PM – Sunday: Hogwarts. Contemplate fixing windows by magic. Think it just may work.

spring bronze
Originally uploaded by merideth.

So the spring bronze has arrived. For those of you not restoring windows all the live-long day and night, this is basically a strip of approx 1 3/8 inch wide metal that will (hopefully) make our old rattly windows a little more, how you say, “draft-free.”

Draft-free windows. At this point my vision gets all blurry as I fade into a dream sequence where the living room this winter is sans arctic blasts that confuse the fireplace draw and make me (and the dog) think someone with a tiny fist is tattooing the door.

Wow, that was nice. Back in the now, it’s supposed to be hot and non-stop sunny this weekend so I will not be concerned with the effectiveness of my fireplace. Upside: having a bunch of the windows out will help keep the little chunkita cool. Check me out. Full time optimist available for sardonic cheerleading. Book now.

fence with trellis and gate
Originally uploaded by merideth.

Oh beautiful fence and arbor, how I would compose a song to thee. You conceal our garbage cans and add a little rustic charm to the house. The front gate swings gently to and fro to allow passage of the recycling. The darty cat is contained if he escapes the back door. You are wonderful.

Yes, folks. We finished building the fence. It was fun and it sucked. Dear lord, we’re tired. But we couldn’t be happier with the results. Beth applied her creativity to the front gate, adding little panes that mimic the divided lights on our windows. As heavy as the bloody thing is, it swings like a champ. The chop saw paid for itself and more. Between it, the circular saw, and the table saw, we’ve made more types of cuts than we thought we’d need for a fairly straightforward fence project. Added bonus: I think we have enough leftover wood to build a couple of outdoor chairs. We shall see.

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We have yet to stain the thing but I couldn’t face standing in line at H. Depot long enough to get my stain mixed. That chore will wait until next weekend. We’re shooting for a color close to what we have on the front door. Eventually the fence, the door, and the posts on the front porch should all sorta match. Oh, and we got a wisteria to plant on the arbor as soon as the stain’s on. Whew! I’m so glad it’s finally done. Now back to the rivetingly exciting and ever-ongoing chore of restoring the windows.

We were at Home Depot. Ran over to grab a couple of screws off the screw aisle. Returned to the lumber department to find that someone had UNLOADED our FLAT FULL OF LUMBER and yes, yes, STOLEN OUR CART!!!!! What the eff is wrong with people?! To say we were livid is to underestimate by zillions. Fortunately, Beth found the whole pile of pieces we’d carefully selected, so once we acquired another cart we could reload without re-picking.

(It should be noted that when a Home Depot employee found me stomping up the aisle with what must have sounded like Tourette’s, he ran off through the packed store to try to find us another cart. Way to go, orange apron guy!)

A pox on the stealer, his family and his descendents.