House Made

first restored window
Originally uploaded by merideth.

…and cross-ventilation, and a view! That’s right, after allll this time, we actually got the first complete window back in! Can you believe it?

It goes up AND down. and, AND….it stays open OR closed! Dude! Whichever we want! Without the help of a crushed up toothpaste box!

This is what it looked like to me and Beth as we sat on our sofa and stared at it.

We watched that window like it was a brand new episode of Buffy! Nothing could divert our attention. More will be reinstalled this weekend. And soon. No more discussion of windows. Are y’all excited about that?

I. really. really. am.

Yeah. Some folks think we’re nuts for putting time, energy, sweat, money, sleepless nights, exhausting weekends blah, blah, blah into our obsessions houses. But at least we’re not the folks I saw on Location, Location, Location on BBC America last night.

A couple, with the wife six months pregnant, were looking for an old country house in Suffolk. They wanted something they could put “their own mark on” (ie a fixer). Their top choices were a. a huge medieval estate from the 1400s, b. a huge house that had been a pub from the 1300s (rejected because the kitchen was updated) and c. another huge estate from 1600s (among a few other properties which were rejected for various reasons).

Now THAT, my friends, is crazy. (But the show is good.)

Still working on windows.
That’s all, really.

For those who live in giant mansions (over 2,000 sq. ft.), the new HGTV show, Small Space, Big Style, is not for you.

But for those of us who live in wee houses, wondering HOW in the world we can fit in another two feet of storage, this show is great. It chronicles the solutions different homeowners have come up with to deal with their living spaces that are under 1,000 sq. ft. Some of them are ingenious, some mockable; all watchable. The show runs on Thursdays at 8 PM.

This show should NOT be confused with HGTV’s earlier attempt at this idea: This Small Space. We renamed that show This Giant House after watching a homeowner deal with the indignity of having to downsize her dining room table to one that seated only eight.

So yeah, the windows continue to progress yadda, yadda, yadda. As Beth was digging out old glazing putty, I was heat-gunning the corner of a window frame that I was expecting to have to hit up with the sculp wood (amazing. buy it.).

So I’d poked it with a screwdriver which sunk into it. I said, yup, rot. I started digging out all the sponginess, thinking the whole corner is rotten. But no! The corner is only mildly rotten, but it has been “fixed” by some previous owner.  It’s fixed not just with paint (yeah, we’ve seen the “paint fix”) as I’d originally thought, but with a thorough smearing of silicone caulk. (What?!)

So yay! Less rot. Oh wait. Crap! Caulk mess. But yay! The corner frame has integrity. But dammit! Melty silicone is like rubber cement boogers. But yay! The rot is easier to rebuild. But ef! The caulk is smooshed into untold crevices…so goes my day.

right side (click for larger)
Originally uploaded by erg1976.

Just a short post to show the progress of our front garden since the end of January. We planted almost all of these plants in February and March. They’re mostly California natives, so things have grown quickly, and some are nicely taking over. Hopefully we won’t have much of a weed problem this spring.

Another thing I love is that the plants are drought-resistant. During this first summer, we water once a week, but in future years, we’ll only need to water every two weeks to a month, if that.

left side (click for larger)