Goodbye wall, hello windows!
Paul was on vacation last week… a relaxing span of days spent dismantling and then rebuilding the back wall of the addition to put windows where we used to have a bathroom.
If you’re new, you might want to see the kitchen the day we moved in, or get the full story of the (horrible) half-bath and why we took it out.
I wasn’t here for all of it – I had work, a new stray cat to wrangle, and circuses to protest (there were three in the last two weeks!)
I already wrote about why the circus makes me sad, but I am compelled to repeat: in the wild, tigers can travel up to 20 miles a day… In the circus, they live in tiny travel cages. The only time they are allowed out is to perform.
The unmitigated despair of this existence is horrifying to me.
I know you come here for entertainment, but I cannot handle this on my own anymore without having some kind of nervous breakdown.
So. Windows… I missed some steps, but I think the process is self-explanatory; hopefully you can imagine/follow along.
Fortunately I captured the important part: Elvis supervising the process.
I won’t bore you with the boring parts, ex: the way I found choosing window size to be agonizing… surely, a wrong-half-inch in either direction would have have ruined the entire thing.
How do you like our security system? It looks very… secure, no?
The back doors are salvaged from an old storefront in Philadelphia; they are super tall and I love them. BUT the hardware that was on them was generic, unappealing, and mismatched.
Just like the piano hardware quest, I’ve been looking for hardware for the back door… and it would SEEM that what I am shopping for is something broken. Because, so far, those are the only things that appeal to me.
As Paul was ripping plywood off the back of the house, I thought it would be a good time to show him some hardware options.
I could see in his face this thought: must everything be “special?” So just to appease him, I did look at some reproduction hardware. FYI: you can get some truly GIANT and super fancy and also incredibly shiny door accessories. (Which would also make impressive earrings.)
But it’s too late because I’m already attached to some broken, old, non-working knobs that are not really knobs. And have no lock. And also is not a set, because there is only one. And I need at least two, preferably four.
Not that any of that matters, because once I decide that something is “mine,” I become irrationally attached to it.
Now this post is over. I am not at all satisfied with it, but this turns out to be one of the rare occasions I have nothing more to say.
THE END.
June 2, 2016 @ 3:37 pm
Agree with you totally on circuses! They have disturbed me for years. And zoos too. Anything where animals are exhibited in caged enclosures is not good!
June 3, 2016 @ 12:40 am
Absolutely fabulous! So sad about the tigers. There are lots of tigers to be sad for in the news this week. Tigers and a certain gorilla. No wonder you’re feeling dull. Hugs, dear girl.
June 3, 2016 @ 5:29 pm
Sad for the gorilla but baffled how we humans are so often claustrophobic and yet we think huge creatures of muscle strength and speed are OK in an enclosure that would equate to any of us living out our entire lives in a closet-and not a walk in.
The same goes for the new profit based prison system where we keep prisoners in veritable solitary confinement 23 hours a day and even the hour break they get is in a concrete enclosure without green or birds or nature. Good luck when these prisoners are returned to society probably mad as Hatters, filled with repressed rage and expected to just slide back into normalcy –no problem. I read once in a Sci-Fi novel that Earth is the dumping ground, the Asylum for the deranged of the Galaxy. Sometimes I wonder? I did want to complement Paul for using his vacation for house labor and to remark that even though the pictures made it seem quick and simple I imagine it must have been arduous.
June 3, 2016 @ 1:22 pm
I just started reading your blog about 2 weeks ago…2 full weeks of starting from the beginning so as not to miss a single hilarious/sad/frustrating/craigslist-dominating detail. I just finished catching up and am swooning…..
SO….did the ATTIC ever get finished?! I love it’s potential!
June 4, 2016 @ 2:04 pm
Thank you for caring about those poor circus animals. I too am a lover of animals and worry so much about them. You are awesome.
Elvis is the best!! So glad she is up and around.
Love the windows. Really looking forward to seeing the completed kitchen! That Paul….he’s a keeper!
June 5, 2016 @ 4:08 am
You are too fabulous for words! Bravo. But did I miss a pic of the elusive broken door hardware? Picture please! Perhaps one of us may know where to get what you seek. I live in ……Get this….. VICTORIA!!!! B.C. And we have some great salvage places here, some even have lovely Victorian door hardware. Just sayin’…
June 5, 2016 @ 11:25 am
Elvis looks lovely, but what is this “a new stray cat to wrangle”?
June 8, 2016 @ 8:14 am
I have just finished reading though all your posts from the beginning to now! What a journey and what an amazing house! I am stupidly hoping to have my own run down old house soon to renovate, your blog is a refreshing look at what it’s really like! Plus Elvis is sooo cute!
June 15, 2016 @ 9:43 pm
I want to see what hardware you are thinking about. Who knows… I might have just what you have in mind! I’ve been known to hoard hardware. ?
The picture of the Supervisor is great, glad to see her looking so well. At some point in previous renos, we had the same kind of security system! Lol!
June 17, 2016 @ 10:21 am
Please tell us about the stray cat too.
June 17, 2016 @ 11:59 am
Dearest VEB, You mentioned that everything you like is broken. My problem, too. I bought a lovely little French table that was too short (19″) to be a real table so I cut 1″ off the bottom of the legs. It is hard to explain without pictures but there was plenty of extra wood under the volute (little snail like shape). You cannot tell I cut it down. Anyway, I made a vanity bench out of it.
It came with a small drawer (for hair brushes, etc.) and a lovely little drop pull that was, yikes, BROKEN. Like you I searched and searched for a replacement of something I liked as well. No luck. Then I decided that I would try JB Weld. Removed the pull, stuck a dab of JB WWeld on the broken parts. Let it cure for 48 hours et voilà! Five years later, the pull is still a pull!
Might be worth a try in a desperate situation.
Smiles from Charlotte Des Fleurs
June 18, 2016 @ 1:18 am
Hi – Would you share the name of the window manufacturer you chose for the new windows? I have read enough of your blog to guess you diligently researched your options!
June 23, 2016 @ 7:07 am
You need to post pics of the hardware you are searching for. We might be able to help……
June 28, 2016 @ 9:25 pm
I just love what you have done with everything. You always amaze me. I have really enjoyed watching every step of your renovation. Elvis is the most gorgeous supervisor you could hope for. She is the sweetest. They take a piece of our heart with them, so you will always be together. Love lives on. Hugs for you all.