The Garage Door

We painted the original garage door last fall because leaving it the way it was took away from the face lift. The opener suffered from electrical problems and didn't work, the spring was broken and the door was extremely heavy to open. Not to mention, it was pretty unattractive. So, we sprung for a new door.

After the old door was removed, the racks were replaced and new springs installed.

The panels of the doors were put in place one by one. We ordered the door to match the colors of the siding job that was installed last fall

Once the door was in place a new door lifter was installed. The old one was chain driven, we purchased a belt driven lifter. Its as quiet as a whisper, well, almost

We picked a carriage house style door. The square windows compliment the 6/1 design on the rest of the house. The decorative hinges were not shipped but are on the way.

Now that the front of the house has been restored, lets look at before and after shots. It doesn't seem possible.

We took this picture the first time we saw the house on January 4, 2009. We had visions, but completion seemed a long time off

A year and a half later we are quite settled in and the transformation on the face of the house is almost complete.

This Really Is Cosmetic

Finally, a job that was cosmetic. The room did need a paint job badly. We had already fixed the guestroom and many have spent the night in this room already.
We put it off a while, but a rainy weekend afforded us the chance to do it. We had already purchased the paint and new beddings, which is really all this room required.
After cleaning up we painted the room blue. The convector covers had been cut, we suspect there had been shag carpeting in the house at one point.
We set the room up the same as it was before, though the desk chair got a coat of paint and we included some details that had been stored away since we moved in.
The new paint brightens the place up substantially and the blue will blend with view of the pool right outside the window.

The Livingroom

Our livingroom was decorated in a random fashion, combining new purchases with furniture from each house. The woodburning insert kept us warm and added a finished look to the fire place.
We decided on a leather sofa that we ordered in January. The dark burgundy color was a nice contrast to the marzipan walls, yet blended with our new area rug and Lee's re-upholstered chair.

A bookcase was harder to find than we thought. We searched various furniture stores trying to find something that fit. We hemmed and hawed over style and size, we knew it needed to hold the fish tank and old books and the clock Karen gave us for Christmas. We finally had this custom built at Patterson Woodbench. It held everything we needed and it fit the wall perfectly.

Once complete, the living room was comfortable and inviting. The picture window offers plenty of light during the day and because of the location and position of the house it can remain uncovered at night.
It's the first room you see when you walk in, it was one of the last to be completed. The attention we gave it was sporadic but we ended up pleased with the results.

Busy at Christmastime

Christmas arrived before we knew it and we hemmed and hawed about putting up a tree. We knew the new bay window called for one, so we got a real tree.

That did not stop us from continuing work on the house. Our wood burning stove finally arrived and we installed it immediately. With winter upon us, we knew that the wood stove would help keep us warm.

Unfortunately the fan did not work but we later found out it was just a loose connection and Lee fixed it. The fireplace looks great, even if it wasn't working yet.

We decided to upgrade the one room we thought we wouldn't have to work on. After the cousins left at Thanksgiving, we realized that the TV room did not fit everyone comfortably. We decided to remove one of the closets and install built in bookcases with room for a big screen television and the video equipment. The rest of the room could be opened up for more seating.

After we ripped out the closet, we were up against what used to be the outside of the house, and we had to match new tongue & groove panelling with the existing stuff.

Getting the matching wood was easy, Paul toiled to match the ten year old stain by mixing various tints until he got it right.

Once the panelling was up and stained, we built a stand that was sturdy enough for a big screen TV and also as a home for our many books, which remained stored in boxes.

After the bookcase was stained and finished we bought a new TV. The hook up was easier than we thought. We cleaned up the bookshelves and displayed some of our long lost books. This was unexpected but we are ready for anyone who wants to watch a movie. Also, Keith Olbermann is huge now. Pitoune is still more interested in what is out in the snow than what is on television.

We got a lot done over our Holiday vacation but still took a few moments to appreciate our blessings and look back on a very eventful and busy year. There is still more work to do in 2010, which we will try hard to capture on this blog.

Preparing for Thanksgiving

The cold weather was approaching so any work we need to do outside or that involves letting the heat out was getting more urgent. The paint needed on the exterior rear entrance will have to wait until Spring.



In the mean time, we located a second hand upscale sliding door for the dining room that matched the new windows but we needed to install it ourselves. That meant ripping out the old door, which we did to get the refrigerator in, but we needed to remove the frame as well.


We installed the new door with some difficulty but an not insurmountable effort. The one problem we ran into was the seal had broken, so the door that we picked up for nothing would end up costing a few hundred to fix, but we were still way ahead of the game.


We invited a house full of company to spend Thanksgiving and we found ourselves short on time with plenty of work still to do. In order to make room and clean up boxes that were still everywhere and we tackled the master bedroom first.

We laid an off white carpet, it looks great, but how long will it look that way? Originally, we wanted paint the room a warm dark golden color but ended up with a brighter tone that reflected the sunlight nicely. Pitoune found it comfortable.

We were going to make two guestrooms, but decided on one and a den. We did not have time to paint, but we cleaned up what was the "staging room" where we had done all our construction prep and prepared a comfortable place to sleep.

We decided to name the guestroom "Darlene's Room", since she insisted on a room of her own in our house, but Paul's cousins, Maryellen and Mel will be the first to sleep in here and the room will be set aside for all of our special guests.

We added a few personal touches that focused on family, a couple of plants and some knic knacs. Even though the room isn't done, its ready for our Thanksgiving guests as well as anyone who drops by before we can paint and decorate.

We purchased a futon and put our desk in the den. The futon sleeps two and doubles as a couch. the underneath drawers add storage space. There is room for a television in the future if we decide that's what we want.

In the mean time, the sun room houses the TV and also has a roll out sofa for guests. The living room also has a roll out and will sleep two more. If needed, we can throw down an air mattress and we have room to sleep eleven. Wow! We are ready!

In the kitchen, we still had to install the toe-kicks beneath the cabinets and put down the remaining baseboard, moldings and floor transitions. It seems these little touches go unnoticed but when they are not done, the rooms are noticeably incomplete.

Long Awaited Face Lift

As the summer passed, we knew we were not going to be able to finish the outside ourselves before winter. We hired the Vinyl King to replace the gutters and windows and install new siding. We both took the week off from work for the face lift.
When the workers arrived early Thursday morning they got right to work. Joe Scalera ran the job. He said that bay window we ordered was the biggest one he had ever installed. When we looked in the truck and even the window guy was in awe of the size we knew we got what we paid for.

Click on any of these pictures to enlarge. some of this work was quite impressive. The workers took the old window out in no time. We were in awe of the big-ass-hole in the house when the old window was removed.
Getting the window from the truck to the front of the house was a job in itself, and it took six of us, Paul and Lee included to lift the window into place.
The crew of five quickly went to work performing their various functions with an impressive level of expertise. Once the window was secured, the insulation went up around it and scaffolding was erected to access all areas of the house.
It seemed like everywhere you looked more workmen were doing something. The rest of the windows were popped out and replaced with more efficient ones. Then the windows were framed. What was once old began looking brand new.
We stayed with white siding around the back of the house but the difference was measurable.
Lee had insisted on a six over one window design, and you don't see new windows like that often. It was a great choice and added lots of charm.
Looking out from inside the bay window is impressive. The center pain is 7 feet long by 5.5 feet high. That does not include the double hung windows on either side. This picture seems dark because the sun was behind the house, but the window brightens the living room all day long.
We chose a beautiful wicker colored shake siding for the front of the house. We loved how it made the brickwork look new. As the front of the house was covered we could see the character of our home was being transformed before our eyes. Vinyl King was remarkable.

As the workers wrapped things up late Friday afternoon we surveyed the job. Even out back where the color did not change, the new siding, windows and gutters made the house look brand new.

We began to worry if they were going to finish on time but they stayed until every last detail was addressed. Each member of the crew knew what he had to do.

Joe came by as they were finishing up. He looked over the job satisfied. He agreed that the colors and textures all worked beautifully together and still could not get over the bay window. Even though we had imagined how it would look when it was all done, we never expected the results to exceed our every expectation.

Our home was transformed into something of which we were quite proud.

Little Things Mean a Lot

Big deal.. running water. But this is particularly exciting because it is coming from the refrigerator and it was filtered and cold. Along with water we have a choice of ice, cubes or crushed. This is light years from what we had in May and there is more to this than meets the eye.

Our old water tank was a dinosaur. It was big and it leaked air making the pressure terrible. The tank was full of rust and silt that got stirred up every time we re-charged the pressure. We were going through water way too many water filters and the aerators on the faucets kept clogging up.

We replaced the tank with a smaller tank with an adjustable bladder and installed a new house filter. To increase the pressure in the house we also installed 30-50lb pressure control that is a bit higher than most, though from the stock in Home Depot is growing in popularity. Every little bit helps the plumbing in this house.

Now the water heater, furnace, water tank and filters are all new in the basement. What we didn't know was that the pump and drainage would soon cause us problems. The plumbing in this house was worse than we thought. Eventually it will all be new.

We added finishing touches to the bathroom. In all the construction we lost the connectors for the ceiling light fixture temporarily but happily found them and finished the job.

We painted the bathroom "cottage white" even though it looks more like a pale yellow. In this picture it looks off white. We were actually able to go shopping someplace other than Home Depot to pick up some towels and new artwork. We placed some long forgotten knic knacs on a shelf we made from an unused portion of back splash from the sink and we were finished with the bathroom.

Parties are getting more common in the house now that it has become livable. Originally we had asked Shima and Eileen to visit and check out the place. Shima was feeling a little overwhelmed with things and needed a break.

Since Donald and Anthony had never seen it either, we thought we would make it a "gay ol' time" and asked them to come along too. Once everyone arrived, (Shima fashionably late of course) we were confident that we had the perfect combination of people.

When we realized that Jack's birthday was the same day as the party, we had to throw in a celebration for him too. Annie and Jack have missed few events at the new house and like family, they get along great with all our friends.

Its becoming apparent that this house is party friendly and we love entertaining our friends together. Once again, Paul did his bit in the kitchen, serving up all kinds of appetizers and two kinds of shish kabob on the grill.

Lee made sure everyone was comfortable and enjoying themselves.

We certainly had the right combination of loved ones for this event and everyone brought desserts, not to mention birthday cake for Jack.

We ended up eating and laughing well into the night. Our "money pit" is turning out to be worth the investments.