Another Home Improvement Task Finished!

While I don't think we'll ever be "finished" with our 80-year-old cottage in the woods, we did complete a task that has been hanging over our heads for a while.  The days when we moved walls and tore into electrical and plumbing work seems so long ago.  This time we wanted to finish re-doing a pair of windows in the kitchen.  These windows, long exposed to the elements, needed replacing of the glazing and repainting badly before we finish the final touch-ups to the kitchen and declare it done.

Sister-in-law Maj had pulled out the windows in advance, and as Melinda worked on repainting the trim (at left), we started chipping out the glazing from the wooden sills.  Most came out easily, but as it likely happens, we also cracked a couple panes of glass, so had to replace some.  Interestingly, we lost a few days in getting glass - the hardware store misunderstood and assumed we wanted them to glaze the windows instead of cutting the glass to fit, as they usually do.  Finally, 3 days into the wait I asked them and apologetically cut the glass for me.  Glazing is the fun part - why wouldn't I want to do that myself?!

I remember summers past out in the miserable heat of summer chipping out glazing, but this summer has been amazing!  It has been so pleasant, especially working outside where temps rarely passed 85F and was usually in the 70s.  With the windows in hand, glazing or patching those in good shape only took a couple hours in the shady confines of our yard...  It took a couple days to stiffen enough to trim the glaze and paint the windows.  We didn't have to worry about getting paint on the glass as a razor blade will scape it off easily after the paint dries.  Melinda paints the wooden sills in these shots.  Don't worry - I helped too!

Maj came out frequently too, helping out with the windows and landscaping around the house.  She is a natural-born gardener and will jump into pulling weeds, trimming bushes and trees, or using the leaf-blower to clear the 3-year-old shingles, roof and downspouts...  At left she oversees the window installation.

The inner trim was the last task, cut to size and painted after the windows were installed.  At right Melinda pre-drills the screws to mount the trim.  I filled the trim cracks w/caulk, and installation was nearly complete.

We figured we were on a roll, and started hunting down the curtains and hardware that had been removed, what, 3 years ago when we had the roof redone.  All that found, we  started drilling and screwing, remounting the hardware.  At left is a rare picture of me working (mostly 'cause I'm taking the pictures), installing curtain rod brackets.  Finally at right is Melinda doing her best Vanna White impression showing off the final product - looks great!