Monday, February 1, 2010

Where to start?


I'll begin with the good and work my way up to the ugly.

The e-bay bathroom light arrived in the mail today and it looks every bit as cute in person. We do need to re-wire it but that should be a snap. The porch light is also on its way. I opted for the lengthier, curvier model.

I have the fabric for the ironing board. I also have fabric for napkins, the yellow lemons I'd previously considered for the ironing board. I'm not sure in what century I'll get to sew them but they sure will be cute.
-ironing board fabric-

The house has seen some major work the past several days. In the hours before I left town for the weekend the windows were measured one final time. I'll complete the order tomorrow or Wednesday. I have several questions I need answered before we fork over large wads of cash. I'm was quite excited to learn from our installer that lead time for the windows is about half what I expected.

E met with the roofer and we are second in line for a roof in the next two weeks, weather permitting. We have to wait a week or so because our house is undergoing what I think of as Phase I termite/dry-rot repair. This was what the house looked like as I left for St. Louis:
-back corner by little bedroom, before-

While I was away, even more of the house was opened up. The good news is that they are working fast and new lumber is going in:
-back corner by little bedroom, after-

-front corner by office-
Notice E's handy work in the foreground; what a lovely trench.

-West wall along office and little bedroom-

-West wall along office-

We were expecting some dry rot/termite damage. We were not expecting this much. Our contractor has even apologized, that sort of worried me. We have so much damage that our contractor feels bad? Ouch. The silver lining in all of this is that the wall insulation we'd been pining for is a reality. I estimate we'll be able to insulate 75% of the small bedroom, and with the way stucco was flying off of our walls today, 50% of the second bathroom, and 50% of the office. E contacted a company that does spray in foam, they didn't want anything to do with our little house. I guess old homes are not worth the effort on their part. We toyed with the idea of pulling off plaster and lathe but in the end, that wasn't worth the effort and cost on our part. So in short, the adage of being careful what you wish for, does indeed have some truth behind it.

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