Tag: Exterior

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Projects on the Horizon

Christine

Wow. It has been so long since I posted that blogger has changed!

Well, I thought I’d get caught up a bit. We’ve been pretty preoccupied with family issues the past few months, but I think things are going to get back to normal soon.

I have been working hard behind the scenes, doing some major clear out and de-cluttering. I feel very good about this. When I’m done, I can reward myself by redecorating the side bedroom. Very much looking forward to that!

We are also going to start working on a few new big projects around the house. Sometime this spring there will be new siding and insulation, a few new windows, hopefully a new sofa, and finally a fence for Oliver. I can’t wait to see him romp around his yard!

Currently, I’m interested in the James Hardie siding products. I’ll most likely go with the greens as pictured above. I am waiting for a couple more color samples that caught my interest before I make my final decision. It will be a color. I’ve always been happy with the green siding, crisp white trim and black accents.

We will not be installing any stone, though, because damage to non-structural stone or brick is not covered under my earthquake insurance. Those areas will probably get a fresh coat of stucco, but I’m not sure yet. There could be other options out there that I’m not aware of.

While we have the house torn up outside, the plan is to install insulation from the outside in. At some time, several decades ago, someone had fluffy blown-in insulation installed. We found out when we were restoring the interior that fluffy stuff settles down to about knee level! Well, if we had walls open, Bill put insulation in, but there were plenty of places we didn’t get to. At the time we had no idea just how much of a mistake that would be.

I’ve always joked that I didn’t ever want to see my house in one of those infrared photos, because it would just be a big, glowing blob of red. You may have heard me refer to the house as a sieve? Many of you old house owners know just what I’m talking about. Those mysterious breezes you feel on your ankles in the winter? Yeah. Good times.

Anyway, I’ll tell you more about the windows when I have more details. In the meantime, I’m open to comments or suggestions about siding.

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More Sidewalk Talk

Christine

Ta da! There it is, all shiny and white, making all the sidewalk around it look bad. John and Bart really did a good job. The town inspector said it was one of the best in town, and you know he has seen a lot this season! Many of the sidwalk repairs were done by professionals, too.The guys put a shiny 2009 quarter into the cement before it set. See that little smear on the right there? That was supposed to be an imprint of Oliver’s paw, but they waited a little too long and Oli was slightly less than co-operative.

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House Numbers, Finally

Christine

At long last, we finally got around to mounting the new house numbers on the front porch!

We’ve only had these pretty metal numbers for the last four years, and since we installed the new old door last August we’ve been completely without house numbers. This became a big problem a few weeks back when I was expecting guests who had never been to my neck of the woods.
So, my friend Marc got roped into helping me put these up one day a few weeks ago. He’s such a good sport. Please forgive the bug dirt, dust and pencil markings. Actually, does anybody know what will remove those pencil markings from the metal siding?
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Mower Damage

Christine

My next door neighbor has been super sweet by mowing my front yard and my little strip between our houses when he has his riding mower out. I am so grateful for even that little bit of extra help. That’s why I feel bad for being upset over this:

It looks like he bumped the trunk of my purple leaf plum with the mower. He probably doesn’t even realize he did it. I’m not mad or anything, just worried about the tree. What if it doesn’t heal, or gets disease or bugs?

Otherwise, it looks full and happy and healthy.

We planted it last April, and it looks so much better. I can’t wait for it to get tall enough to provide a bit of shade and privacy on the porch.

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House Numbers

Christine

With all the excitement of the party and the recent additon of the shiny new front door, we’ve overlooked something. House numbers.

Yeah, we didn’t put new numbers up yet. No biggie, right? Wrong. Apparently, not every mail carrier in this tiny town knows us yet. I started to get suspicious over the last couple of days. Friday only brought a couple pieces of junk mail. Saturday nothing. Monday was a holiday, so I expected something on Tuesday. Nope. On Wednesday I got a couple pieces of “resident” junk mail. So, I figured maybe I’d better find those cool black metal craftsman-style numbers I bought three years ago when our Lowe’s was having their must-sell-everything-’cause-we’re-relocating-sale.

After much debate, we decided they should go in this spot above the mailbox, since there isn’t a good spot on the door anymore. We also briefly considered putting the house numbers on one of the porch pillars, but no one was really convinced it would look good.

So, above the mail box they will go. I just have to clean it first. The previous owners had a different mail box there, but it was too high for me to check the bottom. And I’m too afraid of bugs and spiders to go sticking my hand blindly down the mailbox in search of lost items.
As you may have guessed, nothing gets done very quickly around here, so I only got as far as locating the numbers and laying them out on the table on the porch. As it turns out, this was apparently good enough for today’s mailcarrier because when I got home Thursday the mail box was stuffed with what looked like a week’s worth of mail!