Windows

Forget the rest of the house I would be happy to live in this garage.


As far as these windows go they are not spectacular in and of themselves but the view is and I just love the red steel exterior and the floor to ceiling windows on the first floor.


I love these old windows where the centers tilt out for ventilation.


I do not know why but I just love windows, you might say it is a bit of an obsession. I have a huge old window in my living room that my mother found and I transformed in to a mirror. I also have six windows in my front hall that I found leaning against a tree with a free sign on them. I knew I had to have them the minute I saw them but I had no idea what I would do with them. Months later I decided to build some book cases in the front hall to utilize the orphaned windows. Amazingly enough the larger two windows fit perfectly on bookcases I had already built (the bottom row of book cases was already built and I built on top of that to extend them to the ceiling) in the front hall, it was just meant to be.

Most of the items that went in to renovating the front hall were found items. The cubbies for the coats and the shoe drawer were planters that someone was throwing away, I just added some paint, trim and hardware.

The dresser was found at the dump by my mother and I refinished it in white to coordinate with the rest of the furniture in the room.The bench was given to me by my mother in law and like the dresser was given a coat of white paint.


The first set of bookcases I built were made with wood that someone was getting rid of, another find by my mother, come to think of it the room would not be what it is without my mother. She also found the window that replaced the the three small casement windows that adorned the front of my house when we first moved in.


The front room is my favorite room in the house and by far the least amount of money was spent on this room. It was a room that was mostly wasted space when we moved in. It was not really large enough for seating area, although we did have Christmas dinner out there one year. I just had no idea what the purpose of the room should be and I am glad I gave it the time to evolve in to the best use of space for our family. So in case you are curious (most of you reading have seen the progress) but for those of you who have not....


View #1 the front hall as it was when we looked at the house, look how little Ella was.

View #2 -After I ripped of the wood paneling and framed out the laundry room. Don't worry the ugly lights, mirror , sink and cabinet are long gone.
View #3- This is the view from the same direction after all of the work had been completed.
View #1- The room facing from the other direction when we first looked at the house. See the ugly little windows and the dark trim.
View #2 After moving in and starting the work. Nick I will never forget your face when you came home and saw that I had ripped off all the paneling, I knew it would have to be done when you were not home because you would have been content to leave the paneling right where it was.
View #3 - The view from that direction after the work was done, you can see the other side of the room if you look at the picture with the coat and shoe cubbies.

After

And here are the afters, I went to the fabric store and found nothing at all inspirational so then I dragged the girls to Pier One and found these dish towels that I thought might work. Ella and Molly both were taken in by Pier One and there were many oohs and ahhs heard while we looked around. I do not know if has anything to do with my interest in design but it seemed unusual to me that two little girls would be so excited by a store that sells furniture and decorative items. It made me smile to hear them appreciate the rugs and the curtains making suggestions about where they would fit in around our house. It is a good thing that they were able to charm me with those memories because just a short time later as I reupholstered the chair seats it was an entirely different emotion that they provoked. You see I had set up the art easel and Molly had been painting by herself for over an hour in an entirely organized and controlled fashion. I do not know exactly what happened when Ella joined in but a few minutes later Molly ran in to the room that I was working in with red paint up to her elbows and just dripping from her little finger tips. As soon as I raised my voice Molly took off in a mad dash screaming "noooo mommy" as bright red paint was flung all over my kitchen and playroom, then bathroom where I cornered her and discovered her accomplice with another shade of paint that had been used to decorated my bathroom. My heart began to race as I scanned the room calculating the damage, the purple and red paint seeping in to the grout lines. I was quick to action stripping the girls and putting them in the shower where they both cried indignantly that they needed to get out this minute. I grabbed the shower head with my left hand and hosed them down in a fashion similar to a fireman putting out a blaze, while scrubbing at the grout with my right hand. All the while yelling " in the four and six years you have lived in this house do you not know me well enough to know this sort of thing makes mommy really mad and realllyyy crazy?" and perhaps I threw in a few " what the hell were you thinking". Ella was sobbing while Molly urged me to "use your regular voice mommy, use your regular voice". I wrapped them in towels and in a eerily quiet about to really loose it voice suggested that they might want to dress themselves and give me a few moments to get the mess under control. As I finished cleaning the bathroom I noticed the window was wide open so I can only hope that the neighborhood enjoyed their free Friday afternoon show. I then ventured in to the other rooms to survey the damage, it was not good, I will just say that I spent well over and hour just locating and cleaning paint splatter. It was not the way I wanted to start my weekend but luckily I spent the rest of my evening at a restaurant sans children laughing as I repeated the tale to my girlfriends.

Before

Notice the lovely stains