Windows and Waiting

Well, we did indeed get our windows, so at least those came on schedule. Though that probably means the door and transom windows will arrive "on schedule" in mid-June. 

This week will be a stressful one while we go through inspections and learn whether or not we can proceed. We passed "water" last week and have electrical, plumbing, and framing this week. Framing requires that the unit be sealed, which, as you can imagine, requires a door and not a hole, covered with Tyvek...though it's possible that someone will have pity on us and divide that particular inspection into two parts that will allow us to proceed with a boarded up opening instead of an actual door.

Which is bad because we have a garage and basement full of the things we've been ordering that need to go INTO the house (sink, vanity, medicine cabinets, closet units) that we very much want out of our living space. Though I have to admit that besides the boxes, this addition has, as planned, had very little impact on our ability to live in our house. Besides through the crawl space, it really is just a thing that takes up a lot of room in our yard.

And so while we wait to learn the fate of our project, a few small details. We ordered our tile, which was what we decided on here with one exception. We'd already swapped out larger floor tiles for smaller ones in the shower thanks to your advice about smaller tiles being less slippery (thanks to grout lines). Our contractor and architect went one step further and advised that we stick to unglazed tile, to give it even more friction. So we opted for the penny tiles here, in Sapphire:

(If you can't read the miniscule writing, it's the very middle tile, second row up from the bottom.) We liked the hexes but they were backordered and we decided we did not want to risk it, so we stuck to the rounds in order to guarantee we could get them when we needed them. Which could be in a week or two or could be in June/July. SIGH.

The shower is looking a bit different, with some pretty intense waterproofing which we imagine is for the steam shower (because that needs even better sealing than an average shower).

Finally, we selected the Trex decking color from the three grays closest to our existing (very dingy) decking and similar to the stone on our patio:

We're going with the top one, called Pebble Grey (yes, they spell it the British way). We won't actually be getting the deck until among the last steps of this addition, but at least for once, it was an easy decision to make quickly--unlike our bathroom light fixtures, which we STILL haven't settled on after literally hours of searching.

Fingers crossed for good news this week!

We're still here...Now with Purple!

Yet another long stretch of no progress combined with a struggle to take pictures left a lot of readers (all three of you) in suspense about the room. Well wait no longer. It is finally (mostly) back to some semblance of normal.

After the mid-August drywall installation another 10 days or so passed with no progress, partly because we went on vacation and partly due to bad planning on the part of the contractors. Then in late August they painted, finally. Our big "upgrade" from this chaos is that we let our pre-schooler select a color for the alcove, since there was a discrete set of walls and an obvious place to end the color change (and it wasn't like we had enough green in the can anyway so they'd have to buy a new gallon). No surprise that she picked PURPLE! She picked Sherwin Williams Dahlia and we compromised by going one shade lighter (which was plenty dark, as we learned from the neon green in the rest of the room) to Awesome Violet (SW 6815). To my surprise, we still had our light blue ceiling paint and they were able to blend the line so the ceiling is still all sky blue. That section now has no clouds of course (and probably never will) but at least it all goes together.

They installed new baseboards and other small things as well. The window wasn't ready from the manufacturer so the hole stayed boarded up and the corner stayed dark (I swear I took a picture from that day but I can't find it anymore).

There was a redo on the baseboards (they were about a half inch taller than the existing ones) that delayed us yet another few days while they waited for some rain to stop (all their cutting equipment had to get set up outside) and then because they failed to plan for store closures on Labor Day. Then finally, finally, they fixed the baseboards and framed the window (though it was still boarded up...).

And then Lo and Behold, just last week (7 weeks after the tree fell on our house, if you're keeping score), the window was ready and the room was done!

Of course by now we had completely lost the curtain hardware (more is on the way!). And another funny problem is that the outlet (seen above in the lower left of the picture) is now covered by the corner bookshelf. They must have mounted it in a slightly different place than it was originally and it's now no longer accessible when the furniture is back in its original place. Darn. The contractors also weren't nearly as picky as I am on their paint work, so I did a little touching up on the edges myself.

But at least this place is starting to look normal again! We have a new rug (the other one had so much glass and wood on it that I would always have been a little worried no matter how much we vacuumed it and shook it out). Toys and books are all finding their way back to their original homes. And the curtains can probably go back up this weekend.

 7 weeks. 7 long weeks.

(This is not quite the end of the story - there's a bit more outside work to discuss another time...)

Blind Saga Resolved

We resolved our blinds saga by throwing a lot of money at the problem. By the time we decided the blinds.com blinds weren't working out, we were already fully using the room for baby number 2 (surprise, we have a new human "addition" as well as a new room addition). The bright sunlight needed filtering periodically during the day when it shone into the crib, and the street light needed blocking when one of us brought her down to sleep there in the middle of the night so that at least one parent could catch some precious zzzzzs. Without any willingness to shop around ourselves, we brought in a local decorating store that had recently advertised that they did house calls for window dressing.

And so they came with binders. Lots of little samples that could be un-velcroed and held up to the window to see the way they filtered the sunlight (thank goodness it was sunny that day).

We picked a lovely gray that complemented the wall color in a cellular blind that can be raised and lowered from the top and bottom. We decided not to pay extra to have them installed for us, despite the frustration from installing the set from blinds.com. Fortunately, as we expected and hoped, these were much simpler. D had them both up within 20 minutes or so, with minimal hardware.

I love that we can raise and lower them from both ends, so we can get full sunlight but privacy (bottom half covered only) or as much light filtering as we need. They are magnetic at the top, making it easy even for someone short like me to snap the top edge into place.

We couldn't be happier, though I doubt I would go this route again, given the price. We definitely would have shopped around and done it on our own if the first order hadn't taken so long and we hadn't been in a rush for blinds in there. It is a sign of how much we love the room though - we couldn't wait to be able to use it around the clock.

A Blind Saga

Our new room overlooks our driveway and feels pretty public, especially at night with the light on, so one of our first priorities was to install blinds. We wanted very simple window dressing, just enough to give us privacy but still allow a lot of light. We opted for blinds on naked windows instead of curtains or other drapery. You may remember we even started planning before the room was actually done. We chose our fabric from blinds.com, sent off the order, and waited.

And waited, and waited. The blinds had an arrival estimate of late August through September 6. They arrived exactly 1 week AFTER the estimated window, on September 13. Strike 1.

The instructions for the blinds were written originally for corded blinds, with installation of cordless blinds a sloppy and inaccurate afterthought. We were so confused that we thought we had been given the wrong hardware and called customer service for help. The person had no idea how the blinds were supposed to be installed or what our hardware kit should look like, so we eventually ended the call in frustration. Strikes 2 and 3.

OK, but perhaps if we could figure it out ourselves then we would be happy with the final product.

First thing to notice - the rolling fabric is very minimal but the cassette that holds it is giant and generic, which looks sloppy given how much we paid for it. In fact, we paid extra because it was supposed to provide a finished look at the top of the window.

Eh, nope - it sticks out from the window (despite having to give them the precise depth when ordering) and sits a little crooked.

The bottom of the blind is pretty  low quality too. Some kind of plastic strip glued inside the (cheap and vinyl/plastic feeling) fabric.

In the end, after over an hour of two people trying to figure out installation without the help of instructions, we were just thoroughly disappointed by the bad quality of the blinds (which were not all that cheap). If we wanted cheap blinds, we figured, we would have run to Lowes or Home Depot and at least gotten them immediately, and not a week late.

Fortunately blinds.com did not try to "fix" their order with suggestions of upgrades or recuts. They asked that we donate the blinds to Habitat for Humanity or other non-profit building organization and scan the receipt in, and then they would reimburse us. We did and they did and that was the end of it.

Except that our room still felt horribly on-display once it got dark out (which, given the advancing calendar, started at about 6:30pm). So it was back to the drawing board with all that time wasted. To be continued....

Another window

When we replaced our main floor windows last year, we had to choose between two companies. The first was the company we had used for the upstairs windows several years earlier - we liked the windows but were not impressed by their follow-on service. The second was a new company that ended up getting our business.

We are so thrilled we went with someone new. After the initial install, we've had to deal with them twice and they have been nothing but helpful.

First, in December, we were left with a slice in our screen as a result of the burglary. Our insurance would have paid to have it fixed, but the company didn't charge us (this stuff is all supposed to be laid out in contracts, but it never is as easy as it seems, so we're never really sure what we have to pay for and what we don't). Not only that - they came out the week we called and fixed it on the spot. No missed pick-ups and delays and haggling over the whole process like when we needed our torn screen replaced with company 1. We even told them not to rush because, well, it was December, so it wasn't like we were anxious to open our windows. But they booked an appointment immediately, after confirming that the frame itself didn't get dented and need replacing. Yay for company 2.

Fast forward to about a month ago, when I noticed this in the picture window:

Of course, if anything were to break, it would be the biggest and most expensive window in the house. And one that doesn't open and pop out, for an easy replacement. Fortunately, it was only on the outer pain of glass and didn't go all the way through.

I called the company who put me in touch directly with the (local) window manufacturer they work with. When I called to set up a time for someone to come take a look, they answered "how about tomorrow" and even said I didn't have to be there, since it was accessible from our front walkway.

Then the day after that, they called to say they would replace the window and that -the best part -it was free! They would make a new one right away! I was surprised they were even going to go through all the effort of replacing the window with such a small chunk taken out and told them that if they didn't think it needed replacing, we were fine with ignoring it. No problem to replace it, they said. Could they come out the following week and install it (someone obviously would need to be home for that one) - they even worked with my ear schedule and gave me a 2-hour arrival window that wasn't horrible.

One hitch in the plan - after I left work early on the day of the install, they called to tell me that the tech had accidentally broken the window while it was in his truck and he was working on an earlier job. Oops. I guess it happens. At least they were really nice about it and gave me an even later window the following week, so I wouldn't have to miss as much work.

Today they came out and, in one hour of what appeared to be a fairly intensive two-man job...

I have a new window (and a few pesky flies darting around the house to keep the cats amused). Painless. I guess it pays to think about the follow-on customer service, as well as the product and initial work. If I still had an Angie's List account, I would definitely give them a stellar review.

Vinyl isn't just for old records

Sorry to leave you in suspense - life got a little crazy right after our window install, so I didn't have a chance to check back in. I am happy to report that everything seems have gone well and we have new windows. We haven't really opened them very much because we are running our AC most of the time, but they seem fine. Honestly we weren't expecting much - this isn't a dramatic change like our bathroom remodel. It looks like it did before, just with windows that now have screens. Presumably we have better sound dampening, but we live in a pretty quiet neighborhood anyway. But in any case, here's the day, in pictures:

Because our house was built before 1978, the company had to remove the windows according to special lead mitigation processes that the government put in place since the last windows install in 2010. That involved sealing them off from the inside -

 Putting up crazy hazmat signs -

Wrapping up the old material in tight little bundles that look mina like mummies, and even putting up bright yellow "caution" tape around the whole front yard of the house. I felt like I was at a crime scene.

 Here's our giant picture window, sitting all sad and ready to be destroy:

Here's the same view from inside, with the new window being placed with the help of a giant suction cup (now I feel like I've moved from a crime scene to a heist movie - I think those are usually used to climb up the sides of buildings...)

First the installers blew insulation spray foam into the exposed window frames, then they placed the new windows into the frames. Then they caulked and capped the outside and then caulked the inside. The steps were pretty boring, so I didn't get them on film. They claimed the interior caulking wasn't hazardous but the nasty smell makes me think there were at least some VOCs.

Here are some pictures of the finished product. Unfortunately, some paint came up from the large picture window sill. The sill is pretty gross anyway so this is probably a good excuse to paint:

 Shiny new window (looks a lot like the old window but whiter):

Here's the big window - still kitty approved, apparently. You can see that now the white house trim looks incredibly dingy against the bright white vinyl and aluminum.

Here's a normal window from the outside. I wish I had thought to take a "before" picture. For me, it's one of those instances where you know it looks different, but you never paid enough attention to the previous view to really be able to place exactly how and why. Besides the bright white vinyl, I think the aluminum capping is broader.

We didn't lose any actual window or sill, though we did lose some of the frame (we have to completely reinstall the blinds to the outside instead of within the frame now). But at least now when the weather is nice we can open them up! We opened up the two side windows of the picture window area a few nights ago and it was nice to have a breeze.

Now if only the guest room and office weren't still in such a disarray from having to move all the furniture...

Here I wait...

The current state of the living room:

Let's home the full installation takes place in one day. Preferably a rather short one so I can go get the little girl from daycare early or at least on time. Since they are doing lead-mitigation because our house was built before 1978, she wasn't allowed to stay home and hang out with me while I babysit the installation. Not that I would want her here in all this craziness.

It's weird how echoey a room gets the second the curtains and blinds come down. I don't usually think of window dressing as a sound damper but it most certainly is.

Windows again

Back in 2010, we replaced all our upstairs windows. The home has all its original 1950s windows with the exception of 3 in the back of the house that got added when the previous owners updated the kitchen. While we were still living on the first floor of the house, we got new vinyl, triple-pane windows upstairs, so they'd be waiting for us as we moved ourselves upstairs. We don't open the windows too often but at least now they have screens in them so we can when we want. Plus they offer some better energy efficiency and, icing on the cake, we got a tax refund for them. Unfortunately, I remembered to blog about the process of getting estimates and some follow-on work, but seem to have completely forgotten the most interesting part (from a photographing perspective) - the installation.

Well we used up that tax refund but this year we decided it was finally time to update the main floor windows as well. We decided - due to our minimal free time thanks to the baby - to only get 2 estimates: 1 from the company #1 who did our upstairs windows (we did have some issues getting them to replace the screen but in all we are very happy with the windows) and 1 from company #2, our second choice company from 2010. We were 99% set on using the same company but wanted another estimate for comparison. It was a surprise to us - we ended up deciding to switch companies. Time will tell if we made the right decision. In the end, the two companies had identical prices (last time, #1 was cheaper by about $100 per window) and similar products. #1 offered us triple-pane to match our upstairs and #2 offered us only double-pane but with almost comparable energy values. There are way too many values to compare easily- it had a higher U value (good), similar solar gain and light transmission, but higher air infiltration rating (bad). The results of our energy audit, however, indicated that windows do not represent a significant source of energy loss.

There were 3 deciding factors:

1. Most important - the vinyl edging felt more sturdy and welded together and looked a lot prettier. Almost like wood trim. While the upstairs and downstairs will not match, we thought it was more important to have a more "wood-like" look for the main floor since it is more visible. Our upstairs window frames are more hidden by aluminum siding (rather than standing out from red brick) and, obviously, higher and harder to see.

2. We liked that they are going to install tempered glass in the bathroom. We got into a little discussion with #1 over whether tempered glass should have been installed upstairs during the first round of new windows. When #2 came to give us an estimate a few weeks ago, they said we definitely need tempered glass in the bathroom to stay within code, because the window is close to the tub. #1 says we don't, because the window isn't in the shower/tub, but confirmed with #2 that the actual rule says that you must install tempered glass if the window is within 5 standing feet of the shower/tub. To my mind, it is - actually both bathrooms are. So maybe they are interpreting the rules differently. Either way, better safe than sorry and I wish we had pushed the issue in the upstairs bathroom.

3. The biggest question we had was how to deal with the giant picture window with two smaller windows in front. #1 suggested making the two smaller windows casement windows. #2 wants to keep them as regular double hung windows, which we prefer. The only problem with going with #2 is that they would charge a few hundred extra dollars if we break the installation into two phases (i.e. doing the regular windows this round, then the picture window plus side windows in another year or so). #1 didn't charge extra to come back again later. We didn't necessarily want to get it all done at once, purely because it is so expensive. But we might as well bite the bullet and do it all together - that way they all match and we deal with the mess of installation only once.

Which brings me to the last point - remember that we did the upstairs before we had any window dressing or furniture...Even though I knew logically that it would be more complicated this time around, I groaned yesterday when they called to schedule the installation and reminded me that I have to remove all blinds and curtains AND move furniture 4'-6' away from every window "or as far away as you can." Yikes...:

Well I guess I know what we're going to be doing this weekend. Sigh...

But hey, at least this window that broke over 4 years ago is finally going to get fixed:

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Honey-do list

It's September which means, if you go all the way back to this post from March, that we need to revisit the notion of getting our heating system fixed. We still have no idea of the ideal solution to make the warmed water in our baseboards get to all the rooms in the house. We still don't know who to hire. But, fortunately, we do have some wonderful friends who know more than we do. Next weekend a car full of family and family friends are headed our way to give a more knowledgeable look at the heat system and hopefully propose a few solutions that we can take back to the heating specialists.

Not one to waste a car ride, my family also asked me to put together a list of all the little things we need to do around the house that are just one notch up from "total amateur" so that they can take a look while they're here. Makes perfect sense! And makes for a decent blog post too. So without further adieu, our list of things that need doing, not all of which will happen next weekend:

(Advance apologies to anyone reading this via an RSS feed--I might update this post if I think of more things...)

• The post lantern at the bottom of our walkway is out and it's not the lightbulb or the circuit breaker.  That's the extent of our electrical knowledge for a fixture that travels 30 feet away from our house underground.

• The handles in our main bathroom sink are backwards (the "on"position turns the water off, the "off" position turns them on) and it drives us--and our guests--crazy.

• Our basement light switch crackles when we turn it on and the lights flicker a little (we're pretty sure we just need to rewire a new switch, but want confirmation before we play around with electricity).

• This is pretty embarrassing but 3 months after we bought this house, a branch came through a window pane. And yeah, we still haven't fixed it. Probably should do it before it gets cold but hey, the tape has already made it through 3 winters and we plan to replace all the windows...eventually. Plus it's usually behind blinds and curtains, so it's only an eyesore on the outside of the house.

• We love our new bathroom but we don't love the drain. There's nowhere to put in an easy-to-empty hair trap and I shed. So poor D has to unscrew all the hardware and use a plumber's snake every week or two to clean it out. There has to be a better solution!

• The hoses connected to our washing machine say they need to be replaced every 5 years and we've already lived here for nearly 3 years, so it's probably time to change them.

• We bought an insulation wrap for our water heater 2 winters ago but my fear of fiberglass* (and us being lazy and forgetful) has meant our water heater remains scandalously naked. 

• Thought we bought it over a year ago, when my parents helped us de-lint the dryer, the new vent for our dryer remained uninstalled.

(You can see the roll of fiberglass insulation for the water heater and, next to it, the new dryer vent, just hanging out here serving absolutely no purpose.)

*Last time we bought fiberglass wrapping for our pipes, I somehow got little fiberglass particles all over me in the store despite trying to be very careful. It itched and burned and I'm a little scared to work with it again.

OK, this post was supposed to be short but became depressingly long as I wandered around looking at things we need to do around here. And it's not like we don't regularly work on home improvement projects. I guess the job of a homeowner is never done....I'm sure we won't get all of this done next weekend, but at least we have plenty to keep us busy. And a list to keep us on track throughout the fall.

An Update on Windows

So it was just about last year at this time that we started to think about getting our windows replaced. We did our research and found a reliable company and have been pretty happy with the way the windows turned out. I can't compare our heating saving or comfort level before and after, because at the time we had them installed upstairs, we were still living downstairs. But it certainly feels warm and cozy there and it's nice to be able to open them in the nice weather and still be protected from bugs.

But and this is a BIG BUT (but not a big butt--ok, couldn't resist), a small repair with our company of choice turned out to be incredibly annoying and has made me rethink my initial thoughts on their reliability. In mid-September, I discovered this:

A giant gash in our screen. We couldn't open the window because it was so big, a cat might fall through.  No idea what caused it--probably a falling branch--and we were glad it didn't hurt the glass, but obviously something had to be done. So I followed the terms of my contract and called our window people. The man I spoke to was very nice and I gave him all the necessary information. He told me he would call me back and let me know when someone would be around to pick it up. That was on September 30.

Almost 2 weeks go by with no word. I call back on October 12. Same guy. He was very nice and apologetic and said he promptly lost my information right after I called him and he was so glad I called back. He would call me back about a pick up.

I call several times over the next 3 weeks, sometimes getting that guy, sometimes getting someone else. They are all nice and claim that they will set something up. Once when I got a different guy, he claimed that there was no record of me needing my screen fixed. Starting to get a little irritated. It's just a darn screen, people! This is not rocket science.

Finally on November 1, a Monday, I get the original guy. He's apologetic and guarantees he will call me back on Tuesday with a pick up date. Tuesday come and nothing. On Wednesday afternoon, I call him again. He tells me to leave the screen outside my house on Thursday. I do. Thursday goes by and nothing. I call back Friday morning and he promises someone will be by that day. Finally, hallelujah, on Friday (the 5th, for those keeping track), the screen disappears from our front stoop.

But our wait has only just begun....

I call on November 19 to check in. The guy on the phone has no idea who I am or what is going on. He can't find a record about me or my screen. He tells me to call back again another time.

I call on November 22 and the guy tells me that he sees my request and that the screen isn't finished yet. Call back next week.

I call on November 29. The screen is there, finished and ready for delivery. Yay! Now this is where I get a little fuzzy because my rage stopped me from keeping good records (yes, I wrote this stuff all down). Somehow over the next 2 weeks, I managed to keep getting told "yes, we'll have someone drop it off right away" by very polite people without seeing actual results.

On December 13 I called again, exasperated, and demanded that they just tell me a date when they would be by. I didn't care if it was this week or next week or the week after that, but just tell me when, for goodness sake! And they do: December 15. So I wait. And of course, no one shows up.

It was around then that D jumped in, because I was so angry that I was afraid I would literally explode at the next poor soul that happened to answer the phone at the window place. D is much calmer and more measured than me and so I trusted he could make something happen without getting issued a restraining order. He calls periodically for another week, trying to impress on the window company that we had family coming to town on the 21st and couldn't we please (pretty please!) get the window before then. They said yes, of course, and told D several dates that they would show up and then promptly did not. We are told they will come on the 20th, the 21st, the 22nd. Each night or following morning, we call to check in. Then it is Christmas, so we wait.

D calls on Monday, December 27, and they say that it is on the truck and will be arriving shortly. It does not. He calls on December 28 and is told the driver was sick and couldn't come. He is actually connected to the driver, who apologizes. He starts to sound testy, which for D is a big deal. I think they must have realized that we were at the end of our rope. Finally, lo and behold, a screen appears at our door on December 29. Three months--THREE--since we called about the screen.

So here we are, with a working screen but the sense that this company deceived us about their customer service. Fortunately, we didn't need the screen, it being winter (we did back in September and October, but oh well). But what if this were a window. An actual broken window which is also covered in our contract? So we are writing the company a letter and telling them essentially exactly what I just told you on this post. Yes, all of the service representatives were polite. Yes, they all tried to handle the issue. But they failed. And were unreliable. And kept us waiting for months. And you know, if we had called in September and they had said "ok, we'll pick it up in about a month and have it ready just before the New Year" then that would have been fine. But they didn't. And so we wasted time trying to figure out just exactly what they were doing with our screen.

And--and this is the key part--if they do it again, we will amend our Angie's List review and reveal them to be unreliable. Because everyone gets a second chance, but that's about it. Other customers deserve to know that this could be a problem.

Bottom line? Well, I don't know. I guess that you can be fooled by a company that has good sales and good products but bad customer service and it's just a risk you take. Certainly does stink though.

Spring Projects

We are finally getting to the projects that we did not have time for in the fall, when we realized we had missed the warm weather window (how's that for alliteration?) for applying exterior paints and wood conditioners. D has been raking up and bagging most of the remaining leaves. Today he also applied Thompsons Water Seal to the little bits of bare wood holding up our back porch steps. I took on a few projects as well:

First, last week, I made what will probably be my only attempt this year at landscaping (I retreat inside when it gets warm and buggy), by adding a pretty pink jasmine plant (jasmimum polyanthum) to our lamppost. I'm not one for gardening but there was a great idea in a magazine to wrap a lamppost in chicken wire and then plant a viney plant at the base, so that it will grow up the post. Here it is before I filled in the hole:

I tied the (plastic) wire on with zip ties and then tied the vines to it gently with string. It doesn't look very impressive but the area gets a lot of sun and no little critters have tried to eat it yet, so I consider that a good sign for future growth.

Here's a picture of what it could look like in bloom, one day:

(photo credit to http://www.flickr.com/photos/mondomuse/3268234488/)

While I was digging a hole for the jasmine plant, I started to realize exactly how annoying it was that we had a "bumper crop" of acorns this year. Besides loudly falling on my car all fall, those little guys really set up house. I photographed just a few but I pulled out dozens. They are in all our flower beds, making themselves comfortable--safe from any mowing activity:

At this rate we are going to end up living on an oak tree farm!

Today my big project was to cover the bare wood on our picture window. It's a lot harder to scrape paint, even barely-adhering paint, than I thought. I spent an hour or so hacking at it with a metal scraper, a wire brush, and a razor. Even though I figured the paint was not original to the house, I wore a little face mask in case there was lead dust. (They make home-buyers sign so many lead-disclosures that I think they made me a little paranoid.)

The obligatory "before" shots (this was after I scraped most of the loose paint, so the windows look even worse than usual).

We used Sherwin William's Duration Exterior in gloss finish. Since we didn't know exactly what color "white" we were working with and how much of the window's color was actually just dirt and aging, we went with untinted out-of-the-can white. It is definitely different, but we are hoping that a little rain, sun, and dirt evens it out. It's close enough that you can't see the difference in the photo:

(Isn't it nice of our cat to model for us?)

And finally, a few more random yard shots of our flowering plants. If you are able to identify any of them, let us know.

Pretty pink blossoms that the bees seem to love (also a view of our as-yet untreated window, if you look closely):

Beautiful white blooms near our garage.

And mystery buds on a tree in our backyard (with more pictures of the fully-bloomed tree to follow).