This has been a frustrating two weeks. Just as I decided I should replace my old stove after continually noticing the faint smell of gas in the kitchen, my refrigerator died. So I bought two new appliances I wasn't planning. Also, one of my cats has been sick and after one trip to the vet and another to the emergency room over the holiday weekend, another $400 down the drain. I don't think there's anything worse than having a sick pet. If they could only tell us what's going on, it would be much easier. Fortunately he's feeling a little better.
Oh, and the estimate to trim the tree is $1000.
At the same time, progress on the exterior trim seemed to come to a halt. Some days I would swear that the workers only came to take bottles of water out of my (new) fridge and to use my bathroom. As it turned out, the guy I hired to do the job was out of town so I think it was a case of "While the cat's away..."
But once he got back, the pace picked up again. The stock window casings have been trimmed out with a molding (left) that really dresses them up and after a few mockups for the top of the corner boards, this is what I decided on (right). Sometimes, I think it's a little big, but the siding will reduce the depth and once everything it's painted, I think it will be perfect. It's pretty similar...
...to the ones on this Greek Revival in Harvard Square. (Isn't the air conditioner in the front window a nice touch?)
The treads are on the front stairs...
...as well as the lazy stairs.
The new (and larger) living room windows have arrived. Even in the plastic, they look amazing and I can't wait to see them installed.
As for the rest of the windows, I've held off ordering them until now. When you start ripping apart an old house, you never know what you're going to find so holding off on ordering the windows was one thing I could do to leave a little cash in reserve in case something went wrong. They're installed from the inside so it doesn't hold up outside progress so that seemed to make sense. They'll take about six more weeks. Not bad.
And here's a sneak peak at the columns. Remember, getting the composite columns was a concession but now that I see them in person, I think they look really good. I'm really eager to see these in place because I think they'll make the biggest impact.
On this driveway side, I'm keeping the old shingles for now so...
...the shingles were carefully cut back to accommodate the new corner board.
This little detail at the bottom of the corner board is a really nice touch that they added without my even asking for it. (Notice the iron post at the left. It's one the contractor brought so we could try it out for size. That's still an ongoing project.)
The painters have been on the job for over a week filling the holes left over after removing the vinyl siding, scraping the old shingles and...
...the trim around the windows.
Look what a beautiful job they did on the old window casings. This is the window right next to my kitchen sink.
And look at this little surprise. All of the original window sills have Roman numerals chiseled into them. It's my guess that as they cut them, they numbered them so they knew exactly where they were to be installed.
Next week should bring big changes. Can't wait to show you.
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