If you know us, you’ll know that our house is in a constant state of improvement. It’s old. It was neglected. We didn’t have $70k to drop into fixing it all at once when we bought it. So here we are, nearly seven years later, still plowing along.
We’d be even further behind if we didn’t have cool people in our lives like Mark, Tom, Mr. Rich, Austin, Neil, Karen, Kay, and more. And these are just the people who have helped with manual labor and brainwork of reviving the place. Even more people have contributed to the interior beautification. I am so grateful for everyone who has helped us with This Old House.
For years JB has had “siding for the back of the house” on his birthday list. Because the back extension of the house looked like this:
This house was built with wood siding. One day someone put vinyl on the back bump out. Cheap vinyl. I mean, scary thin stuff that was coming off. The new kitchen windows we installed hadn't been trimmed out. The flat roof was leaking. Blarg. We have since fixed the roof but the rest was left wanting.
Until JB’s parents got him TRIM for his birthday. Really nice trim. Seriously, probably the stuff Bob Vila uses. It was pre-primed and everything.
And to ADD to that gift, JB’s Dad and Mr. Rich have spent several days installing the trim. Trimming out the window. Bashing their heads in over how to trim out the top soffit thingy.
Super cool.
JB has begun to paint the siding and trim. He’s not even done, but you can already tell the difference.
JB also painted the white on one side of the house. It looks so nice. It’s got us itching to paint the rest of the house. But the place is 3-stories high on two sides, so we’ve got a huge job ahead.
The window on the far left still needs to be painted. It's such a finicky job. JB has spent hours upon hours on window trim. He does a really nice job.
Our laundry list of things to do also got a little shorter when my Dad came over a few weeks ago. He brought his megatron chainsaw with a superlong blade and cut down the big tree stump in the back yard.
The stump was over 20' tall and 3' around. Dad had to devise a precise path for the stump to fall so as to miss the garage, the fence, another tree, the house, my car, etc. He did a good job.
The stump loomed several feet over our garage and often when I'd go into the girls' room when it was dark I would mistake the stump for a man on the garage roof. It startled me all the time. So I was glad to see it go. Lucy was not, though. She loved jumping up that tree at the squirrles perched on top, taunting her daily. Now part of her exercise routine has been reduced to sawdust. Poor Lulu.
JB has done a few other wonderful things but I don’t have energy to edit and upload the photos and explain. But he painted our porch and painted/reorganized the front closet. And more that I can’t recall.
I also have a few interior design schemes up my sleeve. And they involve fabric. Mmmmm…. the order has been placed. Now all I have to do is wait patiently and then get to work!
