Window watching

The window above my sink was ugly. I’ve wanted a new one since we moved in here in 1998. I tried to make it look better. First I painted it. We had a lot of projects when we moved into this house and the kitchen was the biggest project. At first I just did what I could to make it look nicer. It had ugly brown cupboards, it was carpeted, and had a very ugly countertop. Ewww. I changed the cupboards and pulled up the carpet immediately.

Through the years, I’ve made changes and some of those have changed again. Because that’s the thing with home remodeling, you’re never done. But I discovered that when I painted it in my hurry, I painted it shut. So the window didn’t work. Years later, I tried to sand the paint off the window trim. I discovered there was about 10 layers of paint and that the window frame had been about 8 different shades. It was very hard work and I never did finish removing all of the paint. Instead, I gave up last fall when I decided we just needed to replace the whole thing. By then, the window was extremely ugly because the trim wasn’t completely stripped. Frustrated and without time to fix it, I put a big mirror in front of the window.

Which really helped hide the ugliness. Except the morning after I placed the mirror, when I walked into the kitchen, I jumped at my reflection, thinking someone else was in the room.

But I still missed the light that had came in that window that was now blocked by the mirror. My kitchen is a bright sunny place (even with this window blocked) but I wanted more. In February while we were in the remodeling zone, I bought a window for above the sink. But there was snow and cold and we opted to wait to install it until the weather was better.

For the past two months I’ve been nagging my husband to help me install the window. If it’d been closer to the ground outside I think I would have attempted to do it myself. But it wasn’t, so I couldn’t, so I nagged.

At one point my nagging was so successful that he promised to do it the very next day. Of course, the next day he became extremely ill. So still no window installation. He even missed two days of work, so I’ll concede that he wasn’t faking.

But I wanted the window installed. Badly. So I called my friends Glen and Tammy. They’re the ones that helped me work on our attic remodeling. And on Saturday, while Steve worked on his racecar, Glen (with a bit of help from Tammy and I) installed my new window.

Which left me to go to Home Depot yesterday to buy the trim and I also decided that around the outer part of the window I would use tile. I had hoped to find tile that matches the custom tile on my counter on either side of the sink, but alas, they no longer make that type of tile. So I bought something a bit different. The tile installation isn’t finished yet, but I took the pictures to share with you where I’m at. Even with all my tools and junk on the counter, it looks 250 percent better.

I opted for vinyl encased trim for the outside of the window. That way I don’t have to paint it and the vinyl protects it from water and weather. I’ll still need Steve’s help to help me line up the vinyl siding correctly. Hopefully we can do that when we do the garage area, which is still supposed to happen this summer.

And as long as I’m doing tile work, I figure I’ll do that little spot on the floor between the mudroom and the kitchen that I had slate in, but pulled up. Apparently, Steve isn’t the only one that postpones these home improvement projects.

So now my home improvement list is as follows:

1. Paint bathroom.
2. Paint mudroom.
3. Finish painting new bathroom.
4. Tile new bathroom.
5. Stain staircase.
6. Paint living room.
7. Finish vinyl siding by garage and the new kitchen window.
8. Repaint kitchen cabinets.
9. Touch up girls’ room.

For our living room, we’re going to paint it using the sandwash in the “Crystal Bay” color from Home Depot. The kitchen is staying the same colors, just getting fresh paint.

Then there are the long term projects that I want to do:

1. Replace second kitchen window with French doors.
2. Replace front door.
3. Replace sliding glass door in my bedroom with French doors.
4. Build bookcases, shelves in the living room along one wall.
5. Replace living room and hallway carpet with Pergo flooring.
6. Paint my office, trim bookcases to look built-in.
7. Build permanent, customized cabinetry under staircase.

Steve probably doesn’t know about all of my long-term project ideas, although I’ve mentioned most of them to him. For that matter, some of my to-do list for this summer might surprise him too. I had bought tile for the new bathroom floor, but it was the sticky tile and actually it was the same design my mom just had installed in her laundry room. We’d used this type of tile before and it really didn’t stand up well in my kitchen so Steve said no, he didn’t want to use it in the bathroom. So we’re going to pick out some floor tile for in there and I’ll do it that way. I was thinking the peel and stick would be quick and easy and over quickly. But he’s right. In the long run, the ceramic tile will look a lot better, even if it does mean more work. However, before I do that floor in there I am either going to get or rent a wet tile cutter. Because this cutter I have is also labor intensive and it doesn’t do complicated cuts.

Then there are the more decorative things I want to do to our house.

1. New living room furniture.
2. Decorate girls’ room.

Which really sounds like a lot and it is, but a lot of it probably won’t happen for several years. And by then, I’ll probably have added quite a bit to my list and a few things might have to happen again.