Friday, July 28, 2006

This Is The Year Of Upgrades For The Do-Dads.......




We always believe that there won't be any things in the house that need to be repaired. Of course this is a fallacy, because when you own a home you have to constantly fix it.

I am not a decorating freak. I painted and wallpapered my whole house between the years of 1991 and 1993. Then I did nothing else to the bulk of the house. Then two years ago we worked on the kitchen because it was starting to need repairs, but we didn’t upgrade anything else in the house.

My rule is if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. If the paint isn’t chipping off the walls and the wallpaper still looks as good as the day it went up, don’t touch it.

I don’t upgrade colour unless it is worn out or broken.
This is why I still have chocolate brown carpet.
In the early 1980’s when this house was built it was outfitted with the most awesome carpets in the main living areas. Chocolate brown in the living room and dining room, and rust in the family room.

We have had 4 dogs, 1 cat, plus 700 pet rats and mice, in this house. A total of three families with 8 kids from 2-18 years lived in this house (sometimes at the same time, other times as previous owners) and the carpet hasn’t got one bit of wear.
I cannot justify ripping it up if it isn’t ruined.
One run with the vacuum and the fibres fluff right up with no flat spots anywhere!

So I won’t tear up the carpet and put down hardwood until the carpet gives up. The way it is going, that may be never. I figure at some point the colours will come back in style. So until then I decorate to suit brown and rust.

There have been a few jobs on the go this year though. You already know about the flood. Alex is still plugging away at the hole, and we will get the new deeper culvert in the window well and the window well drain unplugged by the end of next week.


In the mean time it has been very hot and hard to work outside or in. So I decided to save energy and not heat up the house using the dryer we would put out the laundry tree. We have had this tree since 1992 and it is great in the summer for hanging out laundry.




The laundry tree needed an overhaul. Alex and I went out and got new wire for the tree. Alex affixed the wires individually, for me, so there can be no sagging of the lines. By doing this each line has a loop on the end, perfect for hanging shirts on a coat hanger on the line to dry too!



So we have our great tree on the go again.

The last big project to repair was our front window. Carl and I have a sore spot with this. We replaced the windows in this house in around 1996. But the front window was never right. It leaked under the window and then the thermal pane seal went and allowed moisture to get in between the panes causing condensation to permanently be in the window.
The company would not honour their warrantee because the manufacturer went out of business, and the installation company changed owners. The new owner only upheld the warrantees of installation for one year.

The new guy tried to fix it but he couldn’t.

Finally this year, with all the storms and tornadoes the wall just couldn’t take the constant pounding of rain and pouring in of water and it began to pull away from the frame.

So we relented and set out to replace the window.



Gone is my lovely painted stain glass. I removed all the painting I did, so the window could be removed. I had done the effect to cover the humidity condensation in the thermal panes.





When we did the new counter tops in the kitchen 2 years ago we got Home Depot to do it. The work was done very well, and we liked the fact that they used local installers. So when it came to the window we did the same. The window was a $1000 dollars cheaper than the first time we did the work. That made me happy.



So on Wednesday Alberto, Luigi, and Mike put the new front window in.

Now we will have to paint the living room. Time to get crack-a-lackin.






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10 comments:

RennyBA said...

I'll stick to your rule and besides I'm on holliday in Sweden, so I can't fix it anyway!
When you feel for a break, come on over and have a guided tour to Sweden - and don't forget to cast your vote for Blogs of Summer:-)
Have a great end to your week!

Lynn said...

Hey RennyBA

The Rule is great for adding relaxation to your life for sure.

When I last checked you were in the lead of blogs of summer.

I couldn't put the word out on my blog the other day because blogspot was havin a glitch.

I sent a few emails out to have some folks check it.

If you haven't gone to RennyBA's site to vote for Blogs of Summer please head over there today. You can click on his name at his comment and you will fly right over to Sweden!

Anonymous said...

Lynn - Congrats on saving $1000 bucks. I think you should paint the stained glass again even though you won't have the condensation issue. It really looked beautiful!

Lynn said...

Thanks Jules,

My family says the same.
I will think about it.
Right now I will concentrate on getting the primer on the sil and then painting the trim and sil.

Painting the window is for the autumn days anyhow. So I will decide then.

Any word from Blog Dog Jules?

Anonymous said...

No word from Blog Dog :-( not even an e-mail.

Lynn said...

Hi Jules,

Me neither.

Do you think we expected too much of him...?
Did we put too much pressure on him to keep our finger rants safe?

Mother of Invention said...

Lynn: You guys are on a roll now! We have such an old house (1921) there is always that infamous list on the fridge! Now is a new roof, new furnace and we also need a new car soon.
I love your stained glass on the window!
I used to have a very long clothesline at our old house which was wonderful, especially in this heat wave when they're saying not to use appliances!!!

Lynn said...

Hi Mother,

Thanks Mother.
We have never had an old house. Our oldest was built in the 40's.
We are not the type to go for the beautiful fixer-upper. We dont go antiquing. Mostly because my Parents are generous with gifts to us of some of their old furniture. We have quite a few Retro 50's style pieces of furniture. Stuff my parents didnt have a use for any more. I guess we are more Kitch than classic.

Well we have done quite a bit to the structure stuff of the house already. We moved here in 1990. We have replaced the roof, the evestroph, soffits, and fascia, the furnace, the AC,the garage door and the driveway, all the windows but 4 in the lower basement(house is a 5 story backsplit with two basements).
All the stuff that can structurally ruin a house if not kept up.
It is a lovely house, but it is needing some attention from us again.

Mother of Invention said...

Amen! I'm going for AC real soon! We need a new furnace this next year so we'll get it then. The heat Pump system works great in my husband's office. We slept there last night! HA! (see today's blog for funny story!)

Lynn said...

Well I am just gonna head over there right now Mother!