Tremendous Tuesday

Piggy-backing on the momentum we established Sunday, my dad, my neighbor, the Goddamn Genius, and I got to work on the remaining windows and the front door to complete the solarium project..for now.

An inside view after the progress we made Sunday.

Window wall!

Dad had the day off yesterday, so he spent the afternoon tearing things apart and getting ready for us to put it all back together. By the time Mark (Goddamn Genius) came over, we were in good shape to get things rolling. A couple hours later, we had both new windows and the new door framed, installed, and sealed in!

Mark: Taking Care of Business..in a flash!

Framing the windows and front door. The new door was about three inches wider than the old door, so we had to do a little cutting to get everything just right.

This room went from being more-or-less wasted space to now being really cool, historically accurate wasted space ;) All kidding aside, it’s going to be a really cool spot to read a book, or just hang out and watch the activity on the street..and grow plants!

Winding down for the afternoon.

Getting everything sealed up for the night. No bugs or bats allowed.

It's really going to look cool once all the trim has been hung...but it looks pretty cool now, too!

Now for a little drywall patching and wood trim inside, and exterior trim and siding outside! Stay tuned for the progress this weekend – the light at the end of this tunnel is getting brighter all the time! J

Solarium Sunday

I don’t know about you, but I had myself a busy little weekend!

Friday night I had to be responsible – I spent the night cleaning the house, doing laundry, and getting beds ready for company. Not terribly fun, but not bad either..and it needed done.

Saturday was the Brews & Muse street festival at the local brewery. I had a couple friends in town and we had a great time listening to a couple great bands, meeting new people, and eating and drinking way too much J

Sunday morning, my friends and I started talking about installing windows in the front porch/solarium/greenhouse and decided we’d give it a shot!

Remember what we started with?

The original plan changed because the new windows were shorter and narrower than the old windows – with that, we were able to squeeze five windows along the east wall of the solarium creating an entire wall of windows! It’s going to look great when it all gets trimmed out and painted J

A pretty good sized hole..

HUGE view! :)

The frame we built for the windows. I just KNEW this was the way to do it..turns out I was wrong :)
It all worked out, anyway!

Getting everything cleaned up - what a difference!

Once things have calmed down a bit, I'll order the decorative grilles for the windows to give everything a little more traditional look.

After cleaning up the large pile of window waste. Not looking half bad!

They even line up! It's like someone knew what they were doing! HA!

Two more windows and a new front door yet to come, but this was a big day for us – a HUGE thanks again to my amazing friends for hanging out with me Saturday and Sunday and being roped into slave labor!

Well, isn't that special.

Did you notice the small window above the bay windows in my previous post? Here it is! It was given to me by the previous owners - they felt it should stay with the house....and I feel it should be a part OF the house, again!

Last night's quick project was building a frame for the window so I can hang it in place..when we get to that point.

I'm not totally finished yet, but I might be about as far as I CAN be for the moment. I still need to cut a few small strips to hold the sash in place. I angled the bottom here so it would shed water..in theory. Check back for more updates soon!

Holding down the fort

See those columns on my front stoop?

Ta-da! We found new old columns in the East Village, downtown Des Moines!

The rings around the columns needed a little work - here I had already chisled out some of the damaged area..

..and filled it in with a new piece.

The new piece fit pretty well, but still needed a little fine sanding to match the surrounding area.

Pretty good fit, wouldn't you say?

Fancy pants! Good find, Dad - and thanks again for all the help!

Classin' up the joint

Remember this?

Keep an eye on that pile of bricks.

Originally, there were two steps - now there will only be one.

All formed up and ready to pour!

One step here, one step at the City sidewalk, and a slightly steeper pitch in between.

Apparently it took a lot of cement..

Ta-da!

Here's my dilemma, gang: which pattern do you like the best? I'll be bricking the treads on both steps and the entire sidewalk in between. Use your imagination to fill in the blanks :)
A basic basket weave?

Basket weave with a thin edge?

..with a thick edge?

Herringbone? (I like all three patterns, but I felt like the border gave everything a more finished look. Thoughts?)

..with a thin edge? This was one of my favorites.

..with a thick border? (I don't care for the thick edging on the basket weave or the herringbone patterns. I would like it more if the walk were wider..maybe.)

This was the ONE time I liked the thick border. A basic running bond going the length of the walkway.

A horizontal running bond with a thin edge. I liked this one a lot. Plus, with the long grout lines running across the sidewalk, you won't see imperfections in the lines like you would if it ran lengthwise. OCD..

Quick lunch yesterday: pesto pasta with a sliced heirloom tomato. If you think I've only eaten pasta and tomatoes this summer........you'd be absolutely correct :)

Work, work, work!

Over the course of the last week, the fam and I have been working to tear all the old siding off and wrap the front of the house to get it ready for the new stuff I had delivered about a week and a half ago (yeah..we’re THAT close!)

Not only that, we had to hurry up and tear everything off so that I could get a contractor in there to work on the flashing around the foundation and the soffit area. He was on a pretty strict timeline due to other jobs he had lined up before and after mine, so the heat was on!

Not only that, but I was helping the Chamber of Commerce organize a big tailgate party downtown to celebrate the Iowa vs. Iowa State football game – we wanted to make it a big one because Channel 13 from Des Moines was coming down to celebrate with us!

Not only THAT, but the last part of last week was particularly busy at work! When it rains, it pours.

The siding came off relatively easily; though, it did take more time than I anticipated. And because I was being pulled in so many directions last week, I couldn’t just sit and finish one project at a time like I wanted to. The family rallied, though, and we got everything we could reach taken down. My contractor and his tall ladders ended up helping us with the very highest pieces of siding – and he did a great job on everything else, too. Good work, good price, good guy!

Before

So glad to see some of the old details still there - definitely keeping this one!

And the opening for my little window!

Siding removed, holes patched, ready for wrapping.

This weekend, we also worked to get all the remaining rock out from in front of the house. Not just because I’d like mulch there, but because the rocks were all full of nails, old shingles, pieces of siding, paint, etc. That was a job I wasn’t looking forward to, but my sister and I got it knocked out – BIG thanks to her!

Rock removed from the front - whew!

Wrapped, rockless, and looking like a million bucks!

The tailgate party was a HUGE success as well! We had worked in a small committee for the last couple weeks to get everything lined up, and we nailed it. Everyone talked about what a great time they had, ALL the vendors sold out of EVERYTHING they had for sale, and Channel 13 was blown away at the response J In fact, they said it was the best organized event with the largest turnout they’ve had anywhere they’ve done their Cy/Hawk Showdown event. Way to go Knoxville!

As if there wasn't enough to do, in the week leading up to the tailgate party, the owner of the local art gallery/studio and I built two golf carts that we then raced down the side of the courthouse lawn. Cy/Hawk meets Knoxvville Raceway :)
http://www.art101knoxville.com/

The end results were pretty bad-ass, if I do say..



The sports teams from Channel 13 enjoyed them!





The local newspaper estimated thousands of people came out!



The 1917 Dunbar Popcorn Wagon on loan from the Marion County Historical Society. One of only about 15 left in the country - this cart used to sit on the Courthouse lawn!



We had the cheerleaders, high school mascot, and even the marching band - it was great!

 A couple links to our features on WHO – Channel 13 last week – enjoy!

http://whotv.com/2012/09/05/rvtv-knoxville-rvtv-rolls-in/ - featuring our golf carts!
http://whotv.com/2012/09/06/knoxville-party-rvtv-celebrates-in-knoxville/
http://whotv.com/2012/09/06/well-known-knoxville-boasts-more-than-just-racing/ - Peace Tree Brewing Company and Dixie Gebhardt, designer of the Iowa Flag
http://whotv.com/2012/09/06/knoxville-stadium-the-story-behind-the-name/ - Ken Locke Stadium, historic landmark..best place ever to watch high school football!