Solarium: Start to Finish!

This is what the house looked like in the listing when I bought it - cute right?

Nice little sitting room right inside the front door and adjacent to the living room.

Then I saw this. Everything might have been easier...if I hadn't seen this. ;)

So, naturally, we ripped everything apart..

..and fixed the things that needed fixed..

Here's mom/former roommate finishing up the last of the insulation. As with the rest of the house, the wiring was completely redone in the solarium, as was all the insulation, wallboard, wood floors, and trim..though, a lot of the woodwork throughout the house was salvaged.

Hooray for drywall!

..well..sort of. See, I got a deal on some really nice windows; so, rather than replace the two that were there, I decided to take it back to the way it looked it that damned old picture.

Finishing up the new windows and front door.

All in!

Testing out my new grilles :)

Trim is up and ready for sanding (which left dust ALL over the house), priming, and painting!

As of last night: all painted and ready to go! (As you can also see, the greenhouse is in full swing..)

Looks pretty good, if I do say!

Fancy pants windows with fancy pants trim

Dad came over Saturday morning and we started working on trimming out the windows in the solarium. We've got a couple more adjustments to make, but otherwise, we're ready for paint!

Party time :)

In addition to just doing things because they needed done, we had the added incentive to finish projects because I had a housewarming party this past Saturday! I invited several good friends from school, and lots of people from around town. Lots of food, lots of drinks, and lots of good people – it was a really great time J

I stayed up late the night before finishing up the window painting project in the solarium. I wanted to get those done and the grilles painted so that people could get a feel for the direction that room was headed, and I’m glad I did. A little more touch-up painting on the walls and everything was ready for deep cleaning!

2:00am aaaaand DONE!

I even received a couple new plants! Greenhouse, here we come ;)

I dusted, scrubbed, and swept EVERYTHING really well…I’m always amazed how well the house cleans up. When we were covered in insulation and plaster dust, I thought – for sure – I’d never get the house cleaned ever again. Luckily, I was wrong!

Housewarming party turned Slumber party!

This was after we had been semi-cleaning throughout the night..

Thankfully (but against my instructions) my friends were kind enough to help clean up before they left. I suppose, in retrospect, we did make kind of a mess. The true sign of a successful party.

With the landscaping stones put in place last weekend, my leftover siding sold on Craigslist, and the lot next door cleaned up, even the outside of the house was looking pretty good. The pallet the siding was shipped on was going to be used for a fire the night of the party, but we had such a good time inside, we never made it back OUTside. Sunday morning after my friends had gone, I decided I would go ahead and start the fire anyway. There were a couple other things for the pile, too…..I decided to burn everything all at once J Mwahaha!

My little fire ring before being loaded up with scrap wood.

Who knew the driveway was so big?! I'm now down to two piles left up here :)

...oops.

Otherwise, a pretty quiet day. A little more cleaning..a little movie watching..a short nap, and all was right with the world.

Never thought I'd see the day..

We had hung siding as far as we could without making some more decisions..

First, the window needed to be re-installed.

..and trimmed

We added those pieces along the top of the bay window to make siding up to the shingles easier and cleaner looking.

Progress: Day One

Paint samples and completed siding. Dad even mulched my leaves!





I never see it from over here - it looks so small!

Sunday progress. Siding: COMPLETE!
A couple little pieces of trim left to hang around the bay window and two new porch columns to set. For now though, I think I'll catch up on some sleep :)

Happy 100th!

For my 100^th post, I have for you (drum roll) MORE WINDOWS! J Specifically, the LAST windows of this renovation – the tall, skinny bay windows in the living room. A pretty fitting 100th post celebration, I'd say!

Before: single pane replacement windows that had some small issues. 

We had a lot of fresh air flowing through the house Sunday afternoon!

First window: DONE! This one took the longest - after we had a system worked out, the other two took no time at all!

Not too shabby!

All I have to say is: thank you baby Jesus for friends and family. I wouldn’t have any of this without them!

We'll trim around the new windows, install the stained glass window above the bay, set my new/old porch columns, and finish up the siding! It's almost too easy...

Siding by the bay

The bay windows without the metal trim and storm windows.
We only broke two of the storm panes.. :S

For the first time in a LONG time, we can say that three sides of the house are completely wrapped in new siding! All we have left to do is this little bit around the front of the house! That said, there's a LOT of cutting to do..should be interesting :)

The leaves have definitely started falling..looks like we better finish these outside projects soon!



Look at all that siding :)

House wrapped and sealed, windows in, corners in place!

Windows and doors trimmed with the same PVC product I used last time. A little more expensive, but really easy to work with and rot-resistant. The trim and siding should be here for a long, long time!

Trim in place and the first few courses of siding all around the remainder of the house. All the hard work has been done - now we just need to get everything else put in place!

That might just look alright when it's all cleaned up..

It sure does! A few more pieces up top and we'll be good to go on this side of the solarium.

Paint is becoming a thorn in my side. I'm never this indecisive..I'm not sure why this is so hard!

The really sad part is..I still don't like the samples I had mixed. I really, REALLY like the dark gray color I had initially picked out..I just think it's going to be too dark. Woe is me..

I got the stained glass window all sanded, caulked, primed and ready to go. Dad had a piece of plexi glass made up, too. Growing up in this neighborhood, I guess he had a feeling there might be a kid or two with a BB gun...

It looks really great! Ready to fill the hole in the wall :)
Stay tuned for more - lots of progress every day!