Restoring Window Trim

With Kendra's cloth diaper post pulling in 300+ visitors, as opposed to our usual 50 visitors, I have a tough act to follow here.  I get it-- people are more interested in parenting than they are in two DYI-challenged folks futzing around with a (nearly) 100-year-old house.  So consider this my effort to simultaneously yank this blog back on-topic and lose hundreds of viewers who might otherwise become regular readers.

After my last update, I was working to get the bathroom in finished shape.  Now that our bathroom is completely rebuilt and retiled, it's time that we start . . . wait, hold on.  My mistake, the bathroom is NOT done yet.  The walls are built and the joints are all taped and mortared, but there is still no tile.  The projected completion date is end of month, but, of course, I said that last month.

Let's forget about the bathroom for now.  With spring approaching, Kendra and I are contemplating what exterior work should be accomplished this year.  We've done quite a bit to the east (front) and west (back) sides of the house, but relatively little to the north and south sides.  Here's a view of the north side of the Peaches estate:

This side of the house really annoys us.  This picture actually looks more appealing than the house looks in real life, I think.  This side faces a street (I'm standing near the street in taking this picture), and we've struggled coming up with something to enhance the curb appeal.  So far, we've done a few small things -- you can see the stone wall around the AC unit.  There are also three nine bark bushes and three vibernums we planted last year (they are just sticks right now, but hopefully will be nice and bushy once spring arrives).  Otherwise, this side is just a large expanse of grungy vinyl.  Long-term the plan is to reside the entire house with new wood clapboards, but our empty piggy bank prevents us from moving on that right now.  Another part of the plan is to plant some trees on this side and let them grow, but that does nothing to help in the short term.  

Given the lack of curb appeal on this side coupled with its prominence to the street, Kendra and I discussed what small touches we could do to dress it up a bit.  We had settled on a modest plan: repaint the windows to the basement, perhaps paint the stone foundation, and paint the vinyl window trim.  That's when I got to really looking at the windows:

We often lament the vinyl siding that's on the house.  But look at that window--to me, it sure looks like we have some pretty ornate wood window trim lurking underneath that damn plastic.  You can even see that the bottom sill is not cut flush with the side trim, which makes me think that the original trim is fully intact under the vinyl.  After all, if they wanted to make the vinyl job easier, they would have squared off the windows, wouldn't they?

Taking all this into account, I think the new plan is to remove the vinyl from the windows and repaint/restore the exterior wood window trim.  This is, no doubt, a much larger project than just slapping some vinyl-friendly paint on there, but I think the finished product--if we can pull it off--will be more impressive.  Plus, I have already undertaken to restore our original wood windows, one at a time, and this will dovetail nicely with that project (more details on the window restoration in a later post).  

So what do you think, Peaches readers?  Does this have a shot of working?  Have any of you done this type of thing before and have any tips for us?  One of my biggest worries is flashing/waterproofing, but I think the siding and some caulk should take care of that for us.  Or is there something I'm overlooking?

Porch Painting Progress

Lately, we've had a renewed zeal for home improvement (ha!) and some cooperative weather, so we've been tackling some of those outdoor projects we've otherwise put off for too long. In particular, we've paid a lot of attention to our porches. If you'll recall, we reconstructed both our back porch and our front porch last year. Our contractor used treated lumber for all of our new framing, so we had to wait a bit for the wood to cure before painting. After staring at raw, unfinished wood for a year, we decided* enough was enough and it was time to pretty things up a bit.

*Okay, by "we" I mean "Kendra." She seriously kicked me in my butt to get back aboard the home improvement bandwagon. I have spent the last year content with the current state of the Country Estate, which I would describe as thoroughly adequate. She, on the other hand, is always planning the next move--which is not a bad thing--and has no contentment with "thoroughly adequate." I've had my come-to-Jesus moment, though, and am back to work and fired up to get things done around the house. Until Mizzou football season starts, anyway.

While we haven't quite finished the painting on the porches, we are making solid progress. Some of the painting on the back porch will have to wait to accommodate our new garden, but we should knock out the bulk of it by next weekend. Here is a shot of the stairs and decking leading down to the patio:


Everything in white is newly painted. Okay, I know that doesn't look like much, but it is a pain to paint those damn spindles, and I'm glad that job is done. We will be painting the steps and floor a red color to match our front porch, which, by the way, now looks like this:


I just realized we didn't get a good "before" shot of the front porch, but let me tell you--there is a huge difference between now and then. Most of the stone columns you see in the picture above were buckling out, causing major structural issues. Due to this issue--or perhaps causing it--there was a giant hole in the ground under the porch, which I'm sure just pooled water, causing more movement, and further destabilizing the area. I'm no structural engineer, but that's my theory and it makes sense to me. To remedy the situation, our contractor propped up the porch roof with lumber, and then tore out the rest of the porch structure. He cleaned and re-laid the stones, rebuilt the frame under the floor (which was pretty well rotted and bounced when you tried to walk on it), and replaced/reused the old floorboards. He also filled in the hole under the porch to get water away from the house. The result is a porch that is structurally sound, safe to walk on, and pleasing (we think) to look at. Last week, after the powerwashing, we were able to finish painting the raw wood. Now, all that's left is to put on some lattice around the bottom and plant a few shrubs. We're crossing our fingers to get that finished by the end of July.

Let's Take It Outside

So far, all the work to the house has been on the interior. Now that winter finally seems to be over, we decided it was way past time to address the exterior of the house.

We've got a lot of problems. We've documented the problems with the front porch, and it is near the top of the exterior to-do list. We have been assured that it isn't a structural threat to the house, but it is unusable in its current condition. Next, there is no outdoor entertaining space. We've decided to put in a patio instead of a deck, as it fits in better with the home's historical context. And, between the dog and Max, we really need to fence in the back yard. Add in the need for a complete landscaping overhaul and our (eventual) desire to remove the vinyl siding and restore the original clapboard siding, and out exterior to-do list is a bit overwhelming.

First up, however, is to address the back porch. Right now, it is enclosed and has been turned into a laundry room. When we moved in, we moved the washing machine and dryer upstairs, so the back porch doesn't serve much of a purpose. We've decided we want to turn it back into a screened-in porch, so that it serves a bit of an outdoor/entertaining purpose. We are very excited to get this going, as we think it will change the entire complexion of the homes exterior from the back elevation.

Here are the "before" pictures. First up, this is the back of the house:


The lower portion of the house on the right is what used to be (and what will once again be) the back porch. The taller portion on the right is an addition to the kitchen. As you can see, the entire exterior is covered in vinyl siding. We have no idea what we will find underneath that siding, especially on the enclosed porch. And, obviously, those rickety old steps must be replaced.

Next up, here's a picture from the inside of the house:


This door leads to the enclosed back porch. Right now, it is not an exterior-grade door. As part of the porch work, we are going to remove the door and window, and put in a french door. Our contractor says he can re-use the old trim for the french door, so it should retain its "original" look.

And here are pictures of the inside of the back porch:



As you can tell, it's not very attractive in there. You can see the old wood siding (what we hope we will find under the vinyl siding) and the remnants of the washer and dryer hook-ups. The exterior wall is covered in flimsy wood-paneling, with some kind of backer board underneath it. Hopefully the old porch posts will still be underneath there, and in salvageable condition. There is also (in the top picture) exposed plumbing and wiring that goes up to the second floor. Obviously, that stuff will have to be enclosed.

And that's the back porch in a nutshell. I will post updates as construction progresses.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

As I was reading the last few entries of our blog, I noticed a pattern...

It has snowed or iced at least 3 of the last 4 weekends. And guess what it is doing right now as I write this? It's snowing. And guess what it is supposed to do tomorrow morning? You guessed it! You would think from reading our blog that Missouri is covered in about 10 feet of snow right now, but the snow and ice is just coming in little bits at a time--enough to make for treacherous driving conditions for about a day or two--then it warms up for a couple of days and melts. Then it starts again, just in time for the weekend.

Last weekend, we knew another snowstorm was coming, but through sheer determination (we ARE going to get those cabinets painted) and a little bit of stupidity (it won't be THAT bad), we decided to "beat" the storm. So we got up early, loaded up the family, and headed to the house.

We got started painting the cabinets while Max played and, by some miracle, he decided to take a 3-hour nap. We took that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to FINISH painting the kitchen cabinets (woohoo!). Joe finished painting the doors while I worked on the cabinets on the wall.

Yep, I'm sitting on the windowsill with my feet in the kitchen sink.

There will likely be a little touching-up to do and we need to re-attach the doors and install new knobs and pulls. But the picture below may give you a little taste of what it will look like when it is finished.
Those of you who have been following our blog know that--working at our pace--these finishing touches will probably take at least a month. But somehow it feels "done" and that feels really good. The kitchen was the last room to paint downstairs. All that's left is the small entry downstairs (which will, as you remember, require removing and stripping trim) and two bedrooms upstairs (which we won't paint until we have some construction done). So we can put down the paintbrushes...at least for a little while.

And while we were triumphantly painting the cabinets, it started to rain. And then it got colder and started to ice. And then it got even colder and started to snow. By the time we left, this was the scene in downtown Lathrop
It was a slow drive home, but we made it safe and sound. We were supposed to go out to dinner that night with some friends, but our sitter couldn't make it with the nasty weather. So, we put the baby to bed, cracked open a bottle of wine, and watched the snow fall while we basked in the glory of completing the painting portion of our kitchen.

An Unexpected Christmas Gift

I posted last week about the winter storm that hit Missouri. This past weekend, we were hit with another round of ice and snow. Undeterred, we managed to make the trek up to Lathrop and work on the kitchen. That, however, is the subject of another day; this post concerns the generosity of new friends.

Earlier in the week, I received an email from our new insurance agent, Aaron Greer. Aaron is about my age, and is one of the few people Kendra and I know in Lathrop (along with our neighbors to the north, Rachel and Emma, who introduced themselves a couple weeks ago--but now I'm getting sidetracked). Apart from getting us a good price on our auto and home policy, Aaron is someone I've grown to rely on for letting me know the ins and outs of the Lathrop community.

Anyway, Aaron sent me an email to let me know that the ice storm hadn't caused too much damage to the trees at the country estate. He did mention that one tree did have some broken limbs. I replied that I hoped it was the ugly, drooping tree by the porch; Kendra and I had planned to have that cut down anyway. I went about my merry way the rest of the week, and didn't think much of the conversation--other than to realize how fortunate it is to have someone keeping on eye on our place.

Then, when Kendra and I arrived at the house on Saturday, we saw a pickup truck in the yard, and a man with a chainsaw doing violent things to the hated tree blocking the front porch.


That's Aaron on the right, dressed appropriately for the weather and the work at hand; and that's me on the left, dressed like a damn city boy.

After a couple hours work in the freezing temperatures, Aaron got the tree down and graciously hauled off the remains. Kendra and I were thrilled to have one of our "problems" eliminated by the generosity of someone who has known us for less than three months. The kindness of those in small towns was one of the reasons prompting our move in the first place, and it was nice to have that decision validated, at least in a small way.

Here is a "before" shot; notice the tree on the left side of the frame:
The tree doesn't look terribly intrusive in the photo, but it looked 100x worse in real life. It was ugly, it blocked the view from the porch, and it did not frame the house well from the street. Here is the house after the removal of the offending tree:

Much better, at least in our opinions.

So Aaron, if you are reading this, thanks again. We owe you big time.

Porch Problems

One of the big issues with the house is the front porch--it looks like it could collpase at any minute. The condition of the porch was flagged during our inspection. We foregoed (forewent? What's the right word here?) having a structural engineer inspect before buying because...well, I can't remember why. Because we are cheap? Because it was a calculated risk? Because we wanted the house anyway, I guess.

After we closed, our biggest concern was that the front porch was a symptom of a bigger structural problem. If we just needed to rebuild the porch, we were prepared to handle that. But, if it turned out that the porch was falling off because the whole freakin' front of the house was falling, too, then we'd have some problems. Our worst-case scenario involved us driving up to the house and seeing something like this:

On Sunday, we had an engineer come to inspect the house. Thankfully, it looks like the porch itself is the only issue. It will be a complete rebuild, but that is something that we were planning on anyway. The rest of the house looks to be structurally sound, with only some minor repair needed to the foundation. And, since the inspection was done by a family member, the price was right (thanks Mike).