Final windows

Things may slow down considerably since Mike has begun to work on a day job, but up through now, he's been working to get the windows finished. The last two were the ones I like the best. First, his brother, Terry and nephew, Ben came to help put in the bathroom window. We took two of the transom windows that were over the old doors, and used them on top of each other. It's different but I love it. You can see over the scrap wood and AC units that the two windows are different from each other.

A door that locks

Well, it took two days, but we got a door yesterday and handles and locks today. When I checked at 7 PM it was 44 F in our ground floor; Mike worked all day in that but at least was mostly out of the rain.

Light in the house

It's been a week of windows. Yesterday, after necessary paperwork, a friend from out of town came by and stayed until we went to lunch. So, after a 1:30 PM start, it was a nice surprise that he was able to finish a window. Today, with a full day of work, he got TWO done - though he did end up working a little late. We have only two more windows and two doors left!

Briainard St. house - before

Remember this house? We posted it early on our blog; it was one we looked at when we were house shopping.

Brainard St. house - after

This photo and an article were in the paper yesterday. Well, maybe we made the right choice. BTW, not to be too tacky, but what was Frances THINKING when she let the press photograph her dressed like that?!?

After - stove

This is the stove (see post below) now!

Before- stove

Well, the craigslist ad said it was a commercial type stove made in a standard household stove size - for $49. Heavy cast iron, full of rust and what looked like some animal fur (I DON'T WANT to speculate!) I still wanted it for the really cool burners. All the web info says that what I've done with high-heat and appliance paint won't hold, but for now, I love this thing!

Week One, 2007

After a late start on the week due to travel, Mike hit the ground running. Though the windows were made to fit the openings in the house, installation is definitely NOT just “plug and play”. First the old windows must be removed, and then nothing fits just right. So, it’s basically been one day for one window. First, he began with the rental unit’s master bedroom. The first window he did, he realized that those windows were original to the house - as evidenced by finiding more square, hand-made nails holding on the window facings!

Which one hit the falling board?

Thursday – the day after LSU’s victory in the Sugar Bowl – Mike had help from Jake again, so they got a window done AND the final large beams removed from the last room.

Saturday January 6

Today, Saturday, January 6th, 3 of the 4 windows on one street side were finished. So many people enjoy walking by and commenting on the progress and that’s always encouraging. With the house being on a much-traveled corner, many people are watching it daily. Between homeless guys who want to work - but always "tomorrow" - and others who are amazed that we're doing this ourselves, it's always an interesting day when there's work visible from the street.

I need to leave more often!

Again today I went out shopping and when I returned some hours later, I got a big surprise. We have a kitchen window installed!! Mike did it alone, in the middle of a really rainy day. I'm hoping he'll wait for help before he installs more, but this one looks so great!!!

A favorite

I just needed to post this. I walked into the kitchen last week and saw this.

Christmas decorations

While touring the city a bit with Angie, our daughter, and her two boys, we saw a bit of the way the French Quarter decorates. A special prize will go to the first one to email me with the name of the place where the boys are eating in this picture!

Work at Christmas

Though most of the work installing heating and air conditioning was done by Mike and Colin, our son-in-law from Phoenix, we did get some demolition work done by the grandsons, Donovan and Dylan. Dylan, at 14, delighted in tearing out stuff - which was why his Paw Paw Mike specifically saved that work for him. I got no pictures of the men working but enjoy these of the boys.

Turning the corner

Last night Mike said, "We've firmly turned the corner; we are building now." That may not seem like much - and these pictures may not look like much - but he means that we're basically finished with much of the DEstruction phase and into the CONstruction phase. YAAY! Actually, we have done more construction than he gives himself credit for, but this does seem different. We will still tear down more things, but today we worked on the floor for our upstairs bedroom/study/sitting area and bath. And our heater arrived so that we can put our sweet long-suffering son-in-law to work while he's on his Christmas "vacation" here. You can see Mike at work here (well, OK, surveying his work here) but even I was able to use the nail gun and put down some boards and tar paper today.

Today we worked on the floor upstairs and progress IS being made. I was finally useful - I'm getting to be a much better nail-puller. So while Mike was out at a meeting (so HE says - likely story) I pulled nails and got flooring ready. YAY!

AND, the tree looks a little better tonight. Lots of lights because most of our decorations are stored. But where, oh where, is the angel for the top???

Mmm - for Katie M.

What could be better for people who don't want to stop and get cleaned up but are hungry for lunch? mm Zone bars!! AND tonight after we went to eat, we bought our tree. This 7+ footer looks pretty puny in the room, but since it has to share with windows and shutters, and door frames, and since most of my decorations are packed faaaar away, we'll save the 9 footer for NEXT year.

More dirty wood to see

Today we moved work upstairs and began getting a floor for the upstairs part. We HAVE a floor up there but it is far from level, and it will need to be at a higher level anyway, to put in insulation, now that we've removed the old false ceilings. Mike will need to plug some holes, too. Some were made in the ceiling downstairs for water pipes or electrical wires and will be simple. Some, like the fireplace (sadly no longer with us) and the old stairs, will take a bit more work to cover up. But it will get done!

We've finished closing in the small bedroom of the rental section and you'll see Mike on the ladder working on that (Fran, see the Winshape mug?). Occasionally Michael (in the picture with Mike) has dropped in to make a little money by doing whatever Mike wants. He helped on Tuesday and got a ticket back to Nashville where he evacuated after Katrina. He will be back, but not until March.

Pretty old

In working on the ceiling and roof, Mike found where some of the building was still held together with the original pegs in posts instead of nails.

Mike's day

In working to get the roof right, he put together the "third hands" with ladders to come up with the height he needed.

Curious feature

This little feature seems to have been an 8 inch tile stuck on to cover a bad job of grout work. Do any of you have a spare decorative, old 8 inch square tile?

Today, after using the remainder of the bucket of goo last night, and scrubbing really hard with wire brushes, this is the way it looks.

More bits and pieces

While Mike worked all day on getting the rental-guest-room roof ready, I spent another day on the fireplace. This is the way it looked when I finished yesterday.

Back to work

We've been away for almost 10 days now and we're glad to be back at work in the sunny, cold-for-New-Orleans house. Today Mike decided that there may be some additional steps that need to be taken for structural stability, and while I whined about more time, I suppose I'd rather not have the whole thing crumble under the weight of the slate roof. So here he is, surveying the place of the next work. What do you notice new?

Madelyn's project

While there is little I can do alone, I HAVE taken on the job of trying to get the gray textured finish off the bricks of the rental fireplace. Thanks to a powerful (I HOPE!) but good smelling goop that Angie put me onto, I tackled it today while Mike worked on structural stuff. The required skill for this is none but it's helpful if you've iced cakes before - preferably with pudding. Guys-who-learned-to-make-cake-icing, I'd tell you to put a little more powdered sugar in if I had my choice. ;-)