The super big, OMG, house-changing project

I told you I was on it (everyone should thank Betsy for guilting me into finishing this post before the coming of the next millennium). It just took us a while to put all our furniture back in their original places. Anyway, as many of you already know, our super big, OMG, house-changing project consisted of getting new windows for the whole house. This may not seem that exciting but the difference to the house is significant.

First, the amount of light that comes in the house has significantly increased. Now, I thought the house got a lot of light before with all of its big windows but I never realized how much the old screens and windows blocked the light. Now, we get beautiful rays of sunshine pouring into the house in all directions.

Second, the house has become a lot quieter. The old saying "if these walls could talk" did not apply to our house. Because our walls did talk. Or rather, we would talk and anyone within a 30 foot radius of the house could hear us. And we could hear them. The neighbors talking across the street? Yep, we could hear you. The dogs parking across the way? Yep, it was like they were standing in the room with us. The sounds never really bothered us. Both Duff and I sleep like the dead. But now, an eerie calm has descended upon the house. No more cricket chirps and bird songs. Its like we actually live in a house now and not a tent.

Third, we have discovered that our air conditioner actually works. Before we thought that our 25 year old behomoth was just puttering on its last legs. But now we have discovered that it works just fine. In fact, we've actually had a few days where we felt the house was too cold! This never happened before! We were constantly turning the thermostat down to keep from sweating. Now, we keep the thermostat at a reasonable temperature and the air conditioner almost never runs. Its craziness!

Fourth, the new windows make opening windows and airing the house possible. Before, we had 4 windows in the house that we could not open (9 if you count the basement windows) and the rest of the windows we could open (with effort) and sometimes close (sometimes, with a lot of effort and banging and occassionaly tools were involved). Now, they slide up and down with the work of one little finger. They also flip in for easy cleaning (not that that will happen any time soon).

(former un-open-able window)

Fifth, our basement is less scary now. The previous basement windows were gross. There is no other word for them (sorry, I have no before pictures). They had metal frames on them that had rusted severely over the past 50 years. Most had rusted through and had small holes where you could see straight through them (kind of like metal lace). One in particular had broken and was stuffed closed by the previous owner with a plastic bag (note to other homeowners, do not try this as home--plastic bags are not intended to seal windows). The glass was also so old and ill-used that you couldn't really see through it. Which overall gave the basement a dark, haunted feel. Now we have lovely white casement windows that open (*gasp) with the flip of a lever and let in copious amounts of light.

There are about eight or nine other things I could add here to espouse the wonder that is our new windows. But I'm trying not to bore you to death...just maybe to sleep. So I'll leave off for now. But oh, new windows, how we love you.