Saturday, February 16, 2008

A window and a door

I forgot the window and door stories-- they happened before plastering or roofing but I forgot to mention them...

Window: We drove about 30 miles away to a window factory-- we knew we needed a BIG window to let in a lot of light. We gave them our dimensions, they said they had one in stock-- we loaded it up and took it home. Murv installed it and i went inside to open it. It SLAMMED open! What the?? Oops.
We gave then dimensions and they gave us a window that was designed to be installed long ways instead of cross ways. The window was thus spring-loaded so that had it been installed as it was designed, it would be easy to open. :) So anyway, Murv took the springs out for me and it works just fine... boy did we feel sheepish though-- the things you learn to think about...

Door: This is a special door-- a good friend of ours that is a carpenter-- Robert Valentine, had this door sitting in his storage shed for a long time and didn't know what to do with it.

After having searched and searched for the right door-- and driving many many miles and almost getting a different door but backing out at the last minute because they were extorting us on the price... Robert offhandedly asked if we might have use for a front door. We went and looked at it expecting it to probably be a junk door but decided it was perfect-- glass to let in a lot of light, great UV protection, super-heavy, solid wood and character! Robert even came and helped Murv install the door. This door has great Karma! Hooray for free building materials that actually work out well!

In addition we got a BUNCH of lumber from the coal pile at the hardware store 20 miles away (miles are mentioned so you know how much time we spend driving everywhere to get every little thing-- one thing we didn't factor in when we decided to chase this dream in the country) and we got all of it for $75.00-- the guy was like "if you take it all right now and get it off my hands, you can have it for.......$75" how cool! We were feeling pretty fortunate that day!

Murv was able to use this lumber to frame in the window, door and lots of other little projects. We still have some left.


Anyway-- with the window and door installed we could finally keep out spiders, some of the rain, and other animals...a big step considering we had been sharing with about 500 daddy long legs and a bunch of other who knows whats!
(p.s. i added a photo to my Tough Times entry if you want to see my "ghetto kitchen")

2 comments:

Amanda said...

I am so glad to know what you guys have been up to! Thanks for sharing. Love you.

Anonymous said...

love your guts! H