siding - year(s) in review

Okay, so I know I said I was doing the 'siding is finished' happy dance a while back, but now it is absolutely, positively, 100% done. Really, I mean it.

Days above 35 degrees (suitable for painting) have been hard to come by. When they started showing up this past weekend, there was all the snow to melt through before I could stand outside and paint without feeling like I was enduring some sort of ancient water torture. I endured minimal water torture Sunday evening to get the second coat of trim paint on. First coat of body paint yesterday and second coat today. I was slightly late for a meeting this afternoon because of my painting quest, but no way in hell was I not going to get it finished today. Rain/snow for tonight and temps barely above 30 degrees for the foreseeable meteorological future.

So, with the monster project behind me, I have to say I really love James Hardie siding. It takes paint like a dream and just looks so nice. Would I ever do it again? Absolutely. As a DIY project? Likely not. It's such grueling, labor intensive work and the effort seems to outweigh the feeling of satisfaction. Or maybe it's just that the process takes so long, you forget where you came from. The DIY route cost about 1/3 of what it normally would, but it would probably be worth it to get a second job for a year instead and pay someone to install it.

Wish I had a nice little montage of pics to show like Fixer Upper, but alas, I have a ton of work (you know, the kind that pays the bills) to do between now and tomorrow afternoon. Just look at the post a few back where I pretended I was finished with the siding. That will give you some idea. :)

(Doh! I was in such a hurry to get to that meeting that I forgot to re-attach the cable and phone lines to the house. My impatience is going to make such a liar out of me.....)

celeb sighting in winter wonderland

This evening, I decided to take a walk to look for nice scenes of snow and lights. It's been so cold lately that I've been neglecting my walks/runs and was feeling desperate to be outside. So what if it's only 5 degrees, right?

I'm pretty proud of the people on my block this time around. Only the renters and the public works department neglected to clear their sidewalks. There is a creek behind my house and two pedestrian bridges....one on each end of the block. Since PW was off clearing roads or something instead of pedestrian paths, my neighbor to the north even cleared half of one of the bridges. Way to go usually-lazy-neighbors! Once I got beyond my block it was much more hit and miss, so it was a short trip.

I took my camera and snapped some pics along the way. I've just about given up on this thing....the exposure time is so long that it's nearly impossible for me to get a non-blurry pic. That said, proceed at your own risk.


the house

After my short trip around the block, I decided to head to the village shops for some pics of the lights.


village flower company


village clocktower - this time i kind of like the swirlies caused by my shaky pic

Right around now, I was really starting to freeze. For some reason the fingers on my right hand were really biting. So I started to rush towards the market where I could warm up before heading back home. Fingers stinging and toes numbing due to a mis-aligned sock and what do I see? St. Nicklaus crossing the street. No joke, right there. I said hello, but forgot I even had my camera since I was in such a hurry.

I took a walk around the market (even the freezer section felt warm) until my fingers thawed and headed back out. There was my buddy St. Nick again, crossing the street in the other direction. He happily obliged when I asked if I could take his picture.



A few more on the way back home.


promenade


boar sculpture


fountain on the promenade



EDIT: Public Works must've read my post. :) They've got their fancy snow-clearing machine out on the other side of the creek. They somehow managed to drive it off the sidewalk and it's now stuck. At least they're trying.

big snow and thanks

Thanks to House In Progress for the tip on honeycomb shades. I've always steered away from them for whatever reason, but HiP's post about it convinced me to give them a try.

The reasons I love them:
- They actually fit in my super-un-deep windows and they don't stick out too far. In some cases, I only had like 5/8" for an inside mount.
- They almost completely disappear when opened.
- In all stages of open-ness, they're very minimalist. These are the functional covers to keep from airing my bid-ness to the world. Pretty was not the goal, so I love that they don't have a lot of presence.
- I find them to be a better choice than blinds because I hate how blinds collect dust on the slats.
- They really do help block cold air. Contrary to mainstream beliefs, new windows leak cold air, too. A full week of highs below 20 degrees has proven that.
- Even when closed, the non-room-darkening versions provide a nice glow of light.

The reasons I don't love them: Expensive. But this is not unique to honeycomb shades. Somebody's making a lot of money on window coverings. That's why I usually make my own. Wait for a sale. I ended up getting Bali brand on sale through American because Bali was one of the few brands that offered a three-on-one headrail for my living room bay. Without the sale price, they can be found cheaper elsewhere.

All of the "finished" rooms (yes, I know I'm behind on finished room posts...) are now adorned in white honeycomb fabric, to be later adorned with "pretty" window ornamentation as time allows. I took a pic to post, but it's so unexciting I decided to skip it.

Instead, I will share a photo of the big snow. I think this is the most I've seen from one storm since moving to KC....about 8 inches here.


recycled-plastic birdie home