A Grueling Week Later, We Have Windows!

Whew! What a crazy chaotic week this has been. The crew of window installers came on Monday morning as the dawn began to break and didn't finish until after dark, every day for five consecutive days. They finally left the building after dark on Friday evening last.

Of course, my nerves are completely frazzled after five days of guys with dirty work boots tromping through my house day after day, having huge gaping holes that used to be windows, bugs taking up residence inside with wild abandon, and a thick layer of sawdust everywhere. To their credit, the crew laid thick brown paper on the floors and taped it down securely. I had already covered most everything, but there was still tons of prep before they began installation.

I had a few hundred moments of freaking out over little details, but in the end, the workers took care of as much as they were capable of, and these guys are amazingly good at what they do. The rest of those little details that can't be repaired will simply have to be overlooked. Being in a city of less than 200,000 people, we don't always have the resources one might have in bigger cities to deal with the problems of older homes. We don't have access to people like those on the HGTV shows, therefore some things are left by the wayside, unless you know what to do.

I will, to be frank, tell you that the Snootys clearly need guidance when it comes to home improvement... Even when we aren't the ones actually doing it. Decisions made on specifics like what kind of material, glass panes, what color the panes, are all Greek to the home owners who have never before done any remodeling. This is where I raise my hand along with Mr. Snoots and admit that we are about as clueless as it gets, so we're thankful for the professionalism of this company and its team.

In spite of their being so wonderful to work with, Mr. Snoots & I managed to still screw up a few rather large details we didn't really think about at first. Like whether we should go with wood again or vinyl or whatever. We decided vinyl had to be best, being cost and energy efficient. Not so sure there, but time will be the true test I suppose. I wish we still had Mr. Snooty's folks around to guide us. I mean, they designed and built their own home once upon a time. Cursed cancer!

Next, the faux pas was the color and there were only four choices, so we went with almond instead of the white since the other two choices didn't suit us. During installation we found out that the vinyl window trim can't be painted (actually it can but it has to be done by someone who knows what they're doing... That's not us. Ka-ching! There goes the cost efficiency.), so it doesn't match up with all of the windows, whether inside or out. At least they look great in the newly decorated guest room, and the hallway to the master as well as the old guest room. I suppose 3 out 7 matches isn't a total disaster, really.

This brings me to the Big Kahuna of screw-ups... The painting of the exterior BEFORE buying windows was probably the most ridiculous thing we've ever done. In our defense, I will say that we just naturally assumed everything could be painted to match what we'd already had done by our painter. Oops. Too late. Epic. FAIL.

Several of the windows look quite nice inside and out, but that's where it stops. The other four *units* (7 actual windows) are so far off inside and out, that it's almost funny. I said almost. All of the paint our painter did, is slightly sloppy in comparison to the guys who did the windows, and it's all dirty now. It doesn't stand up well next to the other windows we did not replace. Oh. Well.

It's quite apparent that neither of us should be left to major remodeling changes without professional supervision. There were countless tiny details we either couldn't decide on or just didn't know which way to go. Now, the one positive factor here is that we are learning as we go, so to speak. We should have this down pat by the time we've sold the house and moved... Somewhere around the year 2020. If we're still alive.