Remodeling on Ice

We are in the grip of an ice storm that has taken a branch from an ash tree in the front yard, kept Will and Anna home for their fifth snow day this school year, and left our sidewalk and driveway treacherously slick. I was afraid Ringo would pull me over as we slid down the driveway to the street this morning.

Despite the rotten weather, Nelson, Chad and Jordan are here working. The new windows and back door are all installed, and apart from a cladding color that is not quite what I pictured, they look absolutely beautiful. The nickel spoon hardware, the muntins, the proportions and groupings are all stunning. I so appreciate all the expertise that Cathee brought to our project, and I am starting to really see her plans come to life.

And I am deeply grateful for an emergency cladding consultation site visit yesterday by my friend Jeanette, who heads up the Pella team at their advertising agency here in town. She arrived with cladding samples in hand, scrutinized the windows and concluded I had chosen the closest possible color match. Also, we will know a lot more about the color choice when we see it next to siding that's painted, rather than white Tyvek.

One decision that may need to happen today: settling on the height of the vaulted ceiling in the office bumpout. It's just amazing how much space is up there. When I looked up at the rafters for the first time, I immediately started envisioning bumping through from the north wall in Anna's bedroom and finishing off a storage space in the eaves. It's not going to happen, but it's fun to contemplate.

The back dormer is another area under discussion. It's currently covered in wide steel siding; the office bumpout will have HardiPlank like the garage, so we're debating residing the dormer to match. (As long as we're at it ...) Nelson is concerned about some rotting they discovered underneath the window on the stair landing. His preference is to replace that window with a smaller window, which would be smaller than the bathroom window near it.

The only good budget news: None of us think we need to put an Architect Series window by the stair landing, next to a ProLine window in the bathroom. That should save a little ... though maybe not enough to justify re-siding the whole dormer.