On Change, and Uncertainty

I guess Blogger and our weather have been colluding lately, seems neither likes change!

Now that blogspot seems to have its hiccups ironed out, I can show you what our big weekend project was!
When we bought our house a few years ago it wasn't in perfect shape.  The previous owners had fancied themselves do-it-yourself-ers, and enclosed the previous back porch into a sun room.  Unfortunately, they picked crap windows to do so.

And did I mention that they didn't square them?  Or angle the outer sills downward to divert rain?

Or level the floor?  And used the crappiest, cheapest wood to try to trim?

In other words, they were in sorry shape.  They barely kept out wind and rain, we won't even talk about how we were bleeding money in utility bills from losing all our heat or air conditioning through the thin glass.  So (needless to say) it was high time they got replaced!

Our first step was to wreak absolute havoc on the entire house by clearing everything out of the sun room.  Dining table, chairs, my craft table, my computer armoire, the kids' easel, a ton of books, crafting supplies . . . . you get the picture.

  

We finished close to midnight, and expected the installers early the next morning.
Mother Nature, however, decided she wasn't quite through with winter yet.

That would be a mix of hail, sleet, and snow.  Not quite the weather you want when you're scheduled to have a gaping hole in your house.  So everything got pushed back a couple of days.  The kids loved having the big open room to run around in, they were most fascinated by how much more their voices echoed without the furniture and dubbed it "the echo room."

Finally, the weather cooperated and the big switch happened.  There were quite a few surprises lurking, including:
*rotten wood under all the old windows (because of the aforementioned lack of rain diversion)
*a large wasp's nest
*electrical conduit run between the window frame and the wood framing of the porch wall
*zero insulation in the entire room
and the piece de resistance, the fact that the previous owners had framed the back door in cedar batten board.  Like, what you'd line a closet with.  No joke.  Sigh.

So.  After all that, are you ready to see the new, properly installed, properly flashed, properly insulated, levelled, squared, energy efficient and (if I do say so myself) completely gorgeous new door and windows?

The french-styled sliding door:

The side where most of the issues were:

Isn't it gorgeous?
We are so pleased.
Of course, now that we have these pretty new windows, we're thinking a few more touch-ups may be in order -- a fresh coat of paint, building a couple of window seats, maybe a new rug . . . . .

Z. wants to be involved in the design process.  Though he's being awfully picky about which shade to choose!

I'm linking to Weekend Wrapup at Tatertots & Jello !