Why I Oughta...

All the way back in early January, I posted for the first time about the salvaged windows we were intending to use in our new old farmhouse.   You can see them in their original state here .  There is a pair of square-ish windows for use in one of the rooms and this large, horizontal-oriented transom that was destined to go in our front hall vestibule. In early March, I shared a photo of some of the window sashes that were removed .  We dropped them off at Drebohl Art Glass in Chicago to be fixed and preserved.  As part of that process, we had our builder strip the sashes off all three, sand them down to be smooth and then prime them with a white primer before bringing them back to the guys at Drebohl Art Glass for the final assembly. As the house progress continues, one of the trades that is moving along is the trim carpenter.  We didn't want these windows just laying around the jobsite because of their delicate state, so as part of his work, he moved ahead with installing th

Back in early January, I posted about the three windows we bought salvage that included a big transom and a pair of more square-ish windows .  The transom is destined for our entryway/vestibule and the pair will go in the library/living room.   We wanted to do the windows right, so we found the folks at Drehobl Art Glass in Chicago and after talking with them, decided to undertake the restoration process on all three.   That meant taking the glass out of the sashes and work on the leading in between each one.  That also gave us an opportunity to work with our painter to have him restore the sash/frame.  Here's what one of them looked like in the back of Nat's van.  You can see that they're in pretty rough shape.  Peeling paint, weather damage.  They'll get stripped, sanded and then glued to make them just about new. And here's a look at the pair of leaded glass windows out of their sashes.  They will undergo a bit more work to get straightened out

Right at the turn of 2017, I posted a photo of a couple of salvaged windows we're going to use in our new old house and mentioned that we also bought a transom window that came from the same place. Here, above, is a look at the transom window right next to one of the square windows that are destined for our library room.  The transom is 74" wide by 18" tall (that's the glass part) and the frame adds a few inches each way.  We really love it and it was in our budget to buy this one.  There was another one that just was priced a bit too high, but was pretty awesome. We're going to use this transom in the 'interior' side of the vestibule that we're building right by our front door and I'm hoping we can work to incorporate the design in other places - maybe another transom?  We can't get too nuts, though...right?

About a week ago, we went to a salvage and antique shop with Nat's parents and her sister on the northside to pick out some windows for our new place.  We ended up buying this matching pair of beveled glass windows that will go on the southside exterior wall in the library up front of the house.  We also bought a really sweet transom that I'll post a photo of at some point. With the new year here, our attention turns to the construction of our new house.  And despite it being a long, long, long process, I think both Nat and I are excited to see it come to life... like...really come to life in terms of being built!  These windows are the first thing we've *bought* for the new place, so this brought an extra level of reality to the situation. We put in some vintage windows in our first place on Indiana Street and I always liked how they transformed the house a bit with an 'new old house' feel.  It was one of the best decisions we made.  I'm hoping we'll

That's pretty swoon-worthy, isn't it?  We found these doors at the Reuse Depot in Maywood.  If you're in the market for doors, go there.  You won't be disappointed.  It is the same place that has the stairs that I posted earlier this year and called 'the stairs of my dreams' .

Nat and I have been through a lot with the ups and downs (mostly downs, frankly) of our house search over the past year.  Actually....about a year and three months, but who is counting.  I'm hopeful, that we're getting close to a resolution in terms of having a 'direction' (but not a definitive answer yet, however), but we likely won't know for sure for almost a month.  We've been through a lot including looking at building a new house, buying a beautiful old house, and building a new/old house. During part of the process, when we were talking about building on a particular lot, we went looking for some salvaged old house parts.  And that lead us to the Reuse Depot in Maywood .  Inside a warehouse building, you'll find so much awesome.  Everything from old doors to windows to mantles and cabinets.  Some of it is plain.  Some of it is extraordinary. Including these stairs.  They were harvested out of a Queen Anne Victorian in Hinsdale that was built in