The Big House and the Little House

I spent a year and a half checking Craig's List almost ever day I was at home in Sun City for a good deal on an 8' X 4' window for my front living room. I finally found one. It was just what I needed!! But there was a bit of difficulty with the project as the original window was installed with a 3/4" flange all around it, then the bricks on the front of the house were installed. But, my installer finally got the old, single pane, aluminum frame window removed and got the new one installed. Stage two was installing the wood window blinds I found on Craig's List many, many months ago. First I had to add a 1" x 3" board on the inside of the window opening so the blinds, which were a bit too skimpy, would fit properly. Well, two boards made the opening just a little bit too small, so I had to remove one of them. After I got all that done, the brackets installed and the blinds hoisted up into place, I discovered the cord locking mechanism was malfunctioning. As I tugged and tugged on the cord to try to release the slats the whole shebang came crashing down on my face. OUCH!!! So, I went to the local Lowe's store and priced new blinds and shutters. They ranged from $150-$730. Instead I opted for the window blind repair shop. For a reasonable fee I had the lock/release mechanism replaced, a full tune-up, a foot of unneeded slats removed from the bottom and two additional support brackets to install. The blinds are now up and after about two weeks I now have some privacy again.


Here's the new window installed with some wall repair work yet to be done.



Here's the inside view of the new window and the new blinds, .



Here's the window and blinds from the outside, just in time for Christmas.


When I'm not busy with house projects I'm busy working on the Little Argosy.


Here's some pictures of the progress we are making on the bathroom.





Isn't the little 10" stainless steel sink cute?








Here's a bit of an eye sore...


...that is hidden nicely behind a cabinet door.


The cabinets will eventually be painted white to match the doors. The counter top will remain natural, with about 8 coats of Urethane on it.


My mom and I found the 3 cabinet doors for the bathroom and three for the kitchen at the Habitat for Humanity Store in Peoria, for $2 each.

Here's a kitchen cabinet door after being stripped and sanded, and waiting to be stained and coated with Urethane.



These are ready to be coated with Urethane.



The shower area is the next major hurdle to concur.



And of course the refrigerator needs to be installed and a custom cabinet built around it.


One day we may actually get to use the Argosy. = )