New Bedroom Windows

You guys, our new bedroom windows are in. And containing my excitement has been nearly impossible.

We got a little bit of a later start than we planned with this project. We were thinking it would take place the first week of June, but our windows took a little longer to come in, so we were a few weeks behind. But, as usual, it was worth the wait.

When we first moved in, we had this patio door that led to nothing. It was foggy with condensation, and it couldn't be cleaned or fixed to see more clearly out of it. It was also just old and outdated and didn't offer a lot of weather-proofing in the colder winter months. Basically, it needed to go. We think that someone had installed a balcony off our bedroom at some point, and it was taken down, but the door was demo-ed out along with it. We thought about putting a balcony back in, but it just wasn't something we really wanted. Symmetrical windows to let in more light were way more important to us.

Before: A bad photo showing the terrible patio slider window (complete with an unmade bed).

After.

We hired a contractor to do this job. With trying to wrap up the bathroom, start/complete the guest room, finish off the mudroom, and more or less just wanting to get this project over with, it was just the best decision for us. Our contractor was here for about three days or so, and honestly, it was kind of nice to just have someone else do the work for a change. Not that we weren't doing anything while this was going on, but it was nice to have a project in-process that we didn't have to worry about. It was in someone else's hands.

We talked about what we wanted to do as far as windows, and at first, we thought we'd do one big window above our bed. Looking at it from the outside of our house, though, we decided two tall windows on either side of our bed would be better and look more appealing from inside and outside. The great thing about this room is that when you look out the windows from this wall, you can see the sun rising, so in the mornings, our room fills up with the most beautiful warm light. It's amazing. So we worked with our contractor and he made it happen.

This project required us to re-side that entire side of our house, though, which worried me a bit. I wondered if it would make re-siding the rest of the house down the line more complicated, and our contractor said, "Nope." He actually re-sided his own house piecemeal, and said it's fine. It also allowed for more flexibility with finances, too, which you know, is always nice.

The first day he was here, he took measurements and ripped out the siding, which was super fast. I feel like he was only out there for an hour. It my head, I thought it would be like a half day's worth of work. Nope again!

The next day, he came back to actually cut the new holes for the windows, and fill in our old doorway. I was at work this day, but Josh texted me pictures of the progress, and it was kind of scary to see big holes in your house. But the nice part was, when I got home, it was just done.

Side of the house after the siding was taken down.

Re-sided house with new windows.

The last day, he came back to re-side our house, and once that was done, Josh stepped in to finish the project (because apparently, we don't like to relinquish control too much).

It was a little scary having a hole in our house!

We saved a few bucks by finishing the project ourselves. Josh put in the insulation, sealed the framing of the windows and re-drywalled the hole from the old doorway. Once the wall looked like nothing had ever been there, we cut, painted and caulked the window trim, and we were done.

Josh putting in the insulation to finish off the big hole the patio door left.

I went back and forth on adding drapes to the windows. We like waking up to the sunlight every morning. Josh is literally that person that gets sleepy when the sun goes down, and wakes up when it rises. It's his alarm clock. And I just enjoy the pretty colors it makes in our bedroom. In the end, though, we actually can't hang any, so the back and forth conversations about it were a moot point. The slant in the ceiling wouldn't allow for drapery rod installation, and I'm not a huge fan of hanging drapes inside the framing of the window. So, naked they stay. And I actually kind of prefer it.

Once we finally get around to installing quarter-round trim along the ceiling/wall seams, this room will be 100% done. But for now, the new windows are totally doin' it for me. So far, it hasn't gotten old watching the sunrise from the windows while I get ready in the mornings.

Not the greatest picture, but our room floods with yummy, golden light every morning now. Yay!