Let There Be (Sun-)Light!

We were in Florida for a couple of weeks, just getting back this Tuesday, so I hadn't had a chance to see the house since the day before we left.  But Abby had been there just before the trip, and saw the very first step in our window refurbishment process.  She proceeded to take a picture on her phone... and there it sat for 2+ weeks, because we have no idea how to get pictures from her phone onto the internet.  And, weirdly enough, she can only send/receive pics by text, and my phone can only send/receive pics by email. (Is it an AT&T-vs-Verizon thing?  Whatever...)

ANYHOW, yesterday was the first day since late March I was able to go up to Forest Glen, and I got an eyeful: the original windows on the first floor have been entirely refurbished!  The ones that had been boarded up for so long are now open, and all of them have been stripped and primed white, ready for the next step.  And that's no small task: we've got 17 windows just on that floor!  (Okay, now that I think of it, there's one window that wasn't done-- in the first-floor bathroom.)  Regardless, the change from the outside is remarkable, and makes me even more impatient for when the whole place is done.  The change from the inside is amazing, especially in the family room, where all five windows had previously been boarded up.  Granted, the room's crazy bright right now because light from the 12 windows in the kids' rooms is shining through what will be walls, but still... most of my previous visits to the room have been in the dark, and even in the light there was pretty much no light getting in.  Now, the three little windows facing DeWitt seem just to be waiting to hover over Anyu's piano, and the two big ones facing the glen are filled with bright green from outside.  Yes!

Many of the second-floor windows are currently being refurbished, so several blocks of 'em are empty, with big plywood slabs posted over the openings as if expecting a hurricane.  The second floor will definitely take longer, because not only are there the 25 regular windows, but also the 6 up in the balconies, the five surrounding the front door, and the huge bay window overlooking the glen.  In other words, maybe it's time for another trip to the beach!

The initial view from the parking spaces.  Get a load of those windows!
They're all original windows so far; none have needed replacement.
If you look through them, you can see the walls going up in the first floor.

Lola looking out of the newly-unboarded windows in her bedroom.
She's standing up on the sill, which starts just about at her forehead
if she were standing on the floor.  The window looks out at the glen,
the windmill, and where our patio and barbecue will be eventually.

Who is this clean-shaven guy looking out of my daughter's gorgeous windows?

The glen side of the house, showing the three refurbished windows
in Lola's room, along with the two newly-unboarded windows in the family room.
The kitchen windows (above left) are currently being refurbished,
and the window in the dining room (the little one next to the window box)
is one of the last to still be boarded up.

A newly-unboarded window on the glen side of the house,
looking through the family room to the three newly-unboarded
windows looking out onto the street side of the house.

Isaac looking through the newly-unboarded streetside windows, through the family room,
and at a posing Abby (if you can make her out) standing on the glen side.

The street side of the house, showing additional new refurbishments,
in our bedroom (at right) and in the great room's windowbox (at left).
Also notice the refurbishment of the strange white frieze at bottom right,
which used to be the divide between the house and the screened-in porch--
which is now our bedroom and the kitchen.
(Plus, note the completed roof!)

The newly-bright family room, thanks to five newly-unboarded windows.
Isaac's room's to the left, laundry room and stairs to go up to the right,
and a space for Anyu's piano right along the wall.
Also, lots of room for needed storage (12"-18" deep) all along the top.

The newly-bright family room, this time looking toward the glen.
Lola's room to the right, and the guest room, the second stairway up,
and the entrance to the mudroom and bathroom are to the left.