Monday, January 12, 2009

Window Wall

(Click on the photo for a larger view.)

Another project completed and marked off the list.
Another thing that makes our house seem that much more OURS.
(Disregard the visqeen wall treatment--that's an upcoming project.)

Although originally we planned the window wall for aesthetics only, we've figured out it's also going to work as a heat block since there used to be about about a 20ยบ difference in temperature between the two sides of the bed. Mostly we've been swapping sides so neither one of us dies of dehydration in the night, but these windows direct the heat down around toward the foot of the bed.

We still make the dogs sleep on the floor... at least until the fire dies out and it starts to cool down. They're so abused.

napping during construction of the window wall

Also, my dad cut us a piece of expanded metal to put in the bottom of the firebox. I was really suspicious of that having any effect on the size and duration of the fire, but in a strange coincidence our fires have been longer and more mellow since we put it in there! He's a smart guy!

I'm bugging Keith to make the next project the sawdust toilet. A toilet is something that is very handy to have closer than 10 yards in the middle of the night.

The newest addition to the farm is a kitty my parents called Tigger, but Keith and I call him Dumpy. He was abandoned at the dumpsters on the highway and because my parents had a moratorium on adopting pets (remember Carl?), I didn't mention it to them when the woman placed the ad in the paper. Thursday night my mom says, "Guess what we're getting!" Yes, another cat. An indoor male cat. He's a cutie and super playful and pretty tolerant of the dogs--he even chased Mia this morning! Of the broken moratorium on animal adoption, mom says, "We didn't need him, but he needed us." Awwww. So that makes 3 dogs and 6 cats. Wow.

Look how fat Carl is! No wonder animals show up here!
(At least we hope that's fat and not pregnant!
Someone needs to trap Carl and get her to the vet ASAP!)

Tigger/Dumpy (a little cross-eyed), used to be fat,
was starved and abandoned, is about to get fat again.

7 comments:

Melissa M. said...

Those windows look great!
It is so satisfying for me to sit here and watch your house be completed.
How's your job going? Publish anything new lately?

April said...

Thanks!
Job's good...working on redesigning the classifieds right now. Oh, and I did story on 3rd graders having a chess tournament--that was fun.

Patia said...

OMG, your little house is SO cute!! I LOVE the window wall, and also the corrugated tin and the beautiful wood floor. Very, very cute!

Arika said...

I love the windows that's such a neat idea.

Emily Dunkle said...

Hi April,

I know this is several years old now, but I LOVE your window wall. My husband and I are getting ready to move in July, and I have 10 salvaged windows that I either need to do something with or get rid of. Our new apartment is an open floor plan, so I'm thinking of trying to rig up a little window wall as a room divider.

When you did yours, did you pay attention to how much weight your hooks and chains can bear? I'm worried they'll be too heavy and pull our ceiling out and come crashing down. I should probably invest in a stud finder thing too, huh?

Any tips you have on making something like this would be awesome!

April said...

Hi Emily - you'd definitely want to hang windows from a stud/rafter. Other tips: lay out the windows in the floor or ground and arrange according to size, then you'll know where to put the hooks, too. Once you decide on a formation, take a picture or make a drawing or number them to remember what hooks to what. We started by hanging the top row and then worked on down. We didn't encounter any weight problems - as long as the windows are sturdy and the sash or frame is intact it should be fine. We just used standard S-hooks and eye-bolts to put them together. Let me know if you have any more questions and I'll try to help. Thanks for the visit!

Emily Dunkle said...

April –

Thanks so much for your reply. I really appreciate your insight! If I think of any other questions, I'll let you know! In the mean time, I'll start configuring the layout.

Thanks again.