Living the Dream

The American Dream that is. Where else can you spend an entire weekend working on your house and end it by watching fireworks on the National Mall? Nowhere. Probably because there's only one National Mall, but that's besides the point...

This weekend was kind of a whirlwind, I actually can't believe it's already Tuesday and I'm back at work, sigh. But we did get a lot done with the house.

On the agenda for the weekend was framing out the window in the kitchen and finishing the ceiling/ putting in the fan in the bathroom. Ryan had already decided he was going to take out the window and put a lentil (sp?) in so he could rebuild the entire frame and make it more steady.  You see, when the previous owners replaced the windows, they kept the original (or just old) frames in so they were not in the best shape (note: they still had the weights in the frame). Since Ryan was going to frame out that wall and cover it with drywall, he thought it would be best to replace the window frame.

He started the day by taking out the window...

He then replaced the wood that was above the window with a steel lentil to make it much more stable.

Cutting the steel lentil.

And re-did the brickwork above the lentil. Enter our friend, Clark, who wore a matching shirt just for pictures (jk).

Safety First

Once the brickwork was set, Clark and Ryan set out to build the frame.

And put the window back in... just in time for a massive thunderstorm.

I won't mention that once the window was in we were out front drinking a beer when the clouds started rolling in and we realized the window wood exposed was untreated and about to get dumped on... which led to us scrambling out back to staple plastic over the wood JUST in time.

While Ryan and Clark were working on the window frame, my Dad and I got the ceiling covered in the bathroom.

Starting to look like an actual room.

Monday was just as productive as Sunday as Ryan got the wall around the window framed out (with the help of my Dad).

Finished Product!

We also put in the bathroom fan (with the help of Ryan's fence jumping skills for the vent).

Ryan in the neighbor's yard putting in the vent.

My Dad cutting the whole for the vent.

So we now have a large part of the kitchen walls framed out, the upstairs bathroom supported (thank god), and a ceiling/ fan for our bathroom PLUS, we got to see the fireworks on the mall. Why, happy birthday America. Nothing like spending the weekend living the dream.