Living in one home for over 29 years makes for a life that’s stable, comfortable, normal, and routine. I’m kind of in love with those factors, to tell you the truth.
But, in all frankness, I haven’t realized how ‘used to’ our home I had become until recent years.
The empty-nesting time in life has made me pause more often. When it is quiet in the house I think a lot about things I might like to change. Especially when I’m dusting or vacuuming around things with their imprints solidified in the carpet or the ‘I can dust that next year’ spots I enjoy neglecting until a better time.
This week with the new windows going in, I’ve stopped to notice how more and more things make me sigh, ‘Wow…things have become outdated!’
When we put on our new shingles four years ago, we realized how much the elements had destroyed the shingles. We chose the right time to revive the roof.
At that time, we (I) struggled with the decision to cover up the sunroof window we had in our master bathroom. I enjoyed the sunlight during the day, the moonlight at night, and listening to the pitter-patter of the noise the rain would make. It was my own weather station everytime I ventured in there to pee.
We decided to give the window up, it was likely going to go bad and then it would be a bigger job to repair it. It was a wise revival decision. And remarkably noted, I can pee in the dark too.
I hated the darkness in the bathroom. I guess I hated the drastic change. It was like the empty room when our youngest flew the nest for the final time, never to return to the room again as a resident, more so as a family visitor.
The possibilities were endless. The emptiness real.
It’s been two years, we’ve adjusted and so has she.
We’re so excited about how both of our adult-children have created their own homes. And we’re super excited for our oldest to be doing house hunting. My, oh, my, how they’ve grown, and now I need to grow up and be brave to make changes, too.
We’re super excited to see our old windows go and the new ones set in place. I was nervous about this window. It’s a pretty big whole if the new one didn’t fit. I remember watching our kids from this window – as they played in the yard.
Then we covered it up – it was too hot with the sun. The blind is semi-permanent, it doesn’t open and close, we have to take it down to clean it. Ugh…that happened twice since installed.
Buying new windows for our whole house was a BIG decision. Much needed, though. Terribly so. As they took the old window out, I felt relief, sadness, excitement, and a tad bit of anxiety.
Now we have a decision to make about our half-circle window that faces the south. Do we cover it with the old blind? So from the outside, it looks like this?
It could look nice without the blind…
Do we let the sunshine in? Until we decide if we like the openness or not? There is that housing development starting on the left, do we want to be able to see that??
Or should we try to hang the blind…we haven’t tested yet to see if it fits! Maybe it won’t fit?
Time will tell. I just know that all the extra light in the room contributes to how much I notice all the other things that could use revival in our empty nest. Decisions, decisions, decisions…
Post Inspiration – New windows in our empty nest.
PS – Have you replaced your windows, did you change window coverings too? Would you go with a half-circle window open or cover it up? We were wise to buy self-cleaning Low-E tinted glass…have you heard of that, did you buy that too, does it really work?! I’m all about saving cleaning steps!
I have never heard of self-cleaning tinted glass. What a great idea. We need to have our windows re-tinted as they tint came off. We think it’s because we put vinegar in the cleaning water – so please don’t do that.
Your adjustments are looking great – I like the idea of extra light being allowed in – so wouldn’t cover the half window.
We have done away with curtains and only use blinds.
That’s interesting…I need to ask them how to clean them? One of the days he mentioned that in another install they had to rinse the window with vinegar to activate the cleaning film? I bet they change the film often as they discover new and improved ways to make it better. I’m now wondering if they’ll wash their finger prints off before they finish putting the siding back on the house?!
We got rid of almost all of our curtains and went to blinds too. Thank you for sharing your tips!
Good luck with all your changes. Hope your tinted windows work out well. We’re having our re-done soon!
Thank you! We’re hopeful the windows work out well. How old are yours that they need re-tinting? That’s cool that they can do just that part of the window.
Not that old, Shelley – It’s just that we washed them incorrectly so need to re-do them. I think they’re four years old.
Wow – I have left the vinegar in the cupboard, and will use only soap and water per the instructions we’ve gotten for our windows. I hope your re-tinting works out well!
Windows and coverings are such a complex decision making process. We installed a decorative oval window 20-some years ago. It was great, until a person on a neighboring street installed a badly aimed, extra bright outdoor light. We’ve had to cover the window to mute that.
Good luck with whatever choices you make, Shelley.
I’m surprised at the complexity of this stuff. It reminds me of when we first built – all the decisions to be made and now we regret or still like.
Yeah…I don’t want a light shining in on the window at night. Thank you for the well wishes, I think we’re gonna need them! Good luck with your deck project this weekend, you’re so close to completion now!
I think this weekend will still involve prep-work. But after this, I should be ready to go, on feet at a time.
You’ll be done before the snow flies!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!
🙂
Same decisions here. Once we decided that we’d age in place in our current home, my critical eye realized it was time to upgrade many, many things. I have yet to tackle the actual details of new window coverings, so I look forward to seeing what you do first!
I’m thankful for your sympathy in this process. If I listened to what my eyes keep telling me, I may never stop ‘upgrading’. I’m going to live with the windows without coverings for a bit to see what I discover. Or what the neighbors can and can’t see. So far, the install has gone very well. They’ll be done today. They had one issue with a large 3 pane window, and they called the owner of the company, he came out and fixed it on the spot. I was impressed. I hope your install goes great this time around!
I’m all in favor of the extra light. Even with the covering. We also switched to blinds only. Easier and less fabric to catch dust. My biggest concern with new windows was that they were weather tight. No water leakage please!! 😉
As the fall weather approaches, I’m feeling love for the extra sunlight. In the 90 degree summers…not so much. I agree with you – no leaks is the most important thing. So far so good – it has rained every night they’ve installed, and no rain has come in the window or through the hole they haven’t finished covering with siding. They do great work!!
Expert installers make all the difference!
That they do!!
Wow that’s a very large and costly home upgrade Shelley! My 23 year old house windows are fine gratefully. They had to remove a good bit of siding to replace the window, wow. I agree with One Letter Up, more light is always better!
Yes, you’re right about the cost! We’ve heard that the year we built through about 5 years after it was a very bad time for quality control with the window company we purchased from originally. We did not go with that company again for many reasons. I’m loving the extra light for now. 🙂
Light makes for better photos too. 😎
That it does…I forgot to consider that!! How could I forget that?!
We had those half circle windows in Fl with paper blinds. I never liked them. Too high to see out of and difficult to control the light.
On the other hand, I love our skylights. Our house has high ceilings and is dark upstairs. I only wish we had ordered the solar power motorized closure for all of them. Ours has a rain sensor that closes automatically. The one in our bedroom has a shade we can open and close.
We always have a list of improvements outstanding…
Paper blinds, interesting. We went with the windows originally because it was in the design plans of the house we modeled ours after. The early 90’s look. I keep waiting for it to come back…!
I love skylights too – miss ours, but don’t miss the leaking and the moisture issues we had with it. We didn’t have a smart one, it was just a window that failed like the rest of them. Glad to hear you’ve found ones you adore 🙂
The list goes on here as well!
I, myself love light. I can never have enough sunlight coming into my room.
Congrats on the new windows. I hope you enjoy them for a very long time.
You do love light – and colorful ceiling lights too! Thank you – we hope to enjoy them for a long time, longer than the last brand, we hope!
I have to love light. My blurred vision needs plenty of light to be able to focus a little.
Thank you Shelley.
You’ve done well (blurry vision and all) by making sure your new tiny home has proper lighting. You’re welcome 🙂
Aaaaw
We have a wall of windows that have no coverings. Gasp! But they face trees and the river so they are shaded a bit in summer and I really need any light source I can find in winter. We did add window coverings in the bedrooms and bathroom, because privacy! I think the former owners were exhibitionists. LOL.
That’s a big project but what a nice improvement!
That’s awesome – if I had no neighbors and shade trees, I’d skip coverings all together. Except…there are those scary movies and creepy monsters in woods… I agree with you though, light source in the winter is very much needed and appreciated. I agree with the coverings for beds and baths, that’s for sure. It is a big project, makes us feel like we’re buying our house all over again! But we’re feeling some excitement with the newness, which is a fun side effect of it. And, only one window broke in the install process, they broke it, so they’re fixing it. Whew!
I’m not a good one to ask because as soon as it is possible we will be moving into a smaller space 🙂
You’ll be one to ask when you’ve decided what to keep or discard when you downsize!
Wow, no wonder it has taken all week for the install – lots of windows – new windows in the tea house too? My regret is I closed my metal rollable blinds when we had a lot of windstorms one Summer, then decided to just leave them down all the time as they keep sun damage out and somewhat warmer in the Winter – but now I cannot raise the blinds, so that is not good. If I want to see outside, I go open the front door or have to open the one blind that works but I can’t see anything but a lot of trees. I’m sure you’ll be pleased with the end result.
Yep, and they still have more work to do on Monday. And come back some day to fix the glass that broke during install. I remember you talking about your blinds. I agree, that’s unfortunate that you can’t open them.
We’re super pleased with the windows so far. I don’t want to cover them yet. I think I’ll enjoy the sun through the winter months.
Yes, the sun in the Winter will give you some warmth and cut down on heating bills and certainly some cheer as well. I am sorry I shut the blinds, but it is done and I used to tell my mom it was a dead giveaway when we were not home, especially when we went to Toronto for three-four days at a time.
The new models of rolling shutters are now able to go up and down by programming them – and they advertise doing that not only for security purposes but also to follow the sun in the Summer to keep it cool and no sun damage to furniture and carpets either.
That’s what I’m hoping for. Sounds like you’ve looked into replacements. You’d likely enjoy being able to open them up and feel the sunshine in the winter too.
No, at this point, they are sealed shut and the entire blind and attachments would have to come down – it would be quite costly. They are good for security purposes but that is all – a little worrisome for a fire, but I can get out of a back window and a side window – the blinds go up, but I really should remember to raise them at least once/month to keep the blind moving.
Yes – keep them moving so you’re safe if you need to exit!!!
Yes, I think I’ll do it tomorrow morning when it’s light – don’t want to mess with it now in case it gets stuck and it’s dark.