Changes to Our House in 2007

This year has been a year of upgrades and improvements to many aspects of our house. We will go on a tour and hit the highlights.

This is a picture of the whole house showing many of the improvements. In this picture you can see the new windows, the new siding, the new walk and driveway, and if you look carefully, the new moose guardian and anemometer. You can't see them here, but there is also a new back porch, a new look to the front entrance, new flowers in the garden outside, and new views of the woods from the living room. We'll look at each one in detail.
The first thing we did was to replace all of the windows. The house was built in 1964 and except for the picture window in front, all of the windows were from the original construction. We had replaced the picture window a few years earlier, and were very pleased with the new windows. The new windows worked much better than the old ones, but the main advantage was the superior insulation and UV protection that the modern glass offered.
This is a typical cluster of three windows in one of the upstairs bedrooms. With the old windows, only the center one could open, but with the new ones, the outer two are operable.

Once the new windows were in, we replaced the siding and soffits. They were aluminum, 32 years old, and badly faded, having suffered damage over the years that required repainting. The new siding is concrete siding that simulates wood, but should not need painting for decades. The new color is a bit darker and richer as well. Some neighbors have asked why we went back to wood siding, so it obviously does a good job of fooling the eye. This photo shows siding detail around one of the windows. For a detailed view of the new soffits, see the previous picture and look above the window.
After a Spring vacation, we returned and continued working on the house. The driveway was our next upgrade. The concrete driveway had cracked and split, with some portions having sunk a couple of inches, making it a bumpy ride to get into the garage. The front walk was too narrow, and pitched improperly, and there were other pavement issues in the back of the house.
Since we didn't like the look of the concrete slab driveway, we looked around at attractive alternatives, and decided upon using paving stones, not just for the driveway, but for all of the replacement pavement.
This photo shows the new driveway and a part of the front entrance walk.

Following the new wider walk to the front entrance, you will see other changes. The old front porch has been covered over in paving stones and extended in all directions, with wall stone forming the step. The louvers that used to flank the door have been pulled off, as well. The front porch is now large enough to hold a lawn chair so that one can sit out on a cool evening and watch people go in and out of the woods
(Lawn chair not shown, hidden behind bush.)
The back porch was another concrete slab that was having problems. In the case of the back porch, the bricks that supported the slab were crumbling and unsightly. We used the same stone paver solution here, as well. We also replaced a section of walkway between the porch and the back of the garage, and added a ramp down to the lawn on the other side of the porch, all using paver stones and wall blocks.
After years of having a selection of perennial flower gardens, we decided this year also to plant annuals from a package of seeds for a variety of butterfly-attracting annual flowers that we received as a bonus. As a result we have a random collection of beautiful flowers but we have no idea what most of them are. We have noticed that they are more effective at attracting honeybees than butterflies, but no matter.
Continuing the trend of annuals, we decided to put the unused shepherd's hook to good use by holding up a basket of bright red Petunias, which provide a bright touch in front of the tomato patch.
This is a moose made of sheet metal that we couldn't resist when we saw it at the Ann Arbor Art Fair in July. It is designed to hold a flower pot, so it follows the theme. The moose is right where the new driveway meets the sidewalk, at the corner of the miniature rose garden.
We upgraded our weather station, adding a rain gauge, barometer, anemometer and weathervane. The rain gauge is especially helpful, since we often get readings from the airport that can be quite different than the amount of rain we actually receive. Here is the only part that you can (theoretically) see in the original picture of the house. The anemometer and weathervane are attached to a mast we installed on top of the chimney.
Within a few weeks, the rain gauge was subjected to four inches of rain in one week, and measured it all. That's much more than we usually get in the month of August.

Winter Update (January, 2008)

After a light snowfall in December, the fog rolled in and the temperatures fell. This left a frosty-looking frozen fog on all the twigs and evergreens. We took this picture through the upstairs window to give a good view of Eberwhite Woods, under a blanket of frost.
January brought a much bigger snowfall, and this shot shows the woods glowing orange at sunrise, under a foot or more of snow.
Once winter came and the snow fell, I took this picture of the snowy woods through the new windows downstairs. We found the glass birds at the art fair last summer, and hung them here, where they contrast with the winter view through the window.

	This is a picture of the whole house showing many of the improvements. In this picture you can see the new windows, the new siding, the new walk and driveway, and if you look carefully, the new moose guardian and anemometer. You can't see them here, but there is also a new back porch, a new look to the front entrance, new flowers in the garden outside, and new views of the woods from the living room. We'll look at each one in detail.
The first thing we did was to replace all of the windows. The house was built in 1964 and except for the picture window in front, all of the windows were from the original construction. We had replaced the picture window a few years earlier, and were very pleased with the new windows. The new windows worked much better than the old ones, but the main advantage was the superior insulation and UV protection that the modern glass offered. This is a typical cluster of three windows in one of the upstairs bedrooms. With the old windows, only the center one could open, but with the new ones, the outer two are operable.
	Once the new windows were in, we replaced the siding and soffits. They were aluminum, 32 years old, and badly faded, having suffered damage over the years that required repainting. The new siding is concrete siding that simulates wood, but should not need painting for decades. The new color is a bit darker and richer as well. Some neighbors have asked why we went back to wood siding, so it obviously does a good job of fooling the eye. This photo shows siding detail around one of the windows. For a detailed view of the new soffits, see the previous picture and look above the window.
After a Spring vacation, we returned and continued working on the house. The driveway was our next upgrade. The concrete driveway had cracked and split, with some portions having sunk a couple of inches, making it a bumpy ride to get into the garage. The front walk was too narrow, and pitched improperly, and there were other pavement issues in the back of the house. Since we didn't like the look of the concrete slab driveway, we looked around at attractive alternatives, and decided upon using paving stones, not just for the driveway, but for all of the replacement pavement. This photo shows the new driveway and a part of the front entrance walk.
	Following the new wider walk to the front entrance, you will see other changes. The old front porch has been covered over in paving stones and extended in all directions, with wall stone forming the step. The louvers that used to flank the door have been pulled off, as well. The front porch is now large enough to hold a lawn chair so that one can sit out on a cool evening and watch people go in and out of the woods (Lawn chair not shown, hidden behind bush.)
The back porch was another concrete slab that was having problems. In the case of the back porch, the bricks that supported the slab were crumbling and unsightly. We used the same stone paver solution here, as well. We also replaced a section of walkway between the porch and the back of the garage, and added a ramp down to the lawn on the other side of the porch, all using paver stones and wall blocks.
	After years of having a selection of perennial flower gardens, we decided this year also to plant annuals from a package of seeds for a variety of butterfly-attracting annual flowers that we received as a bonus. As a result we have a random collection of beautiful flowers but we have no idea what most of them are. We have noticed that they are more effective at attracting honeybees than butterflies, but no matter.
Continuing the trend of annuals, we decided to put the unused shepherd's hook to good use by holding up a basket of bright red Petunias, which provide a bright touch in front of the tomato patch.
	This is a moose made of sheet metal that we couldn't resist when we saw it at the Ann Arbor Art Fair in July. It is designed to hold a flower pot, so it follows the theme. The moose is right where the new driveway meets the sidewalk, at the corner of the miniature rose garden.
We upgraded our weather station, adding a rain gauge, barometer, anemometer and weathervane. The rain gauge is especially helpful, since we often get readings from the airport that can be quite different than the amount of rain we actually receive. Here is the only part that you can (theoretically) see in the original picture of the house. The anemometer and weathervane are attached to a mast we installed on top of the chimney. Within a few weeks, the rain gauge was subjected to four inches of rain in one week, and measured it all. That's much more than we usually get in the month of August.
Winter Update (January, 2008)
	After a light snowfall in December, the fog rolled in and the temperatures fell. This left a frosty-looking frozen fog on all the twigs and evergreens. We took this picture through the upstairs window to give a good view of Eberwhite Woods, under a blanket of frost.
January brought a much bigger snowfall, and this shot shows the woods glowing orange at sunrise, under a foot or more of snow.
	Once winter came and the snow fell, I took this picture of the snowy woods through the new windows downstairs. We found the glass birds at the art fair last summer, and hung them here, where they contrast with the winter view through the window.