Thrifty Thursday ... The least expensive improvements can cost nothing but elbow grease, like undoing someone else's 'remuddling'. We bought our old house in 1997. The people we bought it from had owned it for more than 30's years. When they bought it, it had been a home for wayward boys for ten years .... I can't even begin to imagine what the condition was ... but I do know the price was very, very low.
This is what the windows in the house looked like when they bought it. Charming, if chippy, wood trim surrounded each window.
I don't want to judge, because I know that utilities come in killer sizes when you live in a big old house, but my next door neighbor says she was aghast at the site of the shiny new aluminum windows and the red aluminum trim.... 
So last Saturday, while I was at work at the antique mall, my husband spent a huge chunk of his day removing the aluminum windows and red flashing. He texted me to say he had a big happy surprise for me. And YES I WAS THRILLED! The secondary aluminum windows had trapped dirt between them and the original windows, so that none of the windows in the house looked clean, ever. The kitchen was the worst, because I wanted the light in there. That was the window he improved!! Of course we will have to add weather stripping, and paint the wood, but since the aluminum windows did little to keep out the cool winter breeze, we think we will be ahead of the game. I love this wonderful old wood trim, and cannot imagine who would have thought it was a good idea to cover it.
Above is my dining room window ... could it be next? Thanks for coming along on this thrifty adventure.
I live in a neighborhood of old homes with wavy glass windows and beautiful carved window sashes. One of them is undergoing a restoration and it's so fun to watch what is always going on over there. Before this house where we live now we lived in a home that was built in the 1800's. I loved it there but the heating and cooling bills were kind of outrageous. Mimi
ReplyDeleteSo true, so true ...
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