Fence, Part III

Here are the latest fence pictures. We were able to get the longest section up over the weekend. Yeah!!! (Still need to put up the gate and scallop the top.)

Rain, Rain Go Away?

It hasn't rained here in central Indiana for like three weeks. No kidding. But today - it decided to rain. Why? Because I decided to wash my car and Chad decided to finish staining the fence boards outside.

Mother Nature is so cruel sometimes. :) Actually, it was just a little sprinkle so it was okay. I thought it was a lot more funny than Chad did.















A little tarp action over our fence slats.

Green Restoration

Okay, okay. I know it is "hip" to be "green" right now. It is the buzz word of our current times but it's a good thing. It's about time we start realizing that even seemingly small individual environmentally-friendly acts done by one person can add up to real results at some point in the future. Enough of my unoriginal, green soapbox thoughts.

Although us old-house lovers and restorers may not realize it, we are green. I love the line that I've heard and read many times since having green suggestions (at first) shoved down my throat by family members and colleagues (and now I research green stuff on my own): The greenest house (or building) you build is the one you don't build at all. I LOVE this saying because it gives me another reason to feel good about this old house when, at times, I just really want to hate it. But I feel good knowing that I haven't contributed to the killing of more trees, the destruction of farm land, etc etc.

I found this article that discusses green renovations for historic homes. Sure, there are some difficulties and it can be costly up front (both time-wish and monetarily), but restoring a house is a perfect opportunity to implement some environmentally-friendly home improvement aspects. I think what I like most, which the article points out, is that old-house green renovations doesn't have to be (and maybe shouldn't, depending on your commitment to restoration) "in-your-face" sustainability. For example, making our 1928 brick house more energy efficient was the one of the first major projects we undertook. Since we have a brick house, pumping insulation from the outside in was not an option. Instead we drilled one-inch holes sixteen inches apart into all of our outside facing plaster walls and had Icynene type spray foam foamed into the walls (I've mentioned this in a previous post somewhere). Here is a picture of one of the guys foaming it into our walls. At the time we weren't necessarily trying to be green. We were attempting to be comfortable and save money on heating and cooling bills. This cost a pretty penny up front but has been the BEST thing we've done so far to this house. And recently we've been to green building conferences that rate this type of insulation as one of the greenest things you can do to your old house!

Read the article for some green restoration pointers you can implement in your own old house restoration. Meanwhile, here are some of the other green restorations Irvington Bungalow is considering: salvaged home items (tiles, furniture, kitchen sinks, beadboard, etc.), metal roof, keeping the hardwoods and not laying any carpet (there are lots of chemicals that go into making carpet and they can constantly emit fumes into your home even years after installation), using natural and environmentally-friendly products in our future kitchen remodel (love Marmoleum or cork flooring).

Fence, Part II

Here is some of the progress that was made on the fence over the weekend. The cross sections were put up on the north side of the house that is adjacent to the neighbor's fence (first picture). Almost all of the tallest and widest boards were installed along the length of the fence. Finally, the first section of the vertical boards were put up. You can see in the close up in the last picture the design Chad came up with. I'm super excited because I think it looks great!! Keep in mind that the top still needs to be arched (or whatever you call it - the top will look similar to the neighbor's fence) but we're waiting till the whole fence is installed to do that.

The very last picture is of the bouquet I bought at the Irvington Farmer's Market held on the second Sunday of every month during summer and early fall. Yesterday was the first one I've been to this season, maybe the first one of the year. The flowers are grown by an Irvingtonian (I think) in her yard - they are always so beautiful!!

More Pictures Than Usual! (or Fence Progress and Front Porch Rocker)

(Can you tell I don't have a thesis to write anymore or even a job to go to yet? I've been posting more consistently than I ever have in the existence of this blog.)

So our commitment to making few weekend plans this summer is beginning to pay off. Although there is (as per usual) little visual progress to be seen yet, I think we're feeling pretty good about things here at Irvington Bungalow. As promised in the title, I have more pictures than usual posted today so you can get an idea of the fence project we worked on over the weekend. (I should fess up - I only worked on Sunday and sweet Chad worked both days. Despite our pact to dedicate ourselves to the house for most weekends this summer, I've managed to already attend not one, but two annual festivals our World Class City offers each summer. This weekend it was the Vintage Indiana Wine & Food Festival. But if anyone tries to tell you that sampling various Indiana wines in the summer heat isn't hard work - well, they are just wrong!)

I totally digress.

Back to the house stuff. Below is a picture of what the house looked like outside when we bought it. We immediately took out the front landscaping because we foolishly thought that we would have enough money and time to install new landscaping much sooner than we actually will. haha! Anyways, I'm only showing this picture because of that huge tree on the right hand side. It was in the back yard and was taken out (it was dead) very soon after we moved into the house. That was one of the first major changes for the back yard.

This next picture was taken in 2004 and shows two things: (1) Our former dog, Harley, and the primary reason we started building this damn fence in the first place. He could not be trusted to stay in the yard, silly dog. So we were going to build a fence. Some long time readers (haha, all one of you) might remember that Har Bar unexpectedly passed away which consequently was one of the reasons the fence has been put on hold for so long. There just hasn't been a pressing need. (uh, except to get the neighbors to quit asking us when we are going to finish the fence!) (2) The two sidewalks you see in this picture are now gone as well as that bush thing he is laying next to.

This next picture was taken in the fall of 2006. It shows the footings for the fence as well as a new-ish landscaping bed and tree.

The next picture is proof that, when it comes to our house, Chad likes multiple projects. He decided to till up the entire back yard and re-seed it. At the time I was like: Whatever. But now I think that the new grass is so beautiful (as you'll see in the next pics) that I do think it was all worth it. However, the new grass is another reason the fence building has taken so long.

The next two pics are from yesterday and show the progress that was made on the fence over the weekend. First the posts and then the horizontal boards. Probably next weekend we'll install the rest of this side of the fence. It will slightly mimic our neighbor's fence which you can see in the background.

And finally, Chad also put together our stained front porch rockers! They look fab and we are so excited about them!!

Etcetera

This is a picture of the house I took the other night. It was taken at dusk and I just thought our flowers and our new front porch light* made the house look homey. My mom says our house doesn't look lived in. I'm trying to prove her wrong.

But don't you just hate the aluminum storm door and windows?? They make me want to puke. Next year is planned to be the year of the outside. Meaning that we'd like to (FINALLY) do the landscaping. Also paint the trim, buy and install new storm doors and storm windows. This year (very soon) will be a new roof. Then I'll say: boo-ya!! The house looks lived-in now!

The storm doors that I would like to get are made by Larson and feature shatterproof glass like the glass that is found in automobile windshields. Check out this link to see a video clip of some dude trying to bust the glass with a baseball bat. The doors will allow us to have a clear view outside if we decide to leave the front door open. Even better - passers-by will be able to see our great front door. Even better than that - I won't have to worry about some scuz off the street breaking the glass on our doors to get inside.

* We actually purchased new lights for the front porch as well as the side porch and for the back of the garage facing the alley. We've only installed the front porch light so far. Once the rest are installed, later this summer, we'll post pics.