New Home Projects—My Favorite!

If you ever want to hear me rant—and believe me, you don’t—ask me about cedar shake roofs, bad roofers, and leaky, crumbling chimneys.  The extremely short version is that our roof has leaked…in new places…every winter for the last nine years. 
This week, we got a new roof.
Before:


Today:


Because of all the leaks—and the unconfirmed, but very likely sightings of black widows in the attic—completely replacing the insulation in the attic and the cathedral ceiling seemed like a great idea.  Especially as we don’t plan on opening that roof up again in our lifetime (it’s a lifetime/40 year warranty).   It was also a one-shot chance to extend the roof a smidgeon by adding facia board and putting in all new gutters.  I chose to continue the green trim and I love how it turned out.  When we get our house repainted in the next few years, I’ll have them finish the green trim in the front and back of the house, but most of it is newly done and will last for years. 

I love this new work. I have to say that for the amount of $$ it cost, I could have had a newly remodeled kitchen of my dreams.  But, as a good friend pointed out, no point in having a brand new kitchen if the roof collapses on it.  As it is, I will spend this winter planning how to best tackle the water-stained popcorn ceiling in our bedroom.

In the next few days, I will be posting other projects I am much more proud of than this.  Other than making decisions and writing checks, I didn’t lift a finger to complete this.  I’ve had a few other projects since summer than I worked my cute little butt off and I have a huge amount satisfaction over them.  Prepare to make all the right nods and sighs as I wax poetic over rocks and weeds.