I’m sorry I didn’t get to any comments today… my day was packed from 7:30 till 9:15 tonight…
Today’s post is brought to you by a couple of readers who asked questions: Linda and Barbara!
We bought our house in 2004 and right away we put in a new door at the front… hence the front door, right? Well, for 17 years my hubby has called the front door the back door and the back door the front door. BUT, I say the door that everyone comes through is the front door and the door that goes out to the back side of our yard is the back door… See, who’s with me?
To him, the back door is prettier, so it should be called the front door, but “I” say the door that you come into is the front. Our cars pull up into our driveway and you park sort of in the yard… (I have to admit, I don’t have boundaries and wish that wasn’t like that, but it’s still the front door to me.)
Here is a picture of the front door… well, at least to me… when you open the door, you are in my dining/living room and straight ahead is my kitchen.
Here’s another shot of the “front” door…
This door is the back door (to me). It’s in the kitchen and goes out to the back side of our property… there is a sunburst porch just outside this door.
I tried to find some pictures of the back door…it’s just on the right side of my kitchen window… (sorry about the mowers on the porch!)
Then we have a door on the side that goes down into the basement… it also runs down under my sewing room… that’s why I have those built in bookshelves in the middle of my room that stick out…
Anyway, that’s a quick view of our house… the truck didn’t come to pick up the supplies in the “front” yard/driveway, so I didn’t take any nice pictures yet!
Well, that kind of answers Linda’s question… Now for Barbara’s! She asked if we were experiencing “End-of-project-let-down!” You know when you get done with something and it’s kind of a bummer that you don’t have to do it anymore? I actually shared this line with my hubby… (Sorry, Linda, I didn’t touch the front door/back door thing!) When I asked him if he was experiencing end-of-project-let-down? He said VERY quickly, “ARE YOU KIDDING?” Sorry, Barbara, I was right there with him… No, we are not experiencing that end of project let down feeling… We are SO glad this part is over… It’s been tremendously stressful and has kept us SO busy… I’m so tired of doing this… probably because so much of it is in the hot sun… working on siding, fixing gutters, putting in that vent stack, tearing down the old chimney, repairing boards that were rotting… etc.
Last Sunday we started this project of getting the siding taken off this eave at the bottom because the roofers were coming the next morning and they had to put the membrane section (it’s called TPO) over my sewing room. WE HAD to get it removed up far enough for them to lap the membrane up on the wall. This was a very bad area of leaking in our house…that’s why that corner in my sewing room was rotted almost all the way through the wall… We didn’t know it though.
Then the roofers did this, and left it for us to finish the siding…
Well, let me tell you, this was not an easy project… normally you start siding at the bottom with a “starter strip” and you work your way up, locking the strips of siding together. Well, we were having to start and work our way down, holding out the siding, trying to nail underneath each piece, and get it straight… it was a huge job… at least for us… and it was hot! We got up early to try and get it done while it was partially in the shade, but that sun came over the tree with a vengeance and we were cooking…laying on our sides, on cardboard, that was getting hotter by the hour, and fighting off wasps! It was awful…
We were working so hard, I only took a few pictures and this was my favorite… once when my hubby went down the ladder to get something out of the garage, I laid on my back and looked up and saw this…I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and took a picture…
We worked from 7:30 until 2:30 and STILL didn’t get it finished… We had to go get the $$ and make the final payment on the roof…and then get to the insurance company and give them the papers for our new roof… the old premium expired Wednesday night at midnight, so we just made it in time and will get back a portion of our premium… YAY!
On the way back home, we were so pooped and worn out, and “I” suggested we go to the Dairy Queen… My hubby was in total agreement with me… this is what I got!
It was 33 points on Weight Watchers and I didn’t even care!
Well, I better get to bed… my hubby will be waking me up early to get that section finished for good… and then we have THIS section to do… ICK!
See you tomorrow,
I’m sorry if this isn’t interesting to you… it’s just what is happening in my life right now and I can’t do sewing and this too…
Blessings, Jeanne
Dear Jeanne, I am still up from the night before so I will leave my door comment now.
Maybe you can call one door the “main” door and call the other one the “kitchen” door. That gets around the front/back issue.
I will be heading off on Sunday to the MADC convention and I won’t have access to the internet for a week. Please ask the Sofa Sisters to save my spot until I return.
I hope you have a wonderful time, Dorothy! We’ll be waiting for a report when you get back!!
Travel safe and have a great time.
Dorothy…that is a great idea!
You bet we’ll save your spot on the sofa. We’ll be waiting anxiously for your report on how much fun you had. Stay safe and have the best time ever.
Hope you return from convention with lots of goodies. Pictures please. 🙂
Hi Dorothy,
Now why didn’t I think of that…main door and kitchen door.
We will save a place for you on the sofa and I’m pretty sure that cake won’t get made this week… so there will still be a slice with your name on it…
Have fun at the convention…
We shall miss you while you are away…
Blessings, Jeanne
Well, of Course, the “front” door opens into the living area, and the “back” door opens into the kitchen! That settles it, to my mind! That’s how it was in any houses I lived in that had both front and back doors.
I loved your picture of the sky; looks like a good, midwestern sky to me! So often in the Seattle area our skies are just a mass of gray. We don’t often get “mares’ tails”, “buttermilk sky”, etc., so it is a treat when we do.
Our rain is over for a while–we did get a fair bit this past week–and we are now in for several days of sunshine. Might even make it into the 80s for temps!! Yay!
I would say you certainly deserved that sundae!! My favorite DQ treat is a Butterfinger Blizzard!
Hope your remaining bits don’t take too many more hours to finish!
HI Charlotte,
You think JUST LIKE ME… front door opens into the living area! EXACTLY!
I love the blue skies we have been having the last few days… when I get overwhelmed with what’s going on down here, I can look up and almost get lost…especially when there are clouds floating by! ;o)
Well, not too much happened today.. I had a dentist appointment right in the middle of the day and my hubby had to go back to Lowes to get a few more things to finish what we were working on…
Thanks Charlotte,
blessings, Jeanne
Jeanne, that is what I was wanting to know about the doors! I suspect that you would want company to come in the dining area, rather than the kitchen, as we all would! I can’t get over how many angles your house has, and wonder if it has been added onto by owners that lived there before you bought it.
I hope you get things done or at least almost done before the really hot, humid weather is supposed to hit us tomorrow. We will go up to 100 and have a feel like temperature at about 106! You do NOT need to be outside period!! And on a roof!! I think I speak for all of us sofa sisters saying we want you and George to stick around longer….a lot longer!
I was wondering if the mess inside your sewing room has gotten better. Any more falling debris?
After all you two have gone through, you certainly DID deserve that yummy sundae!
Hi Linda,
Yes, company comes into the living room/dining room… although I’m so proud of my kitchen, I really wouldn’t mind anyone coming in my kitchen NOW!
We can’t quite figure out our house either… I’m sure it was added onto, but the wood is the same from one end of the house to the other… my hubby has been under the house, under the living room area and there is still a big round cistern underneath there… the back of the house is definitely the old part of the house, but my sewing room seems to be old too…
We need to find out something somehow…
We didn’t get things done today like we wanted to, but we did get one part done… I had a dentist appointment right in the middle of the day, so that threw us off…
My hubby said we will hit it again in the morning when I don’t have to be anywhere until 1:30… I work at the Food Pantry on Friday’s… but maybe if we get up early, it will be cool enough that we can get finished… we have all the pieces cut, we just need to make them fit together and caulk things…
There IS more falling debris… My hubby got some more white caulk and said he would fix it for me… that way, my sewing room will be ALL buttoned up… no bugs should be able to get in and nothing will be falling from up above… YAY!
We just found out a car show, actually a vintage car race… “The Great Race” and we may go to Cape Girardeau when it comes there…sometime next week, I think. The race is from San Antonio Texas, to West Virginia, I think… it sounded like something we might like…
Thanks Linda,
Blessings, Jeanne
Your roof looks amazing. You, your husband and the roofing crew did a great job.
I don’t know how they do it in the horrible heat and humidity of summer. One year I helped my father do our roof and it was horrid. The roof was a flat room so it had to be tarred, if i remember. Three of us up with with buckets of thick black crap and string mops.
So the doors….. at our house the door facing the street was the front door and the one on the back of the house was the back door. Only company ever came in the front door because of the carpeting. It was a very pale pinkish tan for lack of a proper word so we enter in the back door and shoes were removed before you entered the house. I agree with you….the front door.
You both deserved a great treat and it look so yummy.
Thank you Sandra,
We like our new roof very much… I just wish it was something we could see on the inside and admire… it’s awful to spend so much money on something that you only see when you are coming or going… or an occasional outing outside… oh well, at least our insides will all be safe and protected…
I don’t know how those roofers do it either… They finished our house one night around 8:30 and went home and I guess ate something, showered, and then crashed… and the next morning up and at work again at 6:30… M-F… I have a new respect for roofers! I really do!
I read the description of your roofing experience to my hubby and he laughed out loud. He used to coat mobile home with this stuff called Cool Seal (I think) and used a string mop for it too…
I guess the door “title” really doesn’t matter… just glad we have one, or two, or three… but then again, we do have FOUR, because I forgot about it, but there is one off of my sewing room…it’s just covered up…
Thanks Sandra,
Blessings, Jeanne
So happy for you guys to have a new roof, and several problems solved. My house is plenty old (1929), and I have a appreciation for stories of how things got done.
HI Joy,
Thanks Joy…it’s nice to have a new roof overhead to protect what we have been working on these last 17 years… We could write volumes on what things have happened as we’ve worked on this house… I MEAN VOLUMES! I just wish we had some videos to show some of the funny moments… we would have massive amounts of videos of those too!
Thanks Joy,
Blessings, Jeanne
I really do think you guys need to take a couple of days off to recoup. Of course, after the siding up on the roof is finished. It doesn’t look like a very big area that is left to do, so maybe luck will be with you and it won’t take all day. Please be careful in the heat of the roof. I personally can’t take heat anymore (old lady) at all. Always have been a delicate flower. Ha ha. I must add, picturing you on your back taking that fabulous sky photo will stick in my mind forever. Hope you can blow that one up and add it to that remodel coffee table book. “The Roof” chapter. 🙂
As to the front/back doors, it probably doesn’t matter as long as your friends know which is which. 🙂
Still working on Week 3 of the Sew Along. It has been so uncomfortably hot here that sewing is going very slowly. The pattern for Week 4 is out and it is a very sweet dress that can be made in a number of ways. Started thinking about it already. We need lots of comments on the Jen Wren site so she will give us another free pattern next week. 🙂
Keep cool everyone!
HI Joy,
I think we might take a day off and go to a vintage car race parade/ ( Great Race 2021)… down at Cape Girardeau, MO, or at Paducah, KY… I told Linda, up above about it… my hubby would enjoy it, and I think I would too… The oldest car in it is a 1911 I think…
We only got the one section finished… I had a dentist appointment at noon and it cut into our time of getting things done… We do have the pieces “cut” for the other part, but my hubby had to go to Lowes to get “more supplies!” He said maybe tomorrow we can get it finished… There are still lots of little things to do… Somehow, 2 hangers for the gutters got lost and they don’t make this kind anymore, so we have to figure out something else… the roofers nailed the edge of the roof down, but instead of changing the size of the nails to a shorter one along the edges, the nails went right through the roof, around the edge of the porch and my sewing room. There is no soffit up there… it’s open and there are 25 or 30 nails that will have to be clipped off… there is a window up on the front of the house that needs to be replaced… it was really a vent, but a few weeks ago, my hubby was looking at it and the louvers broke off… so we are in the market for a new window up there… we have it boarded up right now… we’ll have to have the Amish make us a custom window or order one from Lowes… we also want to replace the flashing on the front above the door… We thought what they were going to put up was 10″ wide, but it’s only 3″ wide and is only up at the top… when they redid the flat roof, they did improve it, but the new bar that holds the membrane on, doesn’t cover the old screw holes and it doesn’t look like what I wanted…
Anyway, there are a million little things like that, that still need to be taken care of… a bit at a time, as my hubby tells me…
I think we are supposed to be getting your hot weather tomorrow… 97 for the high… It’s almost 9:00pm here and the heat index is still 90 degrees…
thanks Joy,
Blessings, Jeanne
Soooo glad most of your roof challenge is over. If you never hear roof again it would be OK!
Dorothy nailed it saying the MAIN DOOR and the KITCHEN DOOR….that is perfect!
Hope that little corner work goes fast…it is to be 104 here today and probably on the way to you tomorrow? We keep busy just watering everything. Take care and don’t get too hot!
HI Kathie,
The roof, itself is all done and yes, I don’t ever want another roof… too expensive and too stressful…
You can read what I wrote to Joy to see some of our “upcoming” projects, related to the new roof! UGH!
I just looked at tomorrow’s forecast and 97 is predicted for us…
We’ll try to get things done before it gets sweltering hot!
Thanks Kathie,
Blessings, Jeanne
You have not been having end-of-project letdown because you’re still involved in the project. I had no idea you had so much more to do. I should have waited to ask my question.
I have an interesting house too and I have no idea why none of us (we’re the third owners) ever fixed the situation. My house sits on a corner. The address is the street with the driveway but not the street that the front of the house actually faces. The door that everyone enters is the one by the driveway. You enter my kitchen, which for years was not the best intro to the house but is fine now. But that’s not the situation that needs fixing. The actual “front” door has no walkway to it and never has. Really strange but as I said no one has seen fit to change anything, including my hubby, and no one ever comes to that door.
David was once thinking of a wrap-around porch that would have led to the front door but the money and the inclination never reached the top of the to-do list. People would most likely still come to the driveway door because you would reach that first. We once thought of putting in a semi-circular driveway in the front of the house but it would have cost a lot and probably never be used. My back door opens off my breezeway. It was an add-on so the back door was originally from the kitchen. We took off that door and opened the breezeway up to the kitchen and it makes a nice little sunroom. Actually Chelsy took it over as her space after she came to live with us. She was a bit stressed at first and chewed up the arms of my two wicker chairs. She left the settee alone because she considered that hers.
I managed to get some weeding and weed eating done yesterday but my time outdoors right now is limited to no longer than 45 mins. I can’t imagine having to be out in it like you and George and the roofers. Already longing for cooler weather.
HI Barbara,
Yes, no end of projects for us just yet… I commented to Joy what we have still going on…
House projects truly are never ending…one thing just leads to another, which leads to another… I think I’m ready for some easier projects… preferably some INSIDE! :o)
I told my hubby I would GLADLY lay down loose lay flooring… if we only had some…
Someone told my hubby today, “It will soon be winter…” My hubby replied, “Bring it on!”
I’m not a big fan of cold weather, but the way I’ve been sweating the last few days, I think I might be persuaded! ;o)
thanks Barbara,
Blessings, Jeanne
Lol Barbara, I am longing for some warmer weather! I think it is raining again but it is still very dark (6.45 am, Friday) so can’t be sure but the lights are shining on the wet ground so it certainly has been. I don’t have a dryer and usually I can leave my washing till the sun is shining but haven’t been able to do that lately so it is all in my sunroom which is where my front door is lol! Not too many strangers use the back door as they have to brave the attentions of the dog but if they come to the front door I have to try to work around clothes and sheets at the moment.
This is shaping up to be a very long winter. Usually winter doesn’t really start till June and ends in early August but this year it started early with heavy frost in April/May then rain, rain and more rain in June.
Jeanne, I really hope you get all your ‘fixing’ done early and can finally breathe a sigh of relief and relax for a while in some cool air. You and George deserve a good rest.
HI Anne,
I’m sorry, but I had to smile when I read your description of the laundry hanging to dry in your sunroom, right by your front door… you poor thing… I hope the sun shines soon for you!
We’ll get some rest one of these days… but he wants to get all these projects finished up outside once and for all. I don’t know how my hubby does all he does… He truly is like MacGyver… he can figure out a way to do anything… and sometimes with practically nothing to work with… he has a very creative mind and I’m so glad he does!
Thanks Anne,
Blessings, Jeanne