Oliver and Angel

Chillin on the porch trying to beat the heat!  Notice Ollie has his ears flipped over to cool his head!

Inset Panel for Window

Had to wait until the sun went down but here's the inset panel, I covered it in a natural cotton muslin on both sides.  I plan to paint some fabric tomorrow for the next inset panel that will be going into the dining room window.  After we finish that window we have one more window, an oval window, to work on and we are done.

Window Insert

John is on vacation this week, for the rest of the month actually, and we are working on some projects around the house.  Here he is measuring the window in the stairwell to make a frame for an upholstered insert, when it was finished the temperature of the stairwell dropped a good 15-20 degrees right away!

The frame, was made with the intention of being upholstered and then fitted into the window using friction fit method.  Frame was made out of reclaimed hardwood from an abandoned futon.

First layer of muslin stapled to the back side of the frame.

Second layer of muslin, on the face of the frame, is layed on the table and the back side of the frame is up.  Lots of stapling and pulling is needed to make the piece look professional!

Fabric is folded under and pulled over to the back side and stapled into place.

Here it is snugly in place!  Now to get some fabric painted, dyed, and other wise surfaced, drapes made and those installed!

Redneck Bird Bath

Or shabby chic bird bath either way it's WAY hot outside right now so don't forget to water our feathered and winged friends along with your plants!

My $70 a Month Heat Bill

 Everyone always wants to know how we can have a $70 a month heat bill in the dead of an Iowan winter - in a 1905 Victorian house - well this is how we do it.  NOTE the house is 1105 square feet.

We keep the house at 65F during the day and 58F at night or when we are not home. Caulk around the outsides of every window, door, etc. and do this every few years, oh and LOTS of insulation! We use mortite on the inside for the windows, the windows are original except for two modern windows and it's the modern windows that leak like a sieve. 

Winter 2010

Make sure to change those furnace filters too.  Another tip is to put insulation behind outlets and switches that are on outside walls, these are also major draft stoppers.  Repair any storm windows with new spline and the fuzzy insulating stuff every 10 years or so.

It also helps that we are on budget billing, and the gas company keeps bugging us to pay the new rate which is $59 a month but John keeps refusing.  November is our reconciliation month, and by paying the $70 a month we don't get a "suprise" spike in our heat bill.

edited to add:  The orignal builder insulated the house and big time, way back in 1905, he filled it with woolrock from the basement all the way out the attic rafters.  We're thinking he didn't like being cold. The house maintains and beautifully, it's been 65F in here for two weeks now.

Cleaning up the Trim

Or let there be heat guns, John is using a heat gun and a custom made paint scraper to remove old paint from the trim under the soffit.