The den window reveal!

From day one…three years. That is how long I have wanted to put a window in this room!

It was a cave. There are windows and a door on one wall but they are covered by the enclosed sunroom so the natural light is seriously defused. (HERE I swore I was through with major projecting on the house…HA!)

I crave natural light. This house has TONS of windows, but the majority are adjacent to a sunporch, screened porch and covered front porch. All which I am grateful for…I just wanted a hair more light in the den.

My original thought was to put a window on both sides of the fireplace. Unfortunately, the guest room closet extends out behind the bookcase to the left of the fireplace…so that is a no-go. That’s okay…I need the built in bookcase. (HERE you can check out how I refaced the fireplace!)

(Obviously I did not take “before pics” and the only picture I have of this space is from Christmas!)

A window on the right of the fireplace is doable….for someone like me with a bit of experience. Personally, I don’t think this is a “novice DIYer” project. If you are hell-bent, watch TONS of tutorials first and be prepared with a stand-by sheetrocker, framer, electrician, trim carpenter and brick/siding expert just in case you find yourself in over your head.

Even then, if you don’t have a basic understanding of how a home is constructed, I wouldn’t even attempt it. (HERE I posted a little bit about framing for a door or window)

Also, I highly suggest you check your local codes. You may need to pull a permit to modify framing.

As you can see from the post when I modified the laundry room opening I knew I was going to have to put in a header and maybe a few extra studs. Since I was only installing a 32” window, I figured I could just get by with a 2x4 or 2x6 (at the most) header.

Nope. When I opened the wall I found a support that was FOUR 2x4 sandwiched together…have no idea what that was all about. I went into the attic to see if maybe they loaded the roof rafters or something onto that area…not as far as I could tell. But what is there is there and I wasn’t about to assume it was just over kill.

Which meant I needed to put in a 12” header which meant I had to move the exterior light to make room for a bigger header, cut out way more sheetrock than I anticipated and add more stud supports.

CURSES!

All that being said, again it is doable. So if like me, you just HAVE to have a window (or even a door), go for it!!!

And go for it I did.

Again, I am not really a tutorial kinda person…there are tons out there, why reinvent the wheel. And honestly, every project will be different depending on what is behind the sheetrock.

Case in point.

After all this “rough in” framing was done, I drilled through the corners of the opening (using a wood bit to drill through the plywood and a masonry bit to drill through the brick) and marked where the actual opening would be.

My brick guy then came and cut out the existing brick 3” from the mark where the actual window opening would be….

You can see in this picture where I had to move the existing exterior light!

While I was waiting on the brick guy I was able to get the sheetrock repair done…HERE I shared a little tip about sanding sheetrock in the house!

When the window finally came in, I cut out the plywood…MAN OH MAN!!!!

If it weren’t 100 degrees out I would have just left a big ole’ hole in the wall.

There are TONS of tutorials on how to properly install a window…read them and follow them to a T. Find one that makes sense to you!

After the window was installed, trim and paint! The brick guy came back and installed a window “casing” with new brick around the window ….

This house is 23 years old so I can’t find the exact brick to match but I found one that was pretty close! (HERE I shared how I used this “good enough” brick on my shop!) This is why he cut the brick 3” around the actual rough in opening.

What a difference this little project made!

I LOVE IT!

Fortunately I originally bought matching sheers for the breakfast window and the den window. I couldn’t find sheers that matched them so I took the sheers from the breakfast window and used them for the new window and bought new for the breakfast window.

I love all the the wonderful light and the view of my flowerbeds! Blooming dogwoods in the spring and fall foliage in the few months!

Lovely!

New vinyl windows and a little window seat makeover...

This is one of those “needs” with a little “want” thrown in.

Any time I think about buying something or doing something I ask myself “Is this a need or a want.” Wants are okay…as long as you don’t go into debt for them or harm another person in pursuit of your “want.”

The “need” was new living windows. The old arch window was cracked and had condensation between the panes.

I have managed to ignore it for some time because in the hot months I have a temporary shade in it and in the fall and Christmas seasons I have cute little vignettes that block it…but this time of year it just consumes this room and it is near impossible to ignore!

The lower window was the original aluminum window and that thing might as well have been wide open on a cold blustery day. It leaked cold air like crazy!

So…a need.

As you will notice I changed up the “configuration” of the window…I went with a fixed window in the middle with two crank-outs (technically called “casement” windows) on each side. I have a crank out in my bathroom and I LOVE it…super easy to open and close!

When I measured for the new window I measured the outside opening…that is because the new window was going to be installed from the outside and I had to make sure it would slip between the brick.

While it fit snug between the brick…

… it had 1/2 “gaps” on the inside…

Usually the new window would slip in right behind the sheetrock that butted up to the old window…not the case here. I suspect it is because whoever bricked this house did not brick over the old window properly.

No biggy…it gave me ample room to put in A LOT of insulation! Silicone caulk around the outside…a must for ANY window! There is NO air coming in around this puppy!

It did mean I had to trim out around the new window. Again, no biggy. I used 1x4 pre treated boards and flat molding…good as new!

One issue I had was the existing seat cushions…they were not going to work because of the window crank….

The cushions are really not an issue for several reasons

I only added the cushions to help block some of the air leaking in around the old window. Second, the fabric has faded over the years and I needed to recover them! And lastly, nobody but the cats sit in this space so comfort is really not an issue.

So the cushions can go…but then I am left with the stark white of the faux marble…ick. Again so 90s!

Sooooo….I decided to remove the faux marble and add stained wood “bench” type seating before I put up the new trim!

Course I wanted walnut…but finding walnut boards proved to be impossible. I ended up using oak boards…NOT my favorite wood, but it was either that or poplar (too “green”) or pine (too ick).

The marble was super easy to pop off….heavy as crud but simple to remove. It was just siliconed in.

I bought 1x6 and 1x4 oak boards. I like the “plank” look so I used the router to add a VERY small groove on the top edge of each board. On the board that would be on the outside edge , I used the router to round the edge.


Again, I did not take pictures of the “process” or make a tutorial…I am a HORRIBLE teacher/blogger! Just sharing what I did!

After cutting each board to the proper width and routing the edges, I stained them with brown mahogany stain and sealed them well with poly BEFORE installing them.

Once the finish was dry, I finally got to use the biscuit joiner Matt got me for Christmas two years ago! I love this little tool. Because of the layout of this bookshelves, I couldn’t make the entire seat in one piece. I had to lay in each board one at a time. The biscuit joints allowed me to get a tight, even fit without having to nail into the top of the seat! Love!!! I just glued the “biscuits” and edges, and slipped them together!

After the new wood seats were done, I trimmed around the new window.

I removed the blind from the side window…after 20 years of neglect that thing was pretty nasty.

I will eventually replace this window as well since it is one of the original aluminum windows.

I haven’t decided what to do about window dressings. I have lived without a blind in the big window for years…we live at the end of a cul-de-sac and I don’t roam around in this room “indecent” and this window faces south so it doesn’t get a ton of sun in the summer months. The side window faces the fence and there is little view to the inside of the house so for the time being, I think I’m fine without a window covering!

I love the new look…again, I think stained wood always adds a little warmth to an area and this big sucker could use some “warmth.” And the new windows are AMAZING!!!! We have winter weather this week and not a drop of cold air can be felt around the window…and I CAN NOT WAIT to crank these babies open on a warm day!!!!

This photo of the outside reminds me of how “blah” the house looks in the winter compared to a summer view…

This one reminds me that we desperately need to power wash the brick this spring!!!!


I haven’t painted the trim just yet…truthfully this entire built in needs to be painted. I haven’t painted it in 20 years and I know it was originally painted with alkyd (oil-based) paint.

When we painted Matt’s bedroom a few weeks ago, he found a new “hybrid” paint…an acrylic alkyd paint they SAY will go over oil based OR enamel paints. I know the paint went on like an alkyd…leveled beautifully….and cleaned up like an enamel (with soap and water!)

While the paint went on well and cured well, my biggest concern is durability. This area gets a lot of wear and tear and I don’t want a paint that dings easily. Oil based paints are outstanding for furniture and wood pieces…super durable!

So I am going to wait a bit and see how Matt’s holds up…in other words, let him be the test monkey…lol! If his trim holds up well, then I will use the hybrid paint. Or I might just bite the bullet and use an oil-based. I know me well enough to know that a bug can bite me at any moment!