The Kitchen Saga - The Coldest Day of Our Lives

To make more cabinet space, we decided months ago that we were going to replace the kitchen window, with a new shorter window. Since we are trying to look out for our planet, we are dedicated to searching for more eco-friendly options. This is all well and good, but takes us a little longer when planning, purchasing, ordering and receiving our products. Long story short, we got the window and it is the middle of Winter, in Chicago.

We awoke extremely early, to make sure we could get everything completed by night-fall. I did not want to be taking shifts guarding a hole in our house, so we planned that out well! 

Jeff and Kevin assessing the old window and creating a game-plan for the day.

We got all the wood ready, and took out the existing window. My, oh my, was it cold!
Jeff and Kevin hurried to get the space framed for the new window, and before long we were ready to install. 

My failed attempt at toe-screwing. I was promptly fired, and the professionals took over again.

Since I was fired from framing, my job during the install was to stand on a ladder on the outside of the house and make sure the new window didn’t come crashing down. The bad part about this was that somehow the side of our house has turned into a cold-trapping, wind-swept, ice tunnel. Being on a metal ladder doesn’t help. But, I stayed out there to ensure the safety of our new window.


YAY! Our new window was in. However, there was a gaping hole beneath the window where the framing was. Oops, we forgot to get plywood to cover that up. We took a quick trip to home depot, and bought some plywood to attach to the side of our house. This time I was staying inside! We measured the hole, measured the plywood, and Kevin and Jeff went outside. I fed the plywood through the window, and “OH, SNAP!”, It didn’t fit. So, we re-cut, and tried again. “DOUBLE SNAP!”, no luck. And, again. Finally, we got the stupid piece of plywood on the house, and all was warm again.

Jeff and I made a fun foam sculpture to insulate the window. If you haven’t tried the insulating spray foamy nonsense called “Great Stuff,” you should. Just be careful. Wear gloves and goggles and be outside. But, it is kind of the conglomerate of silly string, cheese whiz, and that plaster they put in your mouth at the orthodontist. Plus, it’s the color of Spongebob! Gross, and AMAZING!

We haven’t patched outside as much a we would like, but from the inside it looks pretty good. And, even though it was the coldest day of our lives, all-in-all we did pretty good!

Beautiful new window :)