I Feel Pretty

Oh so pretty...

I was singing that song as Brent cut in the first new window.  He reminded me of Maria from West Side Story peering out at the world.  I'm sure you can see the resemblance.

Brent is no stranger to the camera.  He started his modeling career as an infant but it was this next shot that catapulted him straight to the runways of Milan...

That glare is cold as ice and those glasses are smokin hot!!

But back to the matter at hand...we "prettied up" the shed a little bit today.  You'll remember the original garage had two windows in it, one on the north wall and one on the south.

Our plan was to get rid of those windows and purchase 4 new ones so we could install 2 on each side.  They also needed to open so Brent's workshop doesn't turn into Brent's sweatshop.  We figured we could make them work near the front doors and with some added hinges, would be able to swing open for ventilation.

Here are the original windows before cleanup..

The kids and I hosed them down and scrubbed the dirt off.

The windows were in decent shape but still needed a few minutes of scraping and sanding.  This is my 5 in 1 that goes with me everywhere.  I use it for openings paint cans, banging them shut, scraping paint and caulk and cleaning paint rollers.

I started by scraping any peeling paint.

Then I used an orbital sander to get the rest nice and smooth where paint had built up over the years.  Clamping the window to the picnic table frees up your hands to apply more pressure to the sander.

It only took a few minutes to sand each one and they were ready for a primer coat.  There's no need to be careful cutting in around the muntins, a razor blade will easily clean them up when all painting is complete.

While I was painting, Brent was framing in the windows.

It took us a good portion of the day to get the windows in...turns out old windows aren't exactly square so it takes a decent amount of work to make them LOOK square.  And I think we were working at a more leisurely pace compared to the last two weeks.