Before and After

Soaked. Trimmed. Massaged. Painted. Refreshed.

The Replacement Window is the WRONG Size

To catch you up, about a month ago the picture window in the sitting room was broken. How you say?

Lawn mower + rock = broken window

We have never replaced a window before so we were both a bit apprehensive. We measured at least three times. Together. Normally, I would have blamed this all on TOM, but I was right there with him. Confident with our dimensions we headed over to the local home store and placed our order.

Two weeks later we picked up our new window.

We were heading for a trip to the Gulf so we put the window in the garage. The week after our return TOM was out of town on a business trip. We finally get around to replacing the window about a month later. We remove the moldings and the sill and pull out the window. At this point the replacement window is still in the garage. We lift it up and realize that it is too small. About 2 inches on each side. Needless to say we were dumb-founded. Or course, the girl at the store made the mistake, not us.

Luckily we did not break the second pane of glass when we pulled the broken window out so we put it back into the gaping hole in our wall. We grab our receipts and head to the home store. We have to pay a restocking fee of $50, plus the difference for the 'new' replacement window, which was about $100 more than the first replacement window. 

Lessons Learned:

Buy clean top soil

Measure the rough opening for your replacement window

Check the size of your replacement against the you are replacing before you pull it out  

Let the Planning Begin

Our son is getting married next spring. After a month or so, they finally settled on a date, April 30, 2011. The location, St. George Island, FL. TOM and I have never been there before so we took a road trip to the beach last week. The original plan called for a rental on the beach that sleeps up to 24, swimming pool, hot tub, elavator, and dog friendly. We picked up brochures and began searching for properties that met that criteria. Talk about a reality check.

On the Beach: Plenty of properties meet this requirement. The question becomes how much do we really want to spend to have a clear view of the Gulf of Mexico? These are obviously the most expensive and when you are planning a wedding on a budget, these properties take a large chunk of the budget. Another thing we discovered is that several properties do not allow weddings and/or receptions. This knocks a large number of properties out of the running. 

Sleeps 24: This was a little harder to find. We did find two properties that would sleep 24. The first one we looked at was very dark inside (the cleaning crew was getting ready for the season and let us in to look around). There would be plenty of space for everyone. The kitchen was amazing, as was the master suite (you could turn it into 3 good sized rooms). However, it did not have enough bedrooms to offer privacy to older members of the family. Both houses busted the budget. I mean really, how many mortgage payments do you need to make off of a one week rental? And of course, both of these properties had the largest, nicest pools.

Swimming Pool: Most of the properties we looked at had pools. The sizes and locations varied. The pool is one of those things I think we need to have, especially if we only have a beach view as opposed to beach front. It will give the nephews something to do and I am sure some of us older folks will enjoy it too. We definitely need to have a pool. And not a shared pool.

Hot Tub: Now the catalogs have these cute little hot tub icons, but we did not see a single one. Are they in the house? Are they built into the pool? When they say hot tub do they really mean a big tub with bubbles in the master suite? 

Elevators: Many of the properties have elevators. This is a big plus when we you have multiple family members that can't climb a lot of stairs. Apparently, property owners know this is a big selling feature and a smart investment with the aging of America.

Dog Friendly: The whole island is dog friendly, but not all property owners are dog friendly. Personally, I think the dog needs to stay at home, at a kennel. I do not want to have to police the dog for a week. This is a wedding and we have plenty of other things to on our minds. The dog needs to stay home. Sorry. Dad said he would pay for the kennel.