Sad News, Overshadowed by AWESOME News

Well, the sad news is that my bedroom not make it into the top ten of the Vintage Revivals makeover contest I have been begging you guys to vote for over the last couple of weeks.

Sad, but mainly this: THANK YOU. Thanks for voting, for spreading the word, for putting up with my annoying reminders, for saying, "Go you! Your room is totally the pits, and based on that alone, I think you have this in the bag!"

(My favorite, from my friend Linda: "That room is giving me nightmares and I don't even live there. Seeing the pictures is like finding out one of your friends keeps vodka hidden in the toilet tank." OH SWEET MERCY, that made me laugh. And maybe cry.)

So the room thing is a no-go, for the immediate future. We just don't have the money to expend on, say, bedding when lots of other things are jockeying for our wallet. And that's okay. Don't cry for me, Argentina. Because despite not getting a magical free makeover for my bedroom, it turns out we're getting a magical free makeover for the outside of our house.

Say what?

It's true! Here's how it works: Our old home has old, dented aluminum siding with mucho hail damage. Our homeowner's insurance cut us a check for new siding, which actually includes new vinyl siding, trim, insulation, all that good stuff, PLUS installation of a new kitchen window DOUBLEPLUSGOOD some construction and windows to make the one weeny outer window in our bedroom into two windows side-by-side.

Guys, that last bit of information (in case you just skimmed it quickly) is way important, so I'll repeat it: That one dim window? In my scary bedroom post? That doesn't let in light and is over 60 years old and hasn't opened in the entire time we've lived here, meaning we've been breathing recycled bedroom sleephead air for four years? That I have WANTED to expand for ages, since we plan on eventually blocking up the let's-look-into-the-oh-I-don't-know-SUNROOM window, thus cutting off mucho light source in our cave of a room? Is getting expanded. With two new, slick, actually-opening windows.

Seriously, it's like the heavens parted and glory filled my soul and the angels sang and I got new windows.

The siding would seriously be enough to make me float along for weeks. Years, maybe. Our neighborhood is old, and not very updated. Most of the homes, including ours, are still sporting the aluminum siding with aluminum overhangs and all that funky 1950s jazz. Very few have updated to new siding, and what's most important, the ones who have updated haven't necessarily done it well. I'm talking dark brown siding (?) with dark brown trim (??) and new! updated!...aluminum overhangs (!!??). We're in a working class neighborhood that doesn't do much in the let's-make-our-house-look-AWESOME category, so all I can figure is that very few people actually know what looks good, nor do many have the time to put forth the effort.

Luckily, I know what looks good (I can say that because it's true--my bedroom might be the pits, but I KNOW it's the pits. It's the difference between knowing and cringing at it and just not knowing or caring.), and I've picked out some rocking medium-gray siding with some kicking white trim AND plan on painting our front door yellow and coupling all of that with oil-rubbed bronze accents in the form of lights, mailbox, and huge address numbers, and, if I can swing it, a portico. Oh, AND Professor-made shutters.

Boo. Yah.

We already had the kitchen window to replace the (also unopening) side-by-side windows above our sink, but putting it in required construction, since the replacement window is smaller than what is there now. (We don't need quite as much window as is there now; we'd instead like less window and more cabinetry. Again: future.) So the fact that we can give the outside of our house a facelift, plus put in this kitchen window, plus make the bedroom window expansion actually happen now, during a seriously lean time at virtually no cost to ourselves, is nothing short of amazing.

So to repeat: Thank you! It was a long shot, and I didn't get it, despite the most supportive friends and readers on the planet. But I get something that is perhaps WAY MORE awesome, something we thought would never happen until our kids were out of the house and we maybe had spare thousands of dollars to spend on siding. This new siding and these new windows will dramatically improve our living around here, and I do not say that lightly. Being able to see outside and open windows is a gift we will never again take for granted. (Okay, that sounded dramatic.)

The construction should be happening pretty soon. I can't show you pictures of the front of my house, but I'll try and get The Professor to approve some photos of what we're doing so you can at least visualize the difference.

Thanks for letting me ramble on about all of this. It's put everything in perspective for me. I just told The Professor that with $500, I could enact some truly astounding changes on our bedroom. I could maybe buy the windows for the bedroom with that amount; no way could I even come close to siding, windows, and construction for the entire house.

First world problems, you know?