Sealing the Envelope...

So... when Nick and I first looked at this house with my Dad (in winter, with pigeons in the attic, FREEZING inside), he said, "Well, I think you'll be fine if you can just 'seal the envelope'," meaning, close the place up from the elements. Replace the boarded up windows, fix the leaking roof, that sort of thing. When we moved in last summer, and we found out the renovation would be delayed "a little," Dad said, "That's okay, as long as you can 'seal the envelope' before the winter comes..."

Well, needless to say we didn't, (or rather, weren't able to) and after braving a Buffalo winter with a half-open house, and, at times, without a furnace, I cannot tell you how THRILLED I am to finally be "sealing the envelope." So today began official CONSTRUCTION, with the roof.

Yesterday, this is what we found in our backyard:

And with it... some slightly larger than expected skylights...

Okay, not completely unexpected, I got a call from our roofer yesterday that went something like this:

D: "I'm sorry, my window supplier is out of the 54" skylights."

A: (Sure that this meant we would be delaying the work) "Oh no, really?"

D: "Well, if you want, they can give us the 72" ones for the same price."

A: (laughing) ".... wait, serious?"

D: "Yes, if that's alright."

A: (more laughing)

So we went upstairs to measure out where we wanted them... and luckily I had some VERY visible paint, left from a little project I did last Christmas...

And marked off where we wanted the lights... realizing they're going to be, pretty much, the whole pitch of the roof...

Uber flattering angle you got me in this picture, hon, thank youuuuu...

Windows: MARKED. Hopefully I will have photos of the windows in for you tomorrow... And considering this is how the house looked 1 hour after they showed up:

I think we're good.