An extra set of hands

My father-in-law, Roger, came to Hillsdale last weekend to help Ryan work on the house. It was a fun and productive visit - the best kind.

They spent the first few days installing new, energy-efficient windows on one side of the kitchen. We have more to replace the large window over the sink on the other side of the kitchen, as well.

Above, they are knocking out the old windows and making big holes in my wall in the 30-degree weather... ;) 

And here are the new windows with pretty, new white trim! I think they look great with the yellow paint. They also insulated the walls around and underneath the windows...apparently there wasn't any insulation there before. Yikes. The kitchen feels much warmer now and the wall isn't as cold to the touch. 

They also installed a new front door, also energy-efficient. Trying to get the new door to fit in the old hole was a bit difficult, I gathered...I just took pictures after I got home from work. 

Here is the house, sans door...

And the next day, James came over and helped put the new one in!

Isn't it pretty? :

As a refresher, here's what the front of the house looked like when we arrived, after we had only taken out the juniper bushes. That old, red paint was really terrible. 

I would say we've made some progress. 

Ryan is installing another cabinet he finished today:

And here's a nice photo of some icy branches in our front yard the earlier this week:

We're doing well! Many thanks to Roger for helping us this week.

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