unexpected difficulty
Behold the window boxes on our dormer windows! You can't imagine what an accomplishment it is that they are up. Now, I realize you can only see one in this photo. Take my word for it - they're both up.
We've been working on getting window boxes installed since December. I'm not sure you can tell...probably not from this picture...but the pitch of our roof is quite steep. Therefore it's been hard to find little boxes that can fit in the space.
Rick the workman came over Sunday to put them up for us. Dragged his big 2-story ladder out from his truck and set off to tackle the job. He's a great guy, does great work. As he's finishing up with the first one he calls down to me, looks like these screens are tricky, they must come out from the inside. When my husband says he doesn't think they do, Rick says oh, they must, I've never seen screens that don't come out. After he's finished, the two of them trot upstairs and look at the windows from the inside.
Sure enough, the screens don't come out. They don't move or slide or anything. The storm window moves up and down, but the screens stay put. As I'm sure you've guessed, the windows are original to the house.
So then Rick says, you'd better plant bulbs! he he he! And, you can water them from the ground, just point the hose up in the air! When I ask my husband how we're even going to get up there to plant them, Rick says, you can borrow my ladder! he he he!
Yes yes yes. Even the most SIMPLE tasks end up having some kind of unforeseen glitch to them. Don't they? Little window boxes. Little, sweet, cottage-y window boxes. Big problem! No access to them. Not unless you happen to have a gigantic ladder with (as Rick calls them) "antlers" attached to the top. Which we don't.
sigh.
So. That's where the story ends...for now. The weekend ended and we ran out of time to work on this dilemma. We think we'll have to cut the screens out. I know that's extreme. But both rooms where these windows are have more than one window. And, so what if we get a few bugs when the windows are open? I can't have inaccessible window boxes. We can't rely on Rick's big ladder each season to get up there (and down!) And, I'm not buying a ladder that we otherwise wouldn't use, for the sole purpose of maintaining flower boxes. hmph!
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To Be Continued...
11 comments:
I know that this is going to sound tacky, but I have seen it done and it looks good.
You can alwasy put fake flowers and greenery in there. Since it is on the top floor of the house, people won't be none the wiser that its fake.
I have a neighbor down the road who does this each year on their top floor windows.
I did think of that...but it wouldn't feel right in the end. I think it would be like wearing a fake diamond. No one else may know, but I would - and that would make all the difference.
Thanks for the suggestion, though!
Oh, I'm giggling over here, Meg. I can just see the neighbors shaking their heads and saying to each other, "Did you see Meg today? She was out with her firetruck ladder watering her flower boxes again!" If you do cut the screens out, is there some sort of little screen slider that you fit into that space to replace them with?
Libby, that's a good suggestion. My mom thought of that, too. I'm sure we could find a screen that would work. Surely we're not the first to come across this problem!! :)
Hey , you hhave todo what you have to do, in the name of getting what you want!
I'm so sorry it didn't work out but I have to tell you that it made a great blog post....I'm laughing so hard just picturing you up there watering. Maybe you could cut around the edges of the bottom half of the screen and somehow attach velcro to hold it in place???
It is always something. I'm sure you will work it out. Nothing ever goes as planned.
I guess that is the, fun of it sometimes.
Rosemary
Hi Meg,
I love the boxes! They're precious!
We have found on our cottage that the things left "undone" were because there was some sort of a problem bringing said issue into the current century. For example, replacing our screen doors was impossible because of the door size so we had to rehab what we already had.
It is a labor of love!
Our smart little place goes on the market tonight. I am super sad.
okay, so i am laughing too. it is funny to think of you up there watering...straight out of amelia bedilia :) i have removed almost all of my screens. we do not open our windows that often. seems we only get bugs in the house if it is night and we have a light on inside. we got plantation shutters, so i try to angle the shutter so the bugs can't come in that easily.
Meg, I know you will work this out! Your window boxes are sure cute. I have a question for you...what is that hook for near the roof?
oh, the hook. That's another story.
My dream, or I should say, my vision, each Christmas has been to have wreaths with red bows on our dormer windows. We couldn't figure out (still haven't) how to get them up there. Last year when we had the house painted we had the painter put up the hooks, thinking that we'd be able to open the top of our windows (slide them down), reach up and hook the wreaths on (they'd be hanging on fishing wire or something else strong.)
But then the painter forgot to put the hook on the other dormer. If you've been reading my blog for awhile you may remember that we had some trouble with our painter last year. He took so long, by the end of the job we didn't want to delay him any longer. Of course, I didn't realize until after he left that he didn't put up the other hook. But it didn't really matter in the end because we couldn't get our storms to slide down to put those wreaths up anyway.
Another dilemma involving the dormers windows. Now, if I can just come up with another one, we can make it a lucky 3!
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