#77 - I'll Take a Bird Over the Toupee!

If you enjoy looking out of a window or two in your home, regardless of the view, then you understand this topic very well already. For our cabin in the woods, we'll add a few great windows, installed with clever strategy to enjoy optimal views. NO WASTED VIEWS! After all, the entire point of moving to the country is so that we can enjoy the peaceful scenery.

Imagining country scenes from our windows is hard to picture sometimes because we will no longer have a street out front that remains jam-packed with too many vehicles, making it nearly impossible to pull in and out of our own driveway without asking someone to please scoot back OUT of our driveway entrance. And pulling an RV down the street to prepare for a trip is nearly impossible. Or, you can take Deputy Dave's solution and just drag the scraping bumper of your RV all the way down your neighbor's car, leaving a long indented scratch with the side mirror torn completely off.

Is this a neighborly hint to not park too far away from the curb? For the record, these neighbors are friends and this was their teenager's car --- which was repaired and totally repainted with the mirror replaced by Deputy Dave who drove across Houston to get one in stock because he was so worried about her driving without a side mirror for even one day.

In the country, we'll be able to keep the curtains or blinds open, even in the late afternoon and evening because there are NO neighbors within sight. Moreover, we'll have plenty of outdoor lighting in the country that will allow us to enjoy a pleasant night-time glimpse of our surrounding yard. Around here, as soon as evening-time hits, the window coverings are pulled closed because there are WAY too many people passing by, constantly, and privacy is important when you're crammed in together.

Deputy Dave tells me that having the freedom to walk around butt-naked, if he wants, would be nice. Being nakey in your own house is something city residents have to be extra careful about. I can picture my husband being hauled off in handcuffs after a cop comes to our city door in the evening because the blinds to the dining room window weren't closed tightly enough.

I can hear the cop now, "Sir, it doesn't matter that your WIFE was behind on doing laundry and that your underwear drawer was empty and that you were rushing from the shower to the laundry room to get a clean pair out of the dryer. The bottom line is...you dropped your towel on the way to the laundry room and those blinds are opened 1/4th of an inch which carelessly allowed the innocent woman across the street to see your nakedness behind her high-powered binoculars. Since you offered her a DOUBLE moonlit night, you're going to jail!"

I need a second for this mental image to dissipate...okay...I'm good...

He said he will love looking out a window and not be forced to see the front, back, left or right side of a neighbor's house. The privacy we will finally have in the country is something we've never had before. Simple, quiet, uncongested privacy.

Beyond being an exhibitionist by accident, Deputy Dave said he will really enjoy seeing trees out the windows instead of neighbor's vehicles or the next solicitor walking up to our front door. Trees...ahhhh...trees.

And owning a front door that is located two acres away from the front of the property might make it less profitable for the solicitor to try to sell the ridiculous $65.00 bottle of cleaning solution. And, the dogs on the porch might make it even less appealing.

The picture below was taken in a house we owned in Clear Lake (Houston, Texas) and it had 22 windows that were floor to ceiling. I absolutely adored seeing the beautifully landscaped backyard and atrium located in the center of the house. Of course, the cute gal in the photo is my oldest daughter, Heather, when she was a little kiddo.

The only downfall of having all of these windows was during a lightening storm...the larger number and size of the windows made it a terrifying yet thrilling experience.

My favorite type of window for catching awesome views are the non-divided light (no separate panes of glass) and floor to ceiling "picture" windows. I love these windows. Our house had weird architecture that kept the public from being able to look inside the windows and this meant that we did not need any window coverings. Unobstructed windows are my favorite kind of windows!

In the below picture you might see windows you recognize. When I was growing up, many houses had this style of triple window in their living room...a huge window was usually flanked by smaller panel windows and it helped those living rooms to feel spacious beyond their actual dimensions.

The house I grew up in had a window similar to this.
And, at one time, we owned a house built in 1957, and I just LOVED
the living room window that looked similar to this one.

As we design our cabin, I will definitely plan for us to install a few awesome, catch-your-breath-can't-look-away kind of windows. I'll be picky for these particular windows because they are expensive. Also, we must think of being energy-efficient because I don't want pay to inadvertently air-condition The Big Thicket.

One place in the cabin where I will treasure a large picture window is in front of the kitchen sink. The living room must have a design that allows us to overlook the land. Having a few nice windows with great views can make your house feel like a million dollar home.

The picture below is our living room in Germany.

Don't you love the high dollar furniture we began with
in our early marriage? This wicker set was a gift from
my grandmother, for a patio. It ended up as Living Room
furniture along with the rabbit-ears, black and white TV
that only played the ONE Armed Forces Network Station
and the other stations were all German. No need for a remote here.

My husband served in the Air Force and the picture above was taken inside our off-base housing, shared with a German couple who lived upstairs. Every room in this German apartment had huge, amazing windows that opened EASILY with a single hand-lever. The exterior doors and the smaller windows opened to a tilt or you could rotate the handle around and it would allow the window to swing completely open. In the picture above, you can see the glass door tilted open. Talk about windows that were a cinch to clean! I fell in love with German windows during our years there.

All I can say is that these windows were BRILLIANTLY designed. I guess they were a prime example of excellent German engineering.

Below are more windows I think are beautifully installed.

This is gorgeous, but looks a tad too custom for our budget.
Well, MORE than a "tad" too custom...these windows probably cost
more than we're willing to spend on the entire cabin.

I like this door and window combination, a lot.
I could picture these off the combo kitchen/dining area
and off the master bedroom.
I also love this shot because it shows the view WITH a
porch/balcony with railing...which we will have as well.
Doesn't look bad at all.

These windows are nice. And, I bet they are very expensive.

Okay, I'd take these windows and leave the other walls in the room
alone for furniture placement, but this would give a beautiful
view of the outdoors. I love how the windows go to the floor.

As much as I love picture windows, we will need to have ample screened windows to let in the breeze.

In Texas, you gotta have screened-in windows.

It's great that I'm studying the practical details of building our cabin because I've learned that we will need to pay careful attention to the placement of doors and windows in order to take full advantage of cross-breezes. 



Great picture windows with transom style accents that give more drama with
added height. But, this means more installation and more money.

Once we get the cabin layout prepared, we can get estimates and prepare for this very important part of our construction.

Before long, we'll be able to enjoy outdoor entertainment as we set up our bird feeders within sight of our best windows. Since the cabin will be in the shade, we'll actually be able to keep the window blinds open so we can see outside. I'm excited about the prospect of getting to watch the birds flying around instead of being perversely mesmerized by my neighbor's toupee flying sideways as he does the lawn.

Yippee!!!