Button Up

It's the buzz-word around here these days. Our first real snowy day has come and we are all reminded of how black ice feel under the tires. Coats are no longer optional (for the kids) and the full array of gear must be shoved into the backpacks. It's hat season.

The local paper has been advertising a little traveling seminar called "Button up Vermont" ( or maybe it's "Button Up, Vermont"). Anyway, it's about how to make your home more energy efficient and weatherproof. Homes around here are old and many of them were owner-built. Only the newest ones have any hope of being draft-free.

This week, the carpenter finished our new side door and I am really excited. We now have a beautiful wood door with six small windows along the top and a full-view storm door to help seal out the drafts. Gone is the cold metal door with the rusty, leaky corner! I still need a 40º day to paint the exterior trim, but I can be patient. One of these jobs makes room for another, and now I am itching to paint the family room. It is part of the addition that was added to the house in 1991 (long before we were here), and is still the oyster-white color hastily applied by the builders.

There are so many ways this little 1946 house could be improved... I suppose it could go on forever, really. New windows would do wonders. So would updated insulation and finishing the basement. I'll add an attached garage and paved driveway, while I'm at it. The office needs a complete remodel and the kitchen could use an update sometime in the next 10 years. Oh, and I've always meant to tear down the wallpaper and paint the dining room cobalt blue. There are floors to refinish and lighting fixtures to replace, but all in good time. For now I'm satisfied with the new door project. I'll apply shrink film to the draftiest windows again and maybe next year this old house will get another well-deserved button in its winter coat.