The new window's in . . . now what?

The old wood window in the bathroom would barely open. There would be struggling and muttering and all sorts of upper-arm strength needed to force it up. Seriously, a window right in the bathtub---not the best idea. The warped wood probably needed to be repainted, and I think there may have been some rust around the hardware. Not pretty.

Of course, the best solution to this problem was to start fresh and buy a new window. Great idea! So, three contractor bids, research into replacement-window lingo, placing the order, special measurements, and a professional installation later, I'm thinking the problem's solved and we can move on with other projects. Wrong.

Look at this window and tell me if this seems anywhere near "finished" to you . . .
. . . let alone water-tight!

The solution seemed simple: buy some molding. But what kind: wood, plastic, vinyl, PVC? And what color, what style? Are the pieces pre-measured? Oh cool, I heard something about a window trim kit, that sounds great, it comes with everything you need! Awesome! Oh, wait, it's a special order . . . it will take how many weeks? And for how much money?! Um, nope. That's a No-Go. Back to buying the molding ourselves.

We ignored the window for as long as we possibly could. We dove into other projects: the paneling, plumbing, flooring---and all the while knowing that we'd have to address the one thing we were unsure of where to start. But getting the shower area water-tight seemed an important thing to do  ;-)  so we jumped on it first thing Saturday.

We did research online, took measurements, then went to the Depot and Lowe's to shop in person. We decided PVC would be the ideal material, whereas wood would need to be repainted and tended to over the years. The statement of "I don't want to have to do ANYthing else to this window, ever!" pretty much made the PVC decision for us.

After choosing the style and sizing that'd work best, we loaded up our shopping cart with the white molding---only to realize, "huh, that's interesting, it comes in 12-foot pieces," and our vehicle's a few feet short of that. Great.

On the phone the other day, my mom asked if we got any of the snow that fell Saturday. Without even a moment's thought, I said, "Yeah, it snowed, and guess how I know that." "How?" she asked. "Well, Saturday morning I remember vividly where we were. We loaded the 12-foot pieces of molding in through the back of the truck, pushed them in as far as possible to be able to close the trunk door, and rolled down the front passenger-side window, so they had somewhere to go. So here we are, driving down the road, at speed, with molding sticking out the window and the window rolled completely down, in 20-degree weather, with a TON of snow billowing around us INSIDE the car. That's how I know!" And further contemplation of that ridiculous scenario now reminds me: At least I didn't get the short stick. In the store's parking lot, I looked over at Chris and his hands and said "You have gloves---you hold 'em!" and immediately hopped in the driver's seat. Lucky me (and thanks, hon)!

Chris did a great job installing the molding around the window:

He relied on best practices: measure thrice, cut once, check again, and install. He certainly gave the new mitre box a workout that day. And then it was my turn, as the designated in-house caulking "expert." Ha. Think about it: caulking around the tub is one thing, since it's just one bead drawn across a single joint. But the window was definitely tricky: there were three joints' worth of rectangles to tackle, plus all of the corner cuts to seal.


All of the hard work (and snowy drive) was worth it. Here's our fabulous installed, trimmed, and caulked brand-new window (and the ability to finally use the shower!):

Hooray!