Photoshop hints at things to come.

August 23, 2011
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When I last worked on this house a decade ago, I didn't yet have access to photoshop, but now that I do, I can preview some of the changes on the board. In this image, I crudely added the planned bay window, the porch & roof, and I covered the roof framing. I haven't done anything about the color scheme yet: that will be one of the fun tasks: an incentive for continuing on.

I think the next two steps will be building the bay window (separate from the main body of the house until it's ready to be attached), and-the task everyone who restores an old house of any scale has to think about at some point-reinforcing the foundation. I like the look of the things I've done so far, but it's all created stresses on the structure that the old thin plywood Arthur kit just wasn't designed for, and it's going to get worse, especially when it's time to cut a hole for the bay window, which will involve cutting right down to the level of the tabs holding the wall and floor together.

The user eilonwy laid out a philosophy on this site that I think bares repeating "Mistakes cause the house to not fit together or to promptly fall apart. Inconveniences make it more difficult for you to build or finish, so you learn to do it some other way that's more satisfying." If I wish to keep from making a 'mistake' and keep things from exceeding the province of an 'inconvenience', I'll need to do some structural reinforcement before I do anything else with the main body of the house. Both tasks: starting the bay window and reinforcing the bottom of the house, require more materials, which I won't be able to afford for a while, and the foundation job will probably require a trip to my father's workshop, so, other than some plans, and perhaps more photoshop brainstorming sessions, or preparation of a workspace, there probably won't be much to report for a few weeks.