Window pains

One of the most humbling and at times overwhelming aspects of any renovation is all the decisions that have to be made, at all steps along the way. I went into our kitchen renovation, for example, naively thinking that all I had to do was pick out cabinets, countertop, the lighting fixture, and paint color. Ha! I could not believe how many little decisions went into each of those components, and how many more decisions had to be made in addition to the major ones. For example, what style of quarter rounds did we want? (Quarter rounds, I learned, are those skinny curved pieces of wood that make the junction between the wall and the floor look pretty.) In what stain? Did we want sliding drawers in the cabinets? In all cabinets or just a few, and if just a few, which ones? etc. etc. ad infinitum.

(Incidentally, one of the features of the cabinets that I have ended up liking the most is that I decided to spring for a tilt-out drawer at the sink. It is incredibly handy for stowing away scrub brushes and the like and is WELL worth the money.)

Having recently gone through a whole bunch of agonizing over countless aspects of the kitchen renovation, I felt prepared to face the even larger number of decisions that would surely confront us in this renovation. In fact, one of the reasons we decided to go ahead with the renovation at this point in time (besides feeling that it was better to sink our money into the house rather than leave it in the stock market, yikes!) is that I am on sabbatical from my university position. While I still need to work on my research, my time is completely flexible, and I am in a better position to consult with Wagner and go look at paint chips, tile, bathroom fixtures, lamps, etc.

It was also decided early on that I would be the point person for these decisions. Jonathan does not have the same kind of patience as I do for making fine discriminations among Eggshell, Sand Dollar, and Navajo White paint chips, and he is even less concerned about the ramifications of making the wrong decision. So when debating the pros and cons of renovating, Jonathan made me an offer I couldn't refuse: He'd write the checks if I would handle the day-to-day details of the project.

Which is why I spent 45 minutes today trying to decide between various styles of window panes that, at first blush, looked virtually identical. Our house is rather traditional in appearance, and most windows in Kentucky have the grids that make it look like there are tiny panes of glass in a larger window. What I didn't realize is that nowadays those are just *fake* tiny panes, and most windows instead merely have a gridwork superimposed on top of a larger sheet, or between two sheets, of glass to make it LOOK like there are separate tiny panes.

Okay, so I can deal with fake tiny panes. What I *couldn't* decide was how best to accomplish this fakery. One style (the "Simulated Divided Lines") puts fake grids on BOTH sides of the window, and I suppose it looks the most convincing. But it also costs 15% more, which we would have to pay for additionally because the more expensive option wasn't considered in the bid. The second style (the "Grilles Between the Glass" option) actually puts the fake gridwork in between the dual panes of glass in the window. Apparently this style is a bit easier to clean because it's just one smooth sheet of glass inside and out. The downside is that you have to pick from a limited number of colors, which you are then stuck with for all eternity because it will be embedded inside the window. The third style (the "Wood Interior Grilles") has the fake gridwork snapped on the interior of the window. It is slightly harder to clean (you have to remove the gridwork to get at the window pane efficiently), but it has the advantage of being able to paint the gridwork after the fact and change colors.

So I stared at the brochure and kept asking Wagner questions like "what's the downside of picking this style?" and "why does this style cost 15% more?", which he kept answering patiently. I was able to rule out the more expensive option quickly enough on the grounds that they all basically looked alike to me so I didn't see any sense in paying another 15% for it. Then I wavered between the other two and almost decided to boycott them entirely because of the pretentious spelling of "Grilles". Then it occurred to me that if we went with the Grilles between the Glass option, we would have to decide our bedroom paint color RIGHT NOW so that we could order the right color for the gridwork. There was no way I was capable of making THAT decision so hastily, so it's the "Wood Interior Grilles" for us.

Phew.