Still no pictures - we're getting a new cable jack installed on Wednesday, and I'll update then...

One of our many projects in this house is to refinish the main floor bathroom. Yesterday, we started by ripping out the tub surround, to see how much damage there was from the previous owner (who'd let the thing leak for over 3 months). The damage wasn't near as bad as it could have been: we did have to take off 2' of drywall and plaster to get to the wood underneath (2' is a nice safe height to take off), but the wood was relatively solid and only damp in a couple of places - such as under the window.

And that segues nicely into the other project we did yesterday - the window. The old storm window in the bathroom is centered in the wall of the shower. And, of course, being an old window, it was collecting water and sending it down into the walls. So, we had to replace it. And since we have the bathroom in a "definitely renovating now" state, this was the time to do it.

So we called a few places, and found a casement window that was about the right size for $180. So, at 3pm, we boogied over to the window store and picked it up.

We'd actually initially planned to put the window in today, but the temperature was expected to drop sharply. Rather than freeze our butts off *more*, we decided, at 5pm, to start. It took awhile to get the old window out - after all, it'd been there for 50-some years. But eventually, we got most of it out.

As it turned out, we needed to keep the sides of the old frame to allow for the smaller new window, and had to saw out the bottom of the old frame to allow for the larger height. Five and a half hours later, we had completed installing the new window. It looks sweet. We still need to put on the finishing touches, but that'll have to wait until we install a new tub surround (or tile, which is where I'm currently leaning toward).

It's good to know that we can handle replacing windows on our own. Many of the places we called had $500 installation charges for windows - only one place quoted us less, and that was still $120. I want to replace quite a few of the other windows - there are still 9 storm windows on the main and upper levels, and 4 in the basement (that I'll likely never replace).

Next step: replacing the gyproc in the shower with cement backer board, then tiling/putting in tub surround, tiling floor, and painting. We're going to go with a 12" tile floor in the bathroom, a dark red paint, and possibly wainscotting. Pictures of the before/after will be taken for certain.