The nature preserve that abuts my weekend cottage in Litchfield, Conn., stretches 110 acres. Its grasslands and dense hardwoods serve as a sanctuary for migratory songbirds. Yet I could see almost none of this vast landscape from inside the home when I bought it three years ago.
That’s because the 600-square-foot house was built in 1920 — decades before the preserve existed — so none of its larger windows were oriented toward it. The dilemma fueled my first major renovation to the property: adding two large picture windows.
This wasn’t a simple window replacement. Contractors cut new openings in the walls of my living room and bedroom where no windows existed before, then framed and installed several-foot-long panes of glass.