Follow the adventure as we build our log cabin

and finally, we can spend the night…

Posted on February 18, 2015 by the coleman cabin

Here we are in the middle of February and I haven’t posted an update since Thanksgiving? What?!! It’s not that we haven’t been working at the cabin every weekend, it just seems that the holidays, and life in general, sort of got in the way of my blogging! In an effort to catch you up on what’s been happening, I’ll try to be brief and post mostly pictures.

The doors-

Over a year ago, before construction had even begun, we had taken a trip up to Chantilly, VA where we met Don Jensen of Doors by Don, at the Log and Home show. Having seen his advertisements in several Log Home magazines, we’d already decided that we would most likely order our doors from him, so were very happy to find that he had a booth at the L & H show. He with him samples of the different door styles so we were able to check them out first hand and pick out which ones we would use once the cabin was built. By the time we were ready to buy them, however, he had sold the company to Xterior Plus, with the intention of retiring. Lucky for us though, he found retirement a little dull and was back helping out the new owners when Dave made the call to order our doors. Don happily drove the four hours from Wytheville, VA to deliver our doors himself, just as he had promised when we spoke with him way back when in Chantilly.

: Don Jensen, himself!

: we have doors!

: amazing how different the bedroom feels with the doors up

: no more plywood door on the half bath!

: love the half doors on the pantry

: don’t love the round doorknobs though so wil switch them out later

Next on the to do list, the upstairs shower. I do have to say that I love Dave’s idea to run a band of river stone half way up the wall and inside the soap shelf!

After looking at different hardware options, we decided to go with simple wrought iron handles for the kitchen cabinets. Dave and Max also replaced the door knobs on the pantry with handles to match the rest of the kitchen cabinets… definitely looks better!

With the doors all hung, Dave and Max work on framing the doorways.

: Dave and Max, ready to do some framing

: Dave holds the first board, while Max nails it in place with the nail gun

: onto the outside of the bathroom door

: master bedroom doors all framed in

: the linen closet, framed, with door

: new towels and extra bedding find a home on the newly built shelves

With most of the lights already up, Dave and Max work on lighting the stairwell. Dave found a cute little deer antler light to use at the base of the stairwell and finally, I have somewhere to hang the Kudu horn light I’ve been holding onto for years!

We had been dying to spend our first night at the cabin and finally, by New Year’s eve, the place was far enough along that we could comfortably do so. Megan, Jason, and the boys, had planned to come down to ring in the New Year with us, so we were psyched to have them along as our first overnight guests. We were also joined by Max’s girlfriend, who’s parents were kind enough to allow her to join us!

: every house has to have it’s rules

: no furniture yet, but our new carpet made the place much cosier

: a wide screen tv, bean bag chairs, folding chairs and we were set

: first meal cooked in our new kitchen!

: Megan and Jason fill their plates

: Dave and I in our new matching Colman Cabin sweat shirts 🙂

: the kids decide that marshmallow roasting is in order

: hey guys, can you spare a marshmallow?

: charades any one?

: hello, you

: we forgot to bring our trusty Cuisinart Grind and Brew coffee pot, but no worries, Jake and Adam to the rescue!

: a cast iron skillet, a couple of hammers and voila, a perfect grind

: freshly ground coffee, ready to brew in morning

: the kids toast the New Year with sparkling cider

: Hello 2015!!!

: Happy New Year, Richardson clan

: the Kings plus one

: first morning at the cabin…what a cosy place to wake up in

: best cabin jammies ever

: good morning, Sunshine

: seeping the coffee grinds

: a makeshift foil funnel lined with paper towel serves as our coffee filter

: Jason chills with a cup of cabin coffe while Sasha takes over Max’s bed

: the kids, bright eyed and bushy tailed on New Years day

: Last of the Mohicans…still as awesome move the 15th time around

: Adam uses the wood burner to sign the guest board

: Jake puts his John Hancock down next

: signitures of our first overnight guests

With most of the finish work done, Dave puts his energy into building a tv stand and a farm table for the dining area. Our new beds had finally arrived as well so we were all set to spend another night to test them out.

It was another few weeks before we were able to get down for another sleep over…this time, we were joined by cousin Emily. Erin was unable to make it to spend the night, but she and my sister, Julie, joined us the following day. We lucked out with spring like temperatures for the weekend so were able do a cook out and also go for a little walk around the property, which was especially nice as it was Julie’s first time visiting!

: cabin games

: Jack Skellington Yahtzee

: Takaradi Bricks…better known in the US as Jenga

: good job Max

: Dave, just before felling the tower

: Emily and Mituna make a cozy nest with the bean bag chairs

: Waffles finds a soft spot out of the way

: our lovely view from the great room

: sunset over Colemans Lake

: snuggly hounds

: first breakfast at Dave’s new table

: yes, I remembered the coffee pot this time!

: Emily and Max watch a little tv after breakfast

: Pancake and Mituna take a mid morning siesta on the new bed

: Julie and Erin join us

: Emily signs our board

: Erin is next

: followed by Julie…

: clearly she’s used a wood burner before!

: picnic time

: s’mores, of course

: the warm weather brings out the puppy in Waffles!

: run Waffles, run!

: silly ole girl

: Mituna watches while Waffles runs wild through the lake

: Mituna tries to work up the courage to go in

And last but not least, we drove down this past weekend and delivered our living room couches. The place is really starting to feel like home!

Categories: Follow the adventure as we build our log cabin, Fun times at Colemans Lake | Tags: Coleman Cabin, Coleman Lake Cabin, The Coleman Cabin, Wood Doors by Don | 2 Comments

we’re getting close….

Posted on December 14, 2014 by the coleman cabin

The gutters-

We went with Masco Contractor Services for our gutters as they fabricate custom gutters on site, creating seamless gutters that are installed with hidden hangers. They were even able to match our roof color…we were extremely happy with the results!

The return of George and Kris-

With the gutters now in place and a date set to refinish the upstairs floor, it was time to think about having more gravel brought in and the final grading done outside so we’d stop tracking red mud all over the place. We were super psyched to have George Lewis and Kris Cutter back to discuss our plans for the regrading and to show them what we’ve accomplished in the year since they’d been to see the place. George had been such an integral part of our project in the early stages and we’d grown pretty attached to him…we’ve really missed having him around on a regular basis!

: Kris, George and Dave look at a photo of the septic tank to figure out exactly where it is buried.

: George throws out ideas of what he plans to do

: George takes a look at the heavy timber upstairs

: Kris checks out our handywork in the upstairs bedrooms

: No George, I am NOT going in that closet

: George and Kris discuss their plan with Dave before hopping back on their Harley’s and taking off

: Kris suits up

: and off he goes…

: George hops back on his bike

: and takes off after Kris

: a few weeks later, George has regraded, seeded and put down fresh rock

: yay, no more tracking mud into the house!

: much better!

: retaining walls were constructed in the back on each side of the cabin

: fresh rock under the deck

: our newly graded slope over the septic tank

Counter tops-

We spent quite a bit of time searching through log cabin magazines trying to decide what type of counter tops to put in and in the end decided that we would go with granite, in some shade of black, as we felt we needed something to break up the monotony of the wood tones of the walls, floors and cabinets. We found ourselves rather bored with the usual patterns of granite in stock at most of our local granite stores until we stumbled across a pattern we had seen on line call Black Marinance (or Black Mosaic) and discovered that one of the larger suppliers in town, Classic Granite and Marble, actually had a few slabs of it in their warehouse. We fell in love with it as soon as we saw it and, though we searched through their entire supply, in the end, that’s what we went with. We were not disappointed by our choice one it was installed!

: WOW! 2 big guys carry in, and set the 700 pound bar slab! Glad we didn’t have to figure out how to do that on our own.

Lighting-

We’ve had much fun figuring out and finding lighting for the place! Most of the ceiling lights are attached to the heavy timbers that support the ceiling so a few of the ceiling lights we had picked out had to be returned as we realized they just didn’t look right hanging down from the beams rather than lying flush against the ceiling.

: faux deer antler chandelier in the dinning area

: track lighting above the cabinets in the kitchen

: edison bulb pendant lights over the breakfast bars

: overhead light in the kitchen

: hall lights

: entrance light

: light above the kitchen sink

: more track lighting in the great room

: and my favorite, hanging lanterns on either side of the front entrance!

Flooring-

Another decision that took quite awhile to make was the type of hardwood flooring to put down. We found many different type of wood in different shades that we loved, but once we took the samples to the cabin, we realized they just didn’t look right. Some were too light, some had too much variance and looks way too busy once there was a large area covered. After going back and forth with different samples, we decided that a medium toned wood worked best with the walls and our favorite ended up being a hand-scraped, 5″ Walnut Koa. Once we picked out what we were going to use, we had the upstairs floor refinished by Eco Flooring to match.

: first step, laying down the tar paper

: first few rows of hardwood

: great room halfway done!

: Max learns how to lay flooring

: Dave does a little custom fitting

: Dave, laying the floor in the master bedroom

: yep, I can now say I helped too…notice Dave is in a tee shirt and I’m in a hoodie and leather coat…one of us is clearly working harder than the other 🙂

: refinishing the upstairs floor

: it took two attemps, but the final finish looks great

: the guest room…Dave has spent a few nights here…eliminating the hour drive has allowed him to get more done on the weekends

: the loft

: Max’s room

: finished floor, looking from the fireplace back toward the kitchen

: the master bedroom

: looking out of the master toward the dinning area

: from the master doorway, looking toward the dining area

: looking out at the great room from the kitchen

Appliances-

Dave, in usual fashion, thoroughly researched appliance brands and models and did a price comparison for everything we were interested in purchasing. In the end we decided to order everything from HHGregg as they were able to give us the best deal, matching everyone else’s lowest price and throwing in a $500 gift card as well!

: The delivery guys came all the way from Richmond.

: They were super nice and did a great job.

: Everything showed up without a dent or scratch.

: Now it’s up to us to get everything hooked up!

: 20 minutes after they left there was a knock on the door. Turns out the ditch beside the driveway claimed a victim. Unfortunately, we had to call a wrecker to come pull them out so they could finish their deliveries.

second Thanksgiving-

With Dave’s family all in town for Thanksgiving, following suit from last year’s second Thanksgiving at the cabin with my family, we took everyone down the day after to check the place out. Rather than haul all of our leftovers down as we did last year, we decided to stop and pick up lunch from our favorite Mexican restaurant, El Caporal. The atmosphere was slightly different from last year when we ate outside around the bonfire, using a microwave we had brought along and powered with the generator in order to heat our food!

: Dave, Betty and Laurie head to kitchen for

: Max, Stephanie, Frank, Rachel and Dave hang out in front of the fireplace

: Gregg, chillin’ out after lunch

: Max in his usual place in front of the fire with laptop and headphones

: nice Christmas sweater, Dave! 😉

: Dave puts his dad to work figuring out the plumbing for the kitchen sink

: I’m sure Frank knows what he’s doing, really, he does

: installing the faucet ended up being a bit more difficult than anticipated, due to the extra support structure Dave had built for the sink, but he and Frank were able to get it installed and working a few days later

: our fully fuctional kitchen!!!

Categories: Follow the adventure as we build our log cabin | Tags: building a log cabin, Coleman Cabin, Coleman Lake Cabin, The Coleman Cabin | Leave a comment

what a difference a year makes…..

Posted on November 13, 2014 by the coleman cabin

So hard to believe a full year has passed since Mr. Lipham and his logging crew, J. M. Log Craftsman, arrived and in 28 days had our cabin completely dried in! We were sure at that time that we would have finished the inside by now. We’re definitely getting close, and a lot has happened since I last posted, but we’re still not there yet.

A year ago:

: 10/1/13- Dave stands by while George directs the delivery of our logs

: 10/31/13- Mr. Lipham and Bingo supervise the placement of the basement supports posts

: 11/2/13- the cabin begins to take shape

: our building crew busy at work on the roof system

: 11/10/13- laundry room and half bath on the left

: 11/12/13- first section of the a-frame in place

I believe I left off Labor Day weekend with us having finally finished putting up the tongue and groove walls. The next several weekends were spent sanding, cleaning, staining and putting the finish coat on the entire inside of the place. For one reason or another, I ended up not being able to go down to help Dave out as he completed these ever so tedious tasks. I confess, I would be lying if I said that I was sorry to have missed out on all that excitement! 😜

The completed walls upstairs, before the finish coat-

The walls only look slightly different after the stain and finish coat were applied. We went with a natural stain and clear satin finish coat which added only a slight warm tone, a dull sheen and ultraviolet protection to prevent the wood from yellowing over the years.

Just a word of advice to anyone attempting to spray on a finish coat over such a large area- wear long sleeves! Once dry, it is not easily removed. Dave ended up shaving his arms…. yep, I’m still not hating the fact I missed out on all that fun.

: Dave, after a long couple of days staining and applying finish coat to the walls

: Sasquatch!

About this time, Dave’s folks came down for a visit and were anxious to check out our progress in person. We had just received the new light for the half bath so Dave jumped on the opportunity to finally get in a little father son project as he had Frank help him install the new light over the sink.

: Max and Grammy on the front porch…Max is loving that he’s so much taller that she is now 🙂

: three generations of Kings: Dave, Betty, Max and Frank

With the finish coat finally done, we were then able to put up the kitchen cabinets that had been delivered months ago and had since been lying in boxes waiting to be hung.

: Dave uses the laser level to mark the lower edge of the upper cabinet

: he then attaches a 2 x 4 to the wall to act as a placement guide

: Dave and Max lift the first cabinet..Max then holds it in place and Dave attaches it to the wall

: on to the second cabinet

: upper cabinets hung, onto the lower cabinets

: stove and microwave will go in here

: breakfast bar

: sink will go under the window, the refrigerator to the right

: me, hanging out in my new kitchen

With the cabinets in place, next on the agenda was to hang the ceiling fan in the great room while we still had use of the scaffolding that Dave had rented to used for spraying the finish coat.

: our new fan…now to put it together

: monkey Dave scurries up the side of the scaffolding with his tools

: after deciding what length arm to attach the fan to, Dave begins to put it together

: Dave goes to work attaching the wires

: now to attach the fan blades

: after taking down the upper level of scaffolding, Dave realizes he still needs to attach one more piece…no worries, a ladder will do the trick

: Dave attaches the final piece

: so far so good, now, let’s hope Andy’s wiring didn’t get screwed up when the roof was put on!

: flashback to 11/15/13, when Andy drilled trough seven layers of sub roofing to run the wire!

: Max gets the honor of turning the fan on for the first time

: hooray, it worked!

: the new fan is amazingly quiet and puts out a ton of air…excellent!

Categories: Follow the adventure as we build our log cabin | Tags: Coleman Cabin, Coleman Lake Cabin, hanging cabinets, J. M. Log Craftsman, The Coleman Cabin | Leave a comment

and… at long last…the walls are DONE!!!!

Posted on September 20, 2014 by the coleman cabin

So in the end it took three full months, working most every weekend and a few days during the week, before we were finally able to finish putting up the walls! With the help of our good friends, Brian and Lynne Astroth, we finally got the last walls put up over Labor Day week end- the very last little piece of tongue and groove having been put into place on August 30th. (Yes, I’m that far behind on my posts! 😦 )

: Dave works on building doors for the knee wall closets in the guest room

: frame done and hinges attached, he places a couple of shims on the floor to raise the door frame slightly up off the floor before attaching it

: once the frame is positioned properly, he attaches the hinges to the wall

: and the door closes perfectly. Yay!

: now for the tongue and groove

: door facing, done

: next, Dave cuts a couple of pieces of wood to create a door closure and attaches one piece vertically along the front of the door

: he then attaches the second piece horizontally on the door frame

: he leaves the screw slightly loose so that the horizontal piece can be swung vertically to allow the door to open

: and another door is complete!

: with both closet doors finished, the guest room is now done!

: now onto the linen closet, located on the loft, just to left of the second floor bathroom

: before framing for the closet walls, Dave decides to cut into the Durock wall of the shower in order to built a bump out for a soap shelf (the back of the shower is adjacent to the side of the linen closet)

: after cutting out a segment of the Durock, Dave constructs a wooden frame for the bump out

: the newly constructed bump out from inside the shower

: Dave then moves on to framing the linen closet walls…we’ve lost about half of the space due to the HVAC vents and return

: now for the t & g walls

: an opening is left in the back of the closet in case we ever need to access the junction box all the way in the back of the space

: Dave then builds a removable door panel to cover the access space

: linen closet, done!

: Lynne and Brian check out the inside of the cabin before heading out to pick up stones…it’s been a full year since they’ve been down and we hadn’t even cleared the lot yet at that point!

: while Dave is inside finishing up the closet doors, Brian & Lynne (who, amazingly enough, volunteered for this job) and I head outside to round up all the large rocks we can find to use for future landscaping…we are about ready for final grading to be done and don’t want them to be buried under all the red clay when that happens

: the efforts of our labor, several hours later

: rock collecting done, we put Brian and Lynne to work inside

: excellent, Brian, you look WAY more official wearing a tool belt!

: Dave gives Brian a quick lesson on cutting the t & g

: next, Brian learns how to angle the end of the board

: no stranger to carpentry, Brian is soon ready to man the saw on his own

: Lynne goes to work helping Dave attach the t & g to the walls

: Dave shows Lynne how to use the staple gun to attach the t & g

: I think Lynne is having fun now that she has the hang of it!

: another wall complete-excellent job, Lynne!!!

: oooo…..we’re almost done!

: Lynne and Brian watch as Dave cuts the FINAL piece of t & g

: after checking to make sure it fits, Dave writes the date on the final piece

: our last little piece of t & g, dated 8/30/14, ready to go up

: as there is no way to staple it in place, Dave uses a bit of construction adhesive to attach the last little piece

: and there it is…the very last piece of the giant puzzle

: the basement stairwell now complete, all of our tongue and groove walls are up….FINALLY!

: gotta love a friend who will willingly pick up a broom to clean for you!

: very tired and grubby, Dave, Lynne and Brian pose for a photo on the front steps before we take off

: Lynne and Brian are still smiling so surely we didn’t work them TOO hard

With Lynne and Brian helping Dave finish the walls, I had to find something else to do. After looking around I realized that we still needed to wire a few of the electrical outlets on the main floor and most of the outlets on the second floor as well, so I donned our “electrical” tool belt and went to work.

: my tools…

: first step- make sure there is NO power coming into the outlet!

: next, I pull out the wires…this outlet ony has three wires but some have five- two black, two white and a ground

: using my electrical pliers, I strip about an inch of the coating off both the black and the white wire

: grabbing the tip of each wire, I use the pliers to bend each of the ends

: the ends should all form the shape of the letter j

: I start with the black wire, which always attaches to the gold screw- if you have two black, you use both screws, but since there is only one here, I just use the top screw

: after hooking the black wire around the base of the gold screw, I then tighten down the screw

: flipping the outlet over, I then attach the white wire to the silver screw and then the ground wire to the green screw

: and there you have it… all wired and ready to go back into the wall

: the wiring is easy-peasy, pushing it back into the wall is really the hardest part!

: one down, ten to go…

Once the walls were finally in place, the next big task was to finish the trim on all the doors and window frames. Dave knocked those out fairly quickly as they were all pretty straight forward. Even the trim around the double wall of windows in the great room proved to be much less of a problem than anticipated!

The arched window in the upstairs bathroom, however, was not straight forward and thus required a little more ingenuity. After mulling it over for a few days though, Dave figured out just how to tackle it.

: first, we cut away some of the t & g along the top of the arch

: next, Dave places a piece of trim between the two window sections

: in order to be able to bend a board to line the underside of the arch, narrow slits are cut about 3/4 of the way into the board, about 1/4″ apart

: Dave continues to cut the slits along the entire board

: it’s now somewhat flexible but must be soaked in water before bending too much

: Dave uses a wet towel to soak both sides of the board

: while the board is soaking, Dave attaches a few pieces of wood to the existing arch so we will have something to attach the arch trim to

: after letting the board soak for awhile, it’s ready to be shaped into an arch

: once the wood is flexed and inplace, Dave places shims underneath to get it to make just the right arc

: hooray, it worked!

: now onto the window sill

: Dave places a shim under the sill to make sure it’s level

: once it is level, he uses the staple gun to attach it into place

: next for the side trim

: and now we’re ready to tackle the outer arch!

: Dave attaches a 1″ x 4″ to the floor to make a compass arm that will allow him to draw the correct arch that we will need for the outer trim

: after drawing the underside of the arch, he measure to see where the top line should go

: having made another hole in the board, he puts the pencil in and swings the arm along the plywood, drawing the upper line of the arch

: both lines drawn, it’s time to cut out the arch

: using the jigsaw, Dave cuts out the template for the arch

: using the plywood template as a guide, Dave cuts and then sands two mirror pieces from a 1″ x 12″ board…the finished arch will be formed from these two pieces, along with a keystone center to cover the seam

: all three pieces finished and ready to attach to the window frame

: hooray, both sides fit!

: and there you have it!

Categories: Follow the adventure as we build our log cabin | Tags: building a log cabin, Coleman Cabin, Coleman Lake Cabin, placing tongue and groove walls, The Coleman Cabin, trimming window frames, wiring an electrical outlet | Leave a comment

seriously, will we ever finish these walls?????

Posted on August 20, 2014 by the coleman cabin

The first floor walls having been a breeze to put up, and given that we now had the process down pat, we were certain that we’d finish the second floor walls within a couple of weekends. We were wrong. What we didn’t take into account was the number of angles we’d have to cut due to the slope of the ceilings and number of rafters we’d have to cut around, all of which slowed us down tremendously. As a result, here it is mid-August and we’re still not finished!

We have made progress however and are very nearly done…

the upstairs bathroom-

Mostly done but still need to trim around the window.

the shower walls-

: my supplies- cement, mesh fiberglass tape, putty knife and a box cutter

: first I apply a thin layer of cement over the seams

: next, I place the mesh fiberglass tape over the cement layer

: another layer of cement goes on top of the mesh tape

: master shower, done

: upstairs shower, done

the great room wall-

With our supply of tongue and groove dwindling rapidly, we decided to go ahead and finish off the wall around the windows in the great room next. If our supply ran out with only closets left to finish, it wouldn’t matter whether or not the new supply was an exact match, but we wanted to be sure that what we used around the windows matched the rest of the great room walls.

: Dave starts placing T & G along the left side of the windows

: he continues along the left until he reaches the as high as he can before switching ladders

: left side done, he moves on to the right, using a laser level to be sure both sides are going to match up in the midde

: glad that’s Dave up there and not me…it’s much higher in person than it looks on camera!!!

: in goes the last piece and Dave is very happy to be able to move back down to ground level!

sanding the stair-rail and loft support beam-

The following weekend, we made yet another stop at the Petersburg Home Depot to replenish our supply of wood for the window and door trim before heading down to the cabin. Once there, Max and I take on the oh-so monotonous task of sanding the loft support beam and stair-rail while Dave works on some of the more intricate walls in Max’s room.

: surely we’re pro customers by now!

: Dave figures out which boards he wants while Max stands ready to help load the cart

: Dave checks each piece for flaws before handing it off to Max

: Dave searches through more stacks for the perfect boards while Max loads the cart

: our supply for the day

: Max begins the arduous task of sanding the support beam

: moving along, slowly but surely

: done!

: meanwhile, I work at sanding the stair-rail

: close up of the handrail before sanding

: handrail, after sanding

: no, I STILL do not like sanding, Sam I Am!

: hours later, sanding complete, Dave and Max put the banister back together

: using long log screws, they attach the sides to the handrail

: next, they secure the banister in place

finishing Max’s room-

Once the stair-rail was back in place, Max and Dave went back to the task of trying to finish off Max’s room. Unfortunately, we ended up running out of tongue and groove halfway through the final closet wall and had to quit for the day. In initially calculating how much we would need to complete the entire cabin, we hadn’t accounted for the waste that would be created with all the angled pieces we had had to cut. Fortunately, Dave found a place in Petersburg that sells eight inch tongue & groove and the following weekend we were able to pick up more, rather than having to place another order to be shipped from out of state. (Most places locally only carry 6″ boards.)

: Dave supervises as Max works on the inside wall of his closet

: Max continues to attach the T & G using the nail gun

: three walls complete

: moving right along, Max starts on the final closet wall

: Dave helps Max mark where to cut the T & G for the air vent

: uh-oh, we’ve reached the last piece of T & G!!!

: Dave uses the rubber mallet to place the last piece of T & G

: Max attaches the board with the nail gun before finishing up for the day

: treasures to be sealed inside Max’s closet wall…

: a copy of the Dinwiddie Monitor that we had picked up last month

: and a 2014 Quarter

: the following weekend, after picking up more T & G, Dave finishes closing in the closet

: standing inside the closet, you can see where Dave has boxed in the HVAC

: nook and closet, done

: finished knee wall doors and trim

: window trim and sill, done

: another view of the finished window in Max’s room

: close up of the finished knee wall door and latch

on to the guest room-

Having finished Max’s room at last, we moved on to the guest room where we finished up last weekend with all but the knee wall doors and a little trim left to do.

: Dave, plugging away at the guest room wall

Categories: Follow the adventure as we build our log cabin | Tags: building a log cabin, Coleman Cabin, Coleman Lake Cabin, The Coleman Cabin, tongue and groove walls | Leave a comment

raccoons, mastiffs and BEARS….oh my!!!!!

Posted on July 17, 2014 by the coleman cabin

Dave discovered, today, that we’ve had a new visitor at the cabin some time in the past three days….

: first there were the raccoon prints …cute, but there are raccoons everywhere

: then the giant dog prints…these turned out to belong to the neighbor’s dog, Zeus

: but now BEARS?….oh my!!!

Categories: Follow the adventure as we build our log cabin | Leave a comment

walls, walls and more walls….and a little fun with the fam as well!

Posted on July 1, 2014 by the coleman cabin

Having finished the main walls downstairs, we moved onto the upstairs walls this past week. We now have the tongue and groove up on at least one side of each of the rooms so can now get a much better idea of what the finished cabin will feel like…and yes, we are loving it!

: looking up the stairs, guest room is on the left

: wall between the stairs and guest room

: inside the guest room looking out toward the loft area

: standing in the loft looking toward the guest room

: upstairs bathroom at the back of the loft area

: wall between the stairs and upstairs bathroom

: looking across the loft area toward the kids room…bathroom is on the right

: looking at the same wall between the loft area and bathroom from the other side of the loft

: inside the kids room

Feeling very pleased with our progress thus far, we took a break from building over the weekend to relax and have a little fun while my brother and his family were visiting. They hadn’t seen the place since last Thanksgiving so we were anxious to show them how much we’d accomplished since their last visit.

: cousins, Max, Adam and Jake, pause for a photo op on the front porch stairs before heading inside to take a look

: Jason and Jake check out the great room

: Max discovers a piece of equipment he hasn’t yet used

: Daisy recuperates from her climb up the stairs as Dave shows Jason and Megan the inside of their future room…which will serve as the guest room when not occupied by them 😉

: Waffles really just wants to go swimming but patiently waits while Pancake checks out the new room

: Jason and Megan pose outside their room…hopefully next time they can actually sleep in it!

After checking out the inside of the cabin, we headed outside to take advantage of the beautiful day. Burgers, hobo pies, ATVs and a little swim in the lake…I do believe a good time was had by all.

: Jason and Adam, hanging out at the picnic table before lunch

: always up for a challenge, Adam figures out how he’s going to remove the dead limb that’s hovering in a tree near the picnic table

: Jake, Adam and Max, wait ever so patiently while Dave cooks up the burgers

: hooray, it’s time for hobo pies…Nutella and marshmallow, yum!

: Jake’s on pie duty

: Megan, getting ready to bite into gooey deliciousness

: Waffles says, “umm, excuse me, Jake, do you need any help with that?”

: Pancake says, “where’s my pie?”

: Daisy looks down over Waffles Ridge, perhaps remembering her previous attempt to jump from here…they’ve all tried it and it’s never a good idea…ever…silly dogs

: after lunch, Adam and Jake take the toys out for a spin

: not to be left out of the fun, Megan takes a turn on one of the ATVs

: after chasing around the boys a few times, Daisy slowly tries to make her way back up the hill

: nope, can’t make it any further…her old heart just can’t keep up 😦

: Daisy finally makes it back up the hill with a little encouragement from Dave and Waffles

: a very pooped Daisy parks herself by the water bowl where she stays the remainder of the afternoon

: after dangling briefly from his harness over the edge of Waffles Ridge, Pancake worms out of his contraption and makes a run for freedom only to be captured by Jason and Max, who then hand the naughty pup over to Dave and Waffles

: Dave keeps a hand on the little runner while he and Max hang out beside the lake

: ever the scent hound, Pancake finds something interesting to sniff on the rocks

: Adam and Jake end the day with a brief swim in the lake

: ready…set….

: GO!

: hey, wait for me!

: Waffles gets ready to jump in and join them…

: too chicken to make the jump, she stands by and watches enviously as Jake and Adam enjoy the cool water… don’t feel too badly though, Max called her over to the edge of the lake where she could easily walk in and swim…we’ll have to work on building her courage, silly ole bear

Categories: Follow the adventure as we build our log cabin, Fun times at Colemans Lake | Tags: Coleman Cabin, Coleman Lake Cabin, The Coleman Cabin | Leave a comment

and the rooms begin to take shape

Posted on June 24, 2014 by the coleman cabin

The past two weekends, we’ve turned our attention to putting up the tongue and groove walls on the first floor of the cabin. It’s been great fun to see the rooms finally take shape! Max even joined us on Father’s Day and pitched in…what better time for such a father/son activity as Dave passing on his vast knowledge of construction and the use of power tools to his son?!

the entrance way

: first order of business… it’s hot and humid in here so we throw together a make-shift air conditioner with a bag of ice and a fan

: up goes the entrance way wall

: entrance wall up- the door on the left is the half bath and the one on the right is the laundry room

: Dave trims out the corner outside of the half bath

: first corner done!

: entrance way walls both up, but we still need to come back and do the trim work

the living room

: from the entrance way, we move on to the wall in front of the basement stairs

: next, we build the wall to the left of the fireplace

: monkey Dave gets creative as he moves up along the wall

: almost done!

: and, we have our first two story wall

: another view of the completed living room wall as viewed from the loft area

: this wall also serves to close in the master bedroom as well as the guest room above

: next, we put up the wall over the breakfast room

: this wall also begins to close in the kid’s room

the master bedroom and bath

in which Max comes along to lend us a hand…

: Max and Dave start the day by carrying more tongue and groove into the cabin

: only a few more stacks and we can get started

: we start with the wall between the living room and master bedroom

: first section of the wall done

: we’ve decided to put little treasures in the walls as we close them up, for future generations to find, should they ever open up the walls…in this wall, a little note and a couple of coins dated 2013 (the year construction began)

: Safe and Sound insulation goes in between the studs before we put up the tongue and groove

: our message is now hidden under the insulation

: the wall now complete, our first little treasure is sealed in for who knows how long!

: not wanting Dave to have all the fun, I take over while he heads outside to work on the security lights

: working my way up the wall between the bedroom and master bathroom, I use the staple gun to attach the t&g to the studs

: second wall, done, closing in the master bathroom on the left and the closet on the right

: meanwhile, Dave puts up security lights on the front porch

: he places one on each corner of the front porch

: back inside, Dave shows Max how to use the miter saw

: measuring the first board

: Max successful cuts his first piece of t&g

: Max and Dave work together to built the wall between the master bath and closet

: Max pauses to put his John Hancock inside the wall

: another fun find for future generations!

: next lesson, Dave teaches Max how to measure and cut out a hole in the tongue & groove for the wall outlet

: after drawing out the rectangle, with Dave’s help, Max drills holes in each corner

: next he uses the jig saw to cut out the rectangle

: Dave guides Max along the first cut

: Max then takes over and finishes on his own

: having successfully cut an opening for the outlet, Max then slides the section of t&g in place

: using the rubber mallet, he taps the board in place

: switching to the staple gun, he attaches the t&g to the studs behind

: one more wall complete

: looking back into the bathroom you can just see the completed wall…our vanity and sink will eventually go against this wall

: back inside the bathroom, we begin lining the shower stall with Durock

: Max steps in to place a few screws into the Durock

: having tired of construction work, Max takes over my camera while I step in to help Dave with the shower stall

: shower stall is now ready for tile or slate or whatever we finally decide upon!

: commode walls finished as well

: apparently having screen time withdrawal, Max returns to his spot to the kitchen where his phone and iPad have been waiting

: yes Max, I am taking pictures of you texting your girlfriend…and, I’m also putting them on the blog…bwahahahaha

the stairwell

: first couple of boards in place

: we place more Safe and Sound between the back wall of the shower stall and the stairwell wall

: the steps all have to be removed and cut smaller in order to allow room for the tongue and groove to fit between the stairs and the existing studs

: Dave removes the log screws that hold in the steps

: we decide to just pull up two steps at a time as we work our way up the stairwell

: as we place the t&g along the wall, I reattach the newly shortened steps

: and, we have stairwell walls!

: we still have to come back and trim out the corners, but the walls are done

: looking up the stairs at the completed walls

the laundry room

: we start with the far wall, between the kitchen and the laundry room, where the washer and dryer will go

: ready for the switch plate covers!

: moving on to the wall between the laundry room and half bath… the ventpipe for the bathroom fan runs down through this wall

: my turn to sign the wall!

: second wall up

: now for the task of closing in the HVAC box

: we place more Safe and Sound to try to lesson the noise of the bathroom pipes that run from the upstairs bathroom and down into the basement

: a little time consuming, but we successfully close it all in!

: and, once again, except for the corner trim, another room is comlete!

Categories: Follow the adventure as we build our log cabin | Tags: building tongue and groove walls, Coleman Cabin, Coleman Lake Cabin, The Coleman Cabin | Leave a comment

the evolution of our toilet facilities….

Posted on June 16, 2014 by the coleman cabin

As a child growing up in Africa, my family and I spent many a vacation roughing it, while out on safari, with no bathroom facilities aside from the great out doors. If not camping, we were traveling to other destinations in the third world where toilets were not quite the modern facilities we were accustomed to at home. As a result, I can pretty much use anything available to me when necessary, but I gotta tell you, I am completely thrilled to finally have a working, indoor toilet at the cabin!

: our restroom facilities for the first six months coudln’t get any more primitive!

: moving up in the world…Max helps put up the potty tent

: after having had the potty tent for a few weeks, Dave, ever the idea man, fashions a toilet out of a bottomless drywall bucket to which he has glued a toilet seat

: me, checking out our awesome new toilet

: with construction about to start, we are required to have a Port-a-John delivered

: Dave steps in to help level the Port-a-John

: much tired of putting up and taking down the potty tent every time we visit, I’m super excited about this step up in our toilet facilities!

: with the outside construction complete, we move to the inside of the cabin…first on the agenda is to put in a working bathroom

: tongue and groove walls begin to go up

: two walls done!

: both inner and outer walls are up, with a layer of Safe and Sound insulation between

: Dave begins constructing a vanity top for the sink

: legs are fashioned out of logs from our property

: next, the faucet is put in place

: for the sink, Dave drills a hole in the bottom of a galvanized bucket and applies a bead of caulk to the underside for added waterproofing

: the completed sink and vanity are ready to be installed

: next, Dave puts in the overhead light

: toilet and sink are connected to the existing plumbing

: we have running water!!!!

: our new deer antler light and working toilet and sink!

: and for privacy, a temporary ply wood door

And for your viewing pleasure, so that you can get the full effect…

Categories: Follow the adventure as we build our log cabin | Tags: Coleman Cabin, Coleman Lake Cabin, Constructing a sink vanity, log cabin bathroom, The Coleman Cabin | Leave a comment

spraying the insulation

Posted on June 10, 2014 by the coleman cabin

With the outside staining finally complete, we have now moved our attention to the inside of the cabin. First on the agenda was to have insulation sprayed on all the outer walls of the second floor and any other areas that may be in need of protection against drafts. After getting a few quotes, Dave ended up choosing to go with the team from Creative Conservation as they were reasonably priced and were completely upfront about what they thought we would need without over selling. We were very happy with the choice and would definitely use them again should we ever need to.

The crew arrived to find the work sight covered in a giant bed of sticky red mud. It had been raining the evening before and on into the morning so, in an effort to prevent tracking the mud into the cabin, they laid down a path of plastic from the truck to the front door. A hose was then lain on top of the plastic path, and on into the cabin. Tanks inside the truck contained two different chemical solutions that were mixed together and then transported through the hose and into guns that the men used to shoot the liquid insulation onto the walls. The solution, once it has left the gun, immediatly expands and begins to harden, creating a solid layer of insulation as well as an air tight seal.

: the team from Creative Conservation arrives

: a path of plastic is lain from the truck to the cabin in an effort to keep the red mud from being tracked into the cabin

: the inside is covered in plastic

: everything is covered…