Entryway is done

Finally finished the stone!

Entryway almost complete

Stone is almost done on the entryway. Need another afternoon of decent weather to finish it off!

Looking like it should....

The roof framing is finished on the entryway and just needs flashing & shingles. Yesterday put a good dent into the decking as well, just have to finish the stairs & figure out some nice railing, then clean & stain the logs.

Entryway Coming along....

Few more days and the front entryway will be done!

Porch almost done

Main roof is done except for some flashing at the top, then just have to stain the logs & put the decking down.
Was nice to sit outside & have a coffee after the rain this morning.

Porch progress

Things have been slow because of weather & work travel, but it is coming along.

Starting the porch & entryway finally!

Getting started with the porch finally. Here are the 12" supports, they go down past the frost line. Dug by hand & took about 7 bags of concrete each. The cement mixer paid for itslef yet again!
Mike & I got the first one up by hand:


Last 2 I did myself using a chain hoist & some braces, worked out well:
All 3 up, I also have about 1/2 the joists done now too but didn't get a picture. next will be putting a horizontal log across the top, then building a roof ontop :

Bookshelf is done!

Jessica needed a bookshelf, so we finally came up with a plan. We looked online a bunch & found some interesting designs.

Started with the cheapest pine 1x10 we could find & "distressed" it, then followed with super dark stain, & some clear coat.

Then we made about 22 separate boxes, 12"x24", & stacked them in random patterns, overall it's about 7' square, lots of room for books.

We rearranged the room a bit, moved the desk over, and hung up our first picture (after 2 years!)

This was a wedding gift from Uncle Duane (he painted it!) & Auntie Elaine.

Next up is a porch & entryway...waiting on a building permit.

Lazy dogs....

The dogs like the heat coming through the south facing door.....they are so lazy, but at least they are getting along.

We are working on building a bookshelf, pics when it's done....

Oops!

Want to know the worst way to wake up at 3am?? The plastic clips letting go in the closet, & a bunch of clothes hitting the floor all at once. Don't think it would be loud, but there was a good bang & we jumped. Keep in mind this was Jessica's side haha, too many clothes?

You can see the broken clip on the right. The left is what it should look like. Spaced every 16"...yah right. I replaced them with metal clips & added an extra center support to the bottom, so hopefully this won't happen again.

New stuff!

Woke up this morning to the first snow of the season!


Here is the shed we built a few months ago. It's a 8x12 with a shed-style roof that slopes to the back. Just enough room to hold a bunch of stuff, mower, & a season's worth of wood pellets :)
We finished it board & batten, & stained the same as our gable ends.


And here is a little video of our new puppy playing. Her name is Cadence & she's an almost 6 month old Great Dane....yep....going to be a BIG dog :) Marley doesn't like her too much, but eventually they'll warm up to each other.

Kitchen Island Done

It's been done a while, finally got a picture of it.
Found a matching piece of granite for the countertop & installed it myself.



We also built a shed, just have to finish putting the stain on it then will post it up as well.

Kitchen Island

After searching some shops around town, we couldn't find a decent kitchen island. They were either the wrong color, style, or way too pricey.

We decided to build our own.

Picked up some maple from Menards and used a "This old house" article to get started.

Built 2 identical shelves:

Here are the corners,
Then we used some wood conditioner, followed by stain to match our kitchen cabinets:

Finished the assembly today (sweet plywood top huh?), the granite top (to match our existing counters) should be ready next week:

Mantel is finally done!

Finished the mantel the other night. We had a couple poplar 4x10's left over from building, so I cut them down to 2.5" thick by about 8" deep & used them for the mantel around the pellet stove.


Close up. We used a water based polyurethane & it really brings out the grain of the poplar.


These will turn into many shades of brown after they age a while. Still a bit green since I just planed them down.

Finishing corner hearth....

Here is the metal mesh/lathe that will help hold the mortar & stone to the wood frame. You can see I left a couple inches clearance around the vent pipe. The mesh overhangs the edge & the stone should butt up nicely around the edge for a clean finish.


Next is the scratch coat of mortar (I think that's the term anyways)....the mesh holds in in place, and once it's cured the stone will have a good layer to adhere to.


Here is the base, big 18" stones for the bottom & 1 thin layer of stone along the bottom/front.


Here is a few rows of stone I finished today after work. It's a bit difficult to get the corners to fit against the logs, but a diamond grinder wheel helps the process.



Few more rows up....getting closer. It would go alot quicker if I didn't have to cut each corner so it matches up to the logs.


All the stone is done. Just have to finish the mantle on the top.

Pellet Stove Installation

Picked up our new pellet stove on Saturday, we decided on a Maxfire Santa Fe. Should be around 86% efficient & help allot with the heating bills.

We are building a hearth in the corner for it to sit on & protect the floors/walls.

First we put down some tape to get the outline, then a layer of foam to protect the hardwood, incase it ever is removed.

Then 2 layers of 3/4" OSB. By the time we add the wire mesh, mortar scratch coat & stone, the vent should line up where I want it to go through the wall.

Marley is supervising....

Here is the basic layout. We are waiting on some cultured stone to finish it off. It is a 'dry stack' look so you won't see grout lines. Should be interesting. Will also use some spare 4x10 leftover from our 2nd floor beams to make a mantle along the top.


First fire!
The stone place is dragging their feet on our order, so we installed the stove. It's pretty toasty in the house today & the electric furnace hasn't ran at all.

When the stove is running on high, the flames in the burn pot are about 4" tall. Puts out alot of heat for such a small flame.

Happy New year

Say hello to 2010!

No new pics, but stay tuned...we are planning to install a pellet multi-fuel stove in the near future.
Should be an interesting project.

So far the last few weeks have been interesting, found some mice (took care of that issue!), had a bat in the attic, found a water leak, & most recently discovered our deep freezer was plugged into a GFI...& it tripped without us knowing. Luckily not much in the freezer, but we did lose 2 nice New york steaks that would have been tasty....grrr.

Here's some pics:
This is where the leak came from (& the nice hole I had to cut in the wall to access it haha):

Not bad for the first time I had to patch drywall....You can also see the trim piece that hides the gap from the drywall to the log wall. We have almost every piece done, just a couple left. They take forever to get a good fit.

Wait...what is this? A new post?

About time I guess. We've been enjoying having some free weekends to go biking & golfing.

Most of the inside trim (door & window casing, baseboards etc) is finished & clear-coated.

Here's some trim around the stairs:

More trim going up the stairs, we tried to "show off" some of the girders & RPSL's where the drywall butts up to them. Gives it a different look, since the logs aren't milled to 1 size, you can see the taper & character.

Here's our front picture window with trim on it (and a bit of chinking on the outside still!)

Down bath:

Used some small 1/2" x 1" poplar trim for around the 4x10 beams for the second floor, also handy as we used it where drywall butts up to RPSL's & girders.

Dining room, we still have to find a matching island to go in the front corner of the kitchen for more cabinet & counter space.

We finally started trim on the outside of the windows. We used the same stain as on the gable ends, these ones were stained just a day or two ago, the 'yellow' mellows out alot in a few weeks.