J & J Log Home

We loaded all the base cabinets (except 1) & took them to the house. The 2x4's against the log wall worked great, the cabinets all lined up perfect & it was easy to secure them. There is one more base cabinet to install, but when we found these (display in a local kitchen shop) the other base was a 30". We only have room for a 15" between the stove location where the wire is coming out of the wall) & the fridge (beside the tall cabinet). I dis-assembled the 30" upper cabinet & shortened it this afternoon, just have the base to finish, then onto the countertops.

We installed the bath vanities today, the hardest part was getting the 60" vanity upstairs! Here's the 24" in the downstairs/guest bathroom. They are natural maple: We took an idea from another LHBA member, we used 2x4's against the log wall, so we would have something "plumb & square" to install the other kitchen cabinets onto. We found the area/log that stuck out the farthest, which happened to be right in the corner where the framed kitchen wall butts onto. Then we installed the first 2x4, & plumbed it using shims of various sizes. Then we snapped a line that was square along the floor, & installed the rest of the 2x4's, each one centered where a pair cabinets will join, so there is a solid area for each to be secured. Will see how well the idea works tomorrow when we start installing the kitchen cabinets.

We had a week away from working on the house, since I was in Canada for meetings & training. Was good to see everyone again. We rented a tile saw on Saturday & used it for all the pieces around pipes, registers etc. Today we grouted everything, wasn't too bad, other than a lot of bending down & kneeling. Here's the downstairs bathroom finished (needs a final cleaning/buffing to get the haze off). Here's the kitchen, really needs to be buffed clean :) The actual color is closer to the tile on the very right near the log wall. Our bath vanities are in, so those will go in next, along with all kitchen cabinets.

Don finished up with the painting & it looks great, the cut-in lines along the ceilings are near perfect. Here's a shot of the downstairs bedroom, with the finished ceiling we did the other weekend. Here's the tile in the utility room & downstairs bath. We still need to rent a tile saw to make the detailed cuts around registers & pipes etc, then will finish the grout after that. Bathroom tile, still needs a few tiles cut: Today we tiled most of the kitchen. We picked a neutral color that should go well with the hardwood flooring & cabinets.