Cabin Remodel

We did it!  While I might mourn the loss a full bowling alley in my bedroom, we have remodeled our cabin to have three bedrooms and a perfectly darling, useful landing.  Wanna see it?  (Because I’m dying to show you!)

This is the “before” picture. The tape was a general outline of what we wanted to do.

Here’s the basic outline of the area (not to scale).  The orange is the two closets, the red the stairs, and the small blue area is the original landing space.  It’s not to scale, but the drawing is not completely disproportionate.  It made moving furniture (and drywall) upstairs difficult.

“We” (Papa Jim did most of the work, especially the really heavy stuff) cut the big room in half, then built a small hallway so that each room would have it’s own entrance.  We tore out the closets, leaving only a small one in the second room.  This leaves the landing wide open and inviting. For a while, it will probably be a little playroom, housing the train/Lego table.  Eventually, I’m thinking a comfy reading chair, a bookshelf, lamp and small table to place a cup of tea.

The full wall separating the stairway from the new landing was cut to a half wall, allowing more openness and better lighting.

So this is how it really looks!

Our room, half the size but no less usable.

The new room (known officially as Jim’s Room—we are calling this “payment”).  Sorry for the poor light.  Hopefully this week, we’ll get a mattress and a frame.

This is the tiny closet we left.  It fits the vacuum and a few hangers.  What else does a cabin closet need?

And what may be my favorite part, the landing.

This is not quite a “before” picture, as you can tell Jim and Dwayne had to tear out the ceiling and the wall has already been partially built.  The wooden door on the right was the original door to the kids room and it didn’t open or shut very well.  Like the closet at the end, it didn’t make the cut.

This is how it looks now. New door, new light, no closets, new flooring.  I chose and installed the vinyl planks and I love it! 

Here’s also a peek at that half wall.

Here are the doors to master bedroom and Jim’s room.  (Darling mirror, huh?  $6 at Value Village!)

I want to show you the new attic entrance. It used to be right above the stairs, which no one who had to go up there liked very much.  When Dwayne and Jim redid the ceiling, they moved the access and then Jim framed it well with bunk bed supports we had leftover when we got the kids’ beds for the cabin.

And now we are back to the stairs. 

I have yet to finish the half wall (forgot the oscillating saw last time I was there), but this is what it will look like.  Jim measured and cut and I sanded and stained.  It looks good!

Just a few more side notes.  We had two large closets that were great storage—if you needed it. But we have two sheds on the premise, and since it really is just a getaway cabin (and a place to practice projects), we don’t need to store much outside of bedding and slippers.  It felt so good to get back lots of square footage by demolishing these two monstrosities.  However, it left a carpet dilemma.  But putting in new flooring gave us a chance to us up the extra transition pieces we had left over from our April remodel of our kitchen.  And it looks so much better!

“We” did all the work ourselves, except I hired a local guy to come in during a week when no one was there to tape, mud, and texture the drywall—a tedious task that not only takes several days, but is also something I’m not particularly good at. 

We never noticed how funny some of the wood was until we had to work with it or around it. If you look at the trim in the bedrooms, you’ll see that the original trim is a different width on almost every wall.  That was great, because it didn’t matter so much when we used different trim to finish the new walls. 

I fell in love with Rustolium’s Oiled Rubbed Bronze that I learned about from a blog my sister-in-law blogged about.  Beautiful stuff.  I got the light fixture I wanted (that fit the budget) and spray painted it with this to match the door knobs I had chosen.  I also did the hinges to match.  It’s the small things, and these fantastic doors look even better with this not-quite-black contrast.

Nothing gets me going like a good project, and as soon as I get the half-wall trim on, and finish painting the new floor and ceiling trim, we will stamp this one

Done!

And it might be the most useful project we’ve ever done.

Another Wall…But at the Cabin This Time

Before we even put an offer on it, Dwayne and I were pretty sure we’d want to take the large “master” bedroom at the cabin and divide it in half, so we can have a total of three bedrooms and maybe up to seven beds.

Papa Jim shares our dream, shares our love of DYI projects, and has four times the experience of Dwayne and I combined.  He went up for two days this week and accomplished this:

For those familiar with the layout, the far corner where one of the new doors is leaning against the wall is the bathroom. 

He’s going up in a few days to start the wiring.  Jim reeks of awesomeness …and probably sweat after carrying all the materials up those stairs.

Maybe by Christmas, we will have a third bedroom that a couple could actually sleep in, instead of using a couch or bunk bed!  Come to think if it, I think Jim is just building himself his own bedroom. 

Cleaning Gutters. Not Recommended.

Dwayne stole this shot of me trying to reach the gutters by standing a chair on top of an end table.  I needed about six more inches and smaller hands.  I think I’ll hire this job out. 

Castle Park (South Whidbey Community Park)

There are at least three area parks we call “Castle Park” but the one outside of Langley might be the kids’ favorite.  They like the skate park that they can slide down and pretend they are tigers caught in a pit.   And the tire swing that goes high.  And that they can climb across the whole play area without touching the ground.  I like that they can entertain themselves there for hours.

When I get around to making our Family Favorites notebook for the cabin, this spot will make the front page!

Meerkerk Gardens

One the way to the cabin lately, I’ve been picking up Whidbey Island brochures on the ferry.  This time, I picked up one about Freeland, a really cute town on the north side of South Whidbey.  Listed as an attraction was Meerkerk Gardens, a 43-acre site with lots of NW gardens and 4 miles of trails through forest preserves. We didn’t get  too far on the trails , but we had a great time wandering through the secret garden and looking for fairy houses under cedar trees. 
Dwayne and I are working on how to steal this and bring it back to our house.  Dwayne would actually like to build this himself, but I like my plan better.

If we took this, we’d satisfy Dwayne’s arch-lust for the rest of his life.  I think.


Piper was our official photographer this trip. That means I erased approximately 150 pictures of her shoes and my rear.


We loved the dahlias and Piper loved taking pictures of our favorites.

Since the park’s middle name is Rhododendron, there are hundreds here. 
And we finally found the fairy houses.  I promised the girls we’ll go next summer on fairy day to build our own.

Cozy Cabin

We spent a cozy weekend at the cabin.  At least that’s how I remember when I look at these pics I snapped as we locked it up tight to leave this afternoon.  Everything had been put away and cleaned up, and it looked like I would like it to look.  The kids do not have the same concern with order and peace.   But I will keep gazing at the pictures to remember the fiction, not the reality.

Our bedroom finally has a bed…and sheets…and that’s about it.  We’ll be dividing it half with a wall sometime this winter.

The two bunk beds are completely assembled now.

Wish I was there….with just a book and bottle of wine to keep me company.  Any amens?

No Longer Just a Wooden Tent

I went over to the cabin yesterday BY MYSELF and a carload of DIY items.  The first thing I did was repaint this dreadful “sponge-painted” bathroom wall.  The picture does not do justice to the hideousness, so you’ll just have to trust me on this.

Three coats and 5 hour later, the bathroom was repainted, cleaned,  and sterilized (except for the shower, Julie, just so you are prepared when you go over).

Before coming over, I stopped at Home Depot to buy 3/4 inch birch plywood and had it cut precisely to 75” by 34” to make four bunky boards.  Between coats of paint, I sanded the four boards.

We bought two sets of bunk beds this weekend from a mother of 8 who had been storing these in the garage attic for years.  It took a long time, lots of rags, and most of a bottle of Method Clementine All-Purpose cleaner to clean them up.  I couldn’t get the top bunk up by myself, so currently the fourth bed is in the big bedroom.

That funny little hole in back of the bunk bud is a little “secret” cabinet that the kids have claimed for their own. I spent a good part of yesterday cleaning it, repainting the entire thing, and realizing that the carpet was beyond all measures except total replacement.  So I picked up a remnant today to install later.  I’d like to put up a curtain and figure out how to get a light in there.  Kyla wants to decorate it with flowers decals and Piper wants pillows.  It be a great little nest for them all.  Unfortunately, we’ve taken away their favorite use of the hidey-hole—jumping down from there and trying to break Wesley’s leg.  Good times.

The other corner of the room is just big enough for a second bunk, if you don’t need to open the door quite all the way.

This is my dear little kitchen. No dishwasher, and a spot just waiting for my parents to move so that we can get their old microwave.  The kitchen is getting stocked with things like “camping oatmeal” (the packets pre-flavored with maple syrup and brown sugar), packages of hamburger and sausages and frozen waffles and spaghetti.

All the cabinetry was removed from my old college apartment—or your old college apartment—and installed here with some success.  Do you see the space between the  stove and the counter on the right?  There’s just an empty space below the counter than can’t really be used for anything but a hiding spot for Wesley until he’s just a few inches bigger. 

The big push this week was getting some real furniture in here.  I scoured craigslist for the last week or so, and we were able to bring in a leather couch and matching chair, another leather “Daddy” recliner, our kitchen table (now I can get a new one for our house) and the beds and mattresses.  I will rearrange this at least once more, but I love doing this part!

One corner actually has enough light…

This is the front (and only) entry, and how the kitchen connects with, for lack of a better word, the great room.  The funny angle in the middle is the staircase that leads up to the bedrooms.

Our bedroom is a bit of a monstrosity.  It’s the same size as the great room and has the only full bath connected to it.  The tape on the floor is our first ideas of where to build a dividing wall.  Today, I picked up a platform bed for us (off craigslist, of course) so now we all have beds to sleep on.

Only one spot left and that is the half-bath downstairs.  I love the laundry—so much shelving, and it’s naturally bright and the cleanest of the rooms.

We put in a lot of work the first three weeks, but really—less than a month, and it’s a comfortable place to spend the weekend.  We can’t wait to share it with you!

Here’s a downside to log cabins that I didn’t think about.  This is in addition to the outrageous insurance bill (we pay more than twice on insurance for the cabin than we do for our house that is three times as big).  As I spent all day at the cabin yesterday, going up and down the stairs and moving things around all day, I noticed that the top half of every interior log needed to be dusted.  Badly.  Almost as badly as the seven sets of plastic mini-blinds to need to be scrubbed—a treatment I don’t think they’ve been subjected to in the last 32 years.  Yes, I just bought myself a bunch more housework, but believe it or not, I think I may learn how to relax over on the island.  Someday.

“Our Beach”!

We took Dwayne’s parents and his aunt and uncle out to see the cabin that we haven’t bought yet (we’re trying!  A post about everything that has gone wrong will be written after we have the title.)  We really wanted to go down to the beach today.  “Walking down to the beach” is as much about the journey as the destination.

The trip starts with a stroll down a forest trail.  It’s unnecessary to tell you that it’s beautiful.

When we got to the end of the trail,we have to leave a few of the party behind until they get their hips replaced.  Again, think journey.

Dwayne counted about 150 steps like this.

Until you get to the bottom where the stairs have been washed away.  Then there’s a few ropes to help you repel down to the not-too-rickety step ladder.  Darlene was not thrilled with this.  Uncle Del helped me down since I had a sleeping Wesley in a sling.

But then we are on a beach that not only is private, but is a smidgeon difficult to get to.  And, surprisingly, we are the only ones there.

Some one thoughtfully hung a rope swing.