The Shower, Completed

Just to refresh your memory, over New Years, Dwayne and I decided to update the cabin bath by putting in a new floor and updating the vanity, before discovering that the shower needed to completely be taken down to the logs.  Oh, horrors.  At least, I’ve minimally improved my tiling skills while significantly decreasing our savings.

Before:

 

Now:

 

I like it best with the shower curtain closed, but I needed to show off the new tile in the shower. We tiled to the ceiling, and I love it!  And it can never, ever leak.  We did everything we could to make it waterproof, with jetboard between the tile and logs, inner and outer layers of caulk, and everything as tight as we can make it.  Because if water gets through, we’ll have to take out every tile, scrape through lots of mortar, and pry off some well-adhered cement board. 

 

It’s embarrassing that we’ve been working on this for over a month, but, in all fairness, we can only go over on free weekends. 

Our first renter is coming next weekend.  We need to rent it 16 more nights to break even on the bath.  Another night to pay for the new filter. 125,000 nights to pay for the actual cabin.  Yep, that’s a rabbit hole I just stepped into!

Winter Beach

There’s always a few freakishly warm days in Seattle’s winter.  We happened to be at the Clinton Beach on Whidbey for this warmish day!

Heartsease Cabin is Now on AirBnB

We are renting out Heartsease cabin now on www.airbnb.com! Check us out if you are looking for a special getaway on South Whidbey Island. 

One More Itsy-Bitsy Cabin Project

[NOTE: Oddly, I’m not able to post a 2016 date, so I’m changing the date to Dec. 31, instead of the Jan. 3, when the project was completed.]

 

Before:                     Almost After:

 

We can’t help ourselves.  Back at home on Wednesday evening, after two nights in Leavenworth, I mentioned to Dwayne that since we were heading to Whidbey to do the Polar Bear, we should retile the master bathroom floor.  And if we had the floor up, we might as well think about getting a new vanity.  Dwayne, kindly, madly, or thoughtlessly, agreed.

Thursday morning:  Spend money at Home Depot.  Pack car(s).

Thursdsay afternoon: Travel to cabin. Bathroom looks like this.

Thursday at 4pm:  Start demo.

Attach HardieBacker board to subfloor.

Thursday Midnight: finish demo and prep.  Clean thinset buckets, etc, outside in 28 degree weather.  Sleep until 10 the next morning. Talk myself out of Polar Bearing.

Friday: Tile. 

Praise Piper for making us snacks to get us through the day.

Friday evening:  Dwayne and Jen drive an hour to nearest Home Depot to return previously purchased vanity and buy a new one. And since we’re replacing the vanity, we decide to replace the medicine cabinet.

Saturday: Grout. Put toilet and new vanity in.  Go to store several times for various plumbing needs.  Look at vanity lighting and decide it needs to be updated, too.  Discover no South Whidbey stores carry a selection of lighting options.  Realize that we won’t finish early enough to go home that night.  Feed kids. More clean up. 

Post “Almost After” Picture:

Collapse on couch while composing a list of what to get on the mainland before we come back to finish up.

Saturday Midnight: Realize toilet  shut-off valve is leaking.

Sunday morning: Denise takes kids home.  Dwayne stays behind to work on leak, hoping to save us the time and money of not contracting a plumber.  Add this to my list of 1000 reasons I love that man.

Hi, Santa!

 

After the parade, I picked up the other kids and took back to the Island Fairgrounds. Santa must have a cabin on Whidbey Island as well, because we caught up with him in a barn.   He was pretty jolly, and we hope we see him again soon!

Awesome Whidbey Island at Christmas

It was raining, it was cold, it was gray.  And it was the Langley Christmas parade.  So of course I went!  I was able to talk Wesley and Piper into coming with me, but Kyla and Aubrey stayed behind in the cozy cabin.  They missed out!

I love the exterior (and interior, if I’m to be honest) of the Saratoga Inn. 

It was a small parade—girl scouts, marital arts, and a pony.

Piper grabbed her Santa hat and American flag, but is probably still kicking herself for not having more and deeper pockets.  Again, for all the candy.

But Santa showed up, and if I say it was on the back of the ambulance, don’t feel worried about his health.  Those aren’t real raindeer and they needed the help.

Next to Santa, and lots and lots of candy, I loved the bagpipes the best.  I actually loved seeing our friends down at the parade best, but the bagpipes were amazing.

And to top off the parade, the rain ended and a rainbow appeared. 

See, it’s always better on the island. 

New at the Cabin

It didn’t happen until the end of July, but we have a new deck!  It’s made of a Trex-like material, is about twice as big with a bump-out just begging for a picnic table, and could support an elephant.  Please don’t test this theory, but I’m a bit giddy about not falling through the boards anymore on the way from the kitchen to the grill!

The same company that tore out and rebuilt the deck also put in a firepit.  Dwayne used up some old pavers lying around to finish the edges.  We had to wait several weeks for burn ban to lift, but earlier this month, we got to christen it with hotdogs and s’mores.

 

My awesome dad gifted us with an old set of horseshoes and built the wood frames for the pits.  You’d think he was a smart old man until I tell you he rashly came over to the cabin last weekend to “celebrate Dwayne’s and Kyla’s birthdays” and ended up putting them together and digging out the dirt to set it up. Shoulda waited unitl all the work was done before venturing over, Dad—you should know that by now! The poles are a regulation 40’ apart, and so far, Dwayne and I can comfortably throw about 38’.

“We” also completely disposed of the stumps, brought in topsoil, covered grass seed with some peat moss, and in an afternoon, the days of Stumps and Pissy Wives were over.  Just a note, instead of grinding the stumps for $700, we decided to take 100 times as long and probably twice the cost and did it ourselves. Lesson learned.
But the good news is that Pissy Wife was completely transformed into Happy Wife when, while I was getting peat moss and seed, I spotted our new deck furniture.  It’s not the picnic table I want to get, nor does it follow my rule of being used, recycled, or handmade, but I like it, it fits perfectly on the deck or around the campfire, and now it’s ours. Currently, it is in the shed, waiting for a coat of marine-quality varnish…and spring, but I’m excited to sit out on the deck without having to drag out living room furniture!

 

  

It’s only interesting to us, as the owners, but while we were having a load of topsoil delivered, we also ordered 3 yards of 5/8ths minus with binder (note to self: get 4 yards next time and the same gravel) to fix up the driveway. 

 
And this little guy is our new mascot.  He supports a special needs group on the island and looks forward to greeting guests and also more seasonally appropriate neckwear (next time, Benet*, I promise).

* Benet is the bodyguard in The Magic Thief trilogy by Sarah Prineas.  The cabin’s name, Heartsease, also comes from the this series.