21
Jul

Log Rhythms: Logging Miles…

1st coat of stain

Notice a few things different in the picture above? I sure hope so.

Number 1 Change: There are now double posts at the edge of the back deck on the lakeside of Solitude. They add a little more pizzazz to this simple cabin design, if you ask me and add on well to the Timber look trusses.

Number 2 Change: The porch railings are up! Our porch railings are square with a flat board on top. Most log cabins have rounded rails and tops and I just wasn’t wild about it. It was too “chunky”. I love resting my arms on the flat top boards! We lowered the railing as much as we could so that one can see as much lake as possible. We also put the rails as far apart as possible, while still protecting little ones! I would have lowered the rail even more, but again, safety dictates a minimum height for the little ones.

Number 3 Change: The first coat of Perma-chink Gentry Gray stain is on! And I love it. It “hides” our cabin in the woods again! The lakes at the Reserve aren’t super big, so one can feel “exposed” to the other lakeside homes there. While this is not a huge issue for us (since we own the only other lot on this lake, too), I still wanted people to feel privacy at both cabins. I think it will be even more hidden when we add on the burgundy metal roof. Yes, burgundy. Remember–I like “different.” It will match the stone on the eventual fireplace really well–trust me!

Unfortunately, we didn’t receive nearly enough stain for all of the cabin. (These are the “headaches” of any build!) So, it may be a while before we get the rest of it adequately stained and then sealed with a clear top coat.

Staining and sealing the exterior of a log cabin is hugely important. The wood can deteriorate if you don’t do it properly and quickly after the logs are up and then maintain it regularly. Hence the reason why we don’t see too many original log cabins in the U.S. today! There were no great products to adequately care for the logs in the pioneer days!

One has to pick stains carefully because once it’s done, there’s no “turning back.” Thus, you cannot believe how many different stain colors we have painted on northern white cedar logs lately! Our central Texas neighbors  probably think we’re nuts because we keep dragging a heavy log out to our driveway and look at it with roofing samples and cultured stone samples.

We were down to 2 colors last weekend, but I still worried about everything matching, so the hubby said, “Let’s take the sample bottles with us and stain some scrap wood at the Reserve.” That sealed the deal for Gentry Gray. It looked so different next to the cabin. This is probably due to sun reflection off the lake and that Solitude still has some partial shade due to the remaining trees. Our central Texas home has a lot of sun–since it’s closer to the high plains of West Texas where there are no large trees like there are at the Reserve.

Other “unseen changes”: All of the interior wall framing is in place. Unlike a conventionally-constructed home, the interior walls don’t get framed at the same time as the exterior walls, so these are just now being added.

My poor MKX is sure putting on the miles lately (and it’s no longer a young car!). This is the third time the hubby and I have built a home together. Every time we build a home it seems the number of decisions is multiplied by 10! Thus, I figure there are easily 600 decisions this time. (I’m not gonna lie–this makes my knees weak for when we build on Serenity!)

This build is FULL of choices, thanks to the Internet and the fact that our builder is letting us find all of the choices. I’m even picking out custom HVAC registers. Yeah, registers. And if you don’t think there’s a wide variety of those, then you must have chronic narcolepsy.

And that doesn’t even cover things you conjure up in your head with your builder that no one has ever thought of before. Thus, some things are actually being designed specifically for this home–like truss braces. Yep, truss braces. We had a local welder create them for us. Then, we went off to Lowe’s and looked at spray paint primer and metallic spray paint. If you think that was a thirty-second decision, then you haven’t been to Lowe’s lately.

We spend a lot of time in Tyler, Athens, Palestine and Corsicana researching choices and making decisions these days. And if you think it’s limited to these 4 towns that are not exactly next door to each other, you’re wrong. We are getting our appliances from our favorite local appliance dealer in central Texas, because yes, they are willing to cart them 3.5 hours eastward for us and are that competitive with their pricing. They did mention, though, that they may drop a fishing pole into that lake after putting them in our cabin!

For some items it requires going to the metroplex, aka the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, to make final selections, so our poor car is getting very dusty, scratched and probably overheated as we lug various items to and from the Reserve.

It’s all starting to come together at least on the exterior, including the floor of an outside shower area for my favorite co-blogger with 4 paws–Miss Maizie. We want the option to wash her off after she scampers through the woods and the shower is located near the laundry room entrance to our cabin just to ensure she’s not messing up the main living area of the cabin. And I may require other family members to hose off, too, if I deem them “unworthy” cleanliness-wise!

We could not do this in this Texas summer heatfest without the help of our children. The daughter and DSL put in some long, hot, dusty hours working on various projects last weekend and we would be in a world of hurt if it hadn’t been for their help. We are looking forward to our other “kids” who are volunteering to join us when we finish the interior. Many thanks to them for being willing to sacrifice “play time” and their own agendas to help us with Solitude.

What’s next? Some AC would be nice…

Friday’s Post: Maizie’s playmates???

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 21st, 2016 at 2:03 pm and is filed under Log Rhythms. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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