Posts Tagged ‘Log Rhythms’

16
Aug

Log Rhythms: Logging Off…

Master Bedroom

If you have enjoyed the Log Rhythms part of my blog site, you’re about to be disappointed. There really aren’t too many other things to discuss about our journey to a fully-functional log cabin and so, this feature will end as of today.

But, have no fear! We own the lot across the lake from the Solitude cabin and one day, we will be building that log cabin, too. We already have some fun ideas in mind for the “Serenity cabin,” since this is where we will retire. For instance, we’re thinking about making some rather elaborate “tree houses” nestled around that cabin and I’m already leaning towards a “colonial” feel for that one. The hubby wants space for an elaborate outdoor kitchen as well.

Bathroom sandstone counter top

20
Jul

Log Rhythms: Pictures!

If you’ve been missing my posts, my apologies. I’m playing “corporate wife” this week and next week I’m off to a new adventure. Both of these require significant travel, planning, and rearranging the 18 things I stupidly choose to do. Okay, so it only feels stupid when they all demand my attention at once or I go out of town. That means this week it’s stupid!

Around the 4th of July we enjoyed a wonderful weekend with the DSL, the daughter, and that precious grandson of ours. He enjoyed our covered back porch, splashing around in his very own kiddie pool and watching bubbles sail across the porch. To watch the delight on his face as he surveyed all of this fun was a joy to watch.

His tired parents even got a ride in our new 2-person kayak, complete with places to put fishing poles. Our Canadian geese did not enjoy the kayak because they were being very protective of their rapidly-growing gosling.

I finally remembered to take pictures, but let me reiterate, I am not the photographer of the family, so if these are blurry, etc., you’ll have to forgive me.

This is the view from the lakeside bedroom. You can see my brother’s blue kayak under the trees and now, there’s a new 2-seater kayak close by!

27
Jun

Log Rhythms: Door Debate…

With picking a maroon-colored metal roof and gray stain for our cabin, one would think I had already decided on the exterior door color for our cabin and that this job would have long been done by the time we had finished the inside work, right?!

Wrong.

Our exterior doors arrived in a light cream color. We were so eager to have lockable cabin doors that we didn’t paint them in the beginning. In fact the cream color almost became the color of the doors. I was beginning to think that the dark colors I had chosen for the outside were getting too dark and the cream color actually worked with the other exterior colors to my astonishment.

Even my daughter talked about how nice the existing color was and wondered if we needed to keep them a light color. Then reality happened.

With all of the traffic through these doors to work on inside projects, we had managed to put dirt all over these poor doors. I thought they would clean easily with some good old-fashioned elbow grease and cleaner, but I was wrong. I either lightened the existing color (and it was in patches!) or the dirt remained.

20
Jun

Log Rhythms: Endless Trim…

Even with all the major work done on the inside of the cabin, one final task remained: Trim work. If we weren’t such a nice family, one could argue that there was still some lack of privacy in all of the bedrooms and bathrooms, because the baseboards and door trim had not been put up yet.

This project, unfortunately, began in the summertime last year…in Texas. Much of the work had to be done outside. Granted, we largely worked under porches, but it was still hot, sweaty work.

It wasn’t easy for the hubby and father-in-law–I wanted an arts and craftsman look trim-wise. Each door required 4 pieces of trim. Each window required 7 pieces of trim, including window bucks. Even in a small cabin like ours, that meant entire rooms filled with stacked trim pieces as the hubby and father-in-law routed each piece. And that doesn’t even include the baseboards!

06
Jun

Log Rhythms: Aid for the Kitchen…

Well, my best laid plans for getting you some updated pics of the cabin did not occur. My latest health adventures prevented me from trekking to the cabin. I’d like to say that I will be there this next weekend to do just that, but I have other commitments on the plate and that just won’t happen until the end of this month–my apologies for the delay.

It’s ironic that I used the term “on the plate” because today I’m telling you about our fantastic kitchen and laundry room appliances. You need to know a few things first:

  1. The hubby’s a great amateur chef. He likes better than average kitchen appliances.
  2. I can cook and bake, but I can go 335 days without either activity, and be perfectly content.
  3. The only time of year I cook and bake is at Thanksgiving and Christmas. The hubby and I go all out for those two holidays, food-wise. Thus, we need a LOT of room when we do so.
  4. I like appliances that either self-clean or are easy to clean, since I’m “the maid.”

30
May

Log Rhythms: Plumb Crazy…

Thankfully, this log cabin of ours does NOT feature one thing true of the original log cabins in the U.S.–an outhouse. Thus, I actually deemed it fun deciding how to “outfit” our 2 bathrooms, our kitchen sink and our laundry sink.

I wanted the bathrooms to have that arts and craftsman “feel,” so I already had decided that the fixtures would all be white, as they would have been back in the arts and craftsman era.

As you might suspect, this is where the hubby’s engineering end of the build came into play with my aesthetics end. This was particularly true of two plumbing areas: faucets and toilets.

I have had a lot of bad luck with faucets throughout my life. Why? Because I listened to commissioned salesmen “voices” who sold me on Moen and other brands I knew I didn’t like in the first place. In my experience other brands leak remarkably soon after installation and become a cleaning nightmare in the process.

23
May

Log Rhythms: Door Staining…

While we were acquiring flooring, cabinets, counter tops, appliances, and plumbing fixtures, we were still existing with few interior doors. There are no hallways in the cabin to utilize every inch of floor space, so not having bedroom and bathroom doors all this time was often a problem.

If the hubby and I were the only ones there, it really wasn’t a problem, unless neighbors or contractors came without warning. But if our awesome family came to help, it really made things awkward for all of us.

Even for our little cabin, there were a lot of doors. Eleven interior doors had to be stained and sanded 3 different times. Since both sides of a door have to be treated this way, that makes for 6 different rounds of sanding and staining per door, or 66 rounds total.

Trying to sand and stain one side while another side is drying is very difficult for even the best do-it-yourselfer. Based on all of these factors, we decided to have our interior wall staining crew price this job. It turned out to be a very reasonable price and within a weekend, we had doors installed!

17
May

Log Rhythms: Cabinets at the Cabin…

As you may have noticed, I have a “particular vision” for this cabin and I don’t compromise that, easily. Part of the “vision” was to have very, very simple farmhouse cabinets. And while I’m sure the hubby could have made cabinets for our kitchen, laundry room and bathroom, it was just too time-consuming for a guy who is regularly on the road.

Thus, we elected to use a local cabinet maker. The hubby selected the cabinet maker he felt would do the best job. Unfortunately, I am a very “visual” person–I have to “see” what something is going to look like before I can tell you if that is what I envision. Our cabinet maker chose to very roughly sketch how the cabinets would look and the drawings were not to scale. The hubby convinced him this was necessary to get a final okay from us.

Then, he wanted to put crown molding on everything.

09
May

Log Rhythms: Floors, Part 2

Last Wednesday I discussed how we wound up with Wild Horse Sandstone for our counters and tiled areas of the cabin. We even considered putting the floor plank tiles everywhere in the cabin. Indeed, that would have made for easy clean-up everywhere.

When I think of log cabins, I do think of wood flooring. With its rising popularity these days, it seemed important to put in some wood flooring for a few parts of the cabin, particularly since we hope to rent the cabin in the future–potential renters would expect to see wood floors in a log cabin.

Thus, I began researching the possibilities for such flooring. If you are a fan of this blog’s Friday posts, then you know, all too well, that we have a golden lab by the name of Maizie. Maizie is a sweetheart, very smart, and we adore her presence most of the time–she’s often both our entertainment and our dearest companion now that we have an empty nest.

02
May

Log Rhythms: Floors, Part I…

After all that sanding and staining, it was time to work on the fireplaces. To do that we needed rock (or a reasonable fac simile) and after visiting several stone and brick places in our area, we decided that East Tyler Brick in Tyler, TX was the best place to get a quality product for the least amount of money.

East Tyler Brick has far more than just brick and stone. They have pot belly stove replicas, “throw-back” appliances, and outdoor living furniture and equipment. While the hubby was finalizing the stone order, I noticed a patio table off to one side. It had a wooden top on it, but also had a metal base. The wood grain was amazing and very polished. It puzzled me, quite frankly.

I went over to the table and when I examined it further, I realized it was actually STONE! I fell in love with it, instantly. My mind raced and I checked myself quickly with this thought: “We’ll never be able to afford it.” But the next thought was: “Maybe we could do the bathroom counters in this?”