James' and Michelle's Cabin

We're finally in...

2008-12-19T12:14:00.000-08:00

Well, we are finally in the house. We moved in about a month ago, just before Thanksgiving. Here's a bunch of shots of the interior and exterior. We still have a few loose ends to tie up, like knobs for the kitchen cabinets, but generally, the house is wonderfully liveable.

Be well, and Merry Christmas!

Wintertime...

2008-12-19T12:09:00.000-08:00

2008-12-19T12:03:00.000-08:00

2008-10-02T11:03:00.000-07:00

Finally, a more recent update to the building process. (Which, while slow, is coming to fruition. Cross you fingers - we're hoping to be in before Thanksgiving!) Scroll down to see more pix of what has been going on. I'd have more shots of the interior, but it's full of workers and scaffolding right now, painting and putting up lighting - so look for that update coming soon.

2008-10-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a shot of the little cabin - our original cabin - where we are contentedly living now. It's tight, but comfy.

2008-10-02T10:58:00.000-07:00

Our loft is finally coming into shape. Note the walls in the background of the photo. We have walls!

2008-10-02T10:55:00.000-07:00

The front door.

2008-10-02T10:54:00.000-07:00

An interior shot of the back door and tile work.

2008-10-02T10:41:00.000-07:00

Exterior shot of the back of the house.

2008-10-02T10:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a long shot of the house. The shingling has been completed on all the dormers now. Hooray.

Shingles, etc.

2008-07-10T13:30:00.001-07:00

Finally some progress on the roof - shingles on the first dormer in cedar, then architectural shingles on the roof. Note the green fascia board trim along the roof line. Very nice!

Kitchen cabinets - and unwanted residents

2008-07-10T13:26:00.000-07:00

Here's the kitchen cabinets - just waiting for the countertops to be measured up and the appliances to be installed...and also, a photo of an unwanted "friend" who decided to start a family on the ridgepole of the house. (They are gone now, thankfully!)

2008-05-05T10:36:00.000-07:00

Zoe and I hiked up Smith's Pyramid - that is, the small mountain viewed from the cabin - and could just spy the house through the tree limbs. You can just make it out in the center right of this photo.

April Update

2008-05-01T05:23:00.000-07:00

So much happening in the last few weeks or so up at the cabin. The fireplace is now complete, windows are going in, interior walls being built, along with the stairs, and the electrical work is being started as well. Scroll down through to check it out - and, thankfully, there's no more snow!

2008-05-01T05:20:00.000-07:00

A view of the great room east wall.

And a shot of the soon-to-be-log stairs.

2008-05-01T05:17:00.000-07:00

A couple of views of the front entry, north side of the house.

It's spring!

2008-05-01T05:16:00.001-07:00

April 30 and the leaves are just starting to pop on Smith's Pyramid.

Progress....

2008-05-01T05:14:00.000-07:00

The completed chimney - note outside fireplace and woodbox.

Windows!

2008-04-05T06:17:00.000-07:00

A fireplace!

2008-04-05T06:13:00.000-07:00

A view of the great room and new fireplace from what will eventually be the stairs to the second floor.

2008-04-05T06:03:00.000-07:00

Some really great progress this week, as you can see from these recent posts. The fireplace, which is being created by our mason Bob Dudas, is completed indoors. It's about 10 feet at the cap, and about 9 feet wide - I was by myself up at the site taking pix, and definitely needed someone standing next to it to give it scale. Let's just say, I would fit nicely underneath the mantel. The stone is a fieldstone from a quarry in the Adirondacks, and we are very happy with how this looks! Brad, our builder, will be placing a half timber mantel across the three logs soon.

2008-04-04T12:52:00.000-07:00

A view of the kitchen from the dining area. It's hard to see in these photos, but the windows have all been installed on the kitchen wing. The stove will be placed between the two end windows, with a vent hood above it.

2008-04-04T12:48:00.000-07:00

Gable end of the kitchen wing.

2008-04-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

Exterior shot of the windows on the bedroom end.

2008-03-04T05:03:00.000-08:00

Here's a series of images taken yesterday on a quick jaunt with my parents up to the lodge site to see the progress. Brad, our builder, has (almost) finished with the log portion of the house - just a few dormer "rafters" left for him to set in place. This last section over the kitchen was the most difficult for him. Although our logs were cut to length and grooved at the mill, almost every joint in the home was hand cut on site - and the roof logs were the most complex because of all the angles involved. The complexity of the design, plus the 6+ feet of snow that has fallen in Chesterfield this winter have not made things easy four our intrepid builders. But, things are looking up - they will be indoors soon, and Spring is right around the corner.

2008-03-04T05:01:00.001-08:00

Here you can see Smith's Pyramid in the distance, through the front porch.

2008-03-04T04:52:00.003-08:00

My Mom, standing in what will hopefully soon become the front entry into the dining room.

2008-03-04T04:52:00.001-08:00

Here's me, standing at the top of the soon to be stairs/loft (!) for "scale" as my Dad the photographer requested.

2008-03-04T04:48:00.002-08:00

A view of the loft and future upstairs rooms.

2008-03-04T04:48:00.001-08:00

A nice exterior shot of the great room and kitchen side of the house.

2008-03-04T04:47:00.002-08:00

A shot from the great room, looking back towards the dining area and future loft upstairs. Only a bit of the ceiling left to be installed. Then, on to the fireplace construction, four more layers of roof, windows, interior walls, kitchen, baths and sanding and staining. Can anyone out there bend time?

2008-03-04T04:47:00.001-08:00

A lovely shot of the front porch. There will be a window wall above a central wooden door, which will be flanked by two side lights/windows.

2008-02-13T05:21:00.002-08:00

Two-week old pix that I finally posted this morning. These photos show work on the second floor - the loft over the kitchen, and then the ceiling and dormers up on the second floor.

2008-02-13T05:21:00.001-08:00

2008-02-13T05:19:00.000-08:00

2008-01-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

A view of the front porch from the dining room - the carpenters have begun sheathing the ceiling with tongue and groove pine.

2008-01-08T15:07:00.000-08:00

Here's a shot of the back exterior. The carpenters have finished the framing for the bedroom dormer, and the large dormer that extends from the walk in closet to the loft, and then angles into the loft bedroom above the kitchen.

2008-01-08T14:53:00.000-08:00

This is the ceiling of the master bedroom-it's about 9 ft high.

2007-11-22T07:43:00.000-08:00

Let it snow! (But don't let it stop the work on the house...)
A pre-Thanksgiving jaunt up to the site reveals more work on the dormers and the roof. (Please excuse the mediocre camera-phone image quality.)

2007-10-16T11:05:00.000-07:00

Putting up the rafters for the front porch.

2007-10-10T11:26:00.001-07:00

Looking towards the back of the house and the living room from the loft.

2007-10-01T16:09:00.001-07:00

The view from Sean's loft bedroom over the kitchen, and the main loft, respectively.

2007-10-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

The gable end of the house that will eventually have a big window wall. Note the two openings in the basement - our future "man-cave" entrance.

2007-10-01T16:04:00.000-07:00

Work during the first week of October. The ridgepoles are now up and you can see the roofline of the house.

2007-09-24T12:05:00.000-07:00

Smith's Pyramid, the view from our future living room.

2007-09-24T12:04:00.000-07:00

The kitchen wing.

2007-09-24T12:03:00.000-07:00

2007-09-24T12:02:00.000-07:00

The bedroom gable end now has roof rafters!

2007-09-24T11:59:00.000-07:00

More work's been done since last week - the gable wall of the bedroom above the kitchen is almost complete.

2007-09-20T03:44:00.000-07:00

A recent shot of the kitchen with James and Bri. Plus views of Smith's Pyramid from the second floor, and a closer shot of the entry porch. These were taken in September 2007.

2007-09-18T13:46:00.000-07:00

Mid September, 2007

The ridgepoles are being placed, and the bedroom end gable is almost complete.

2007-09-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

Looking out through the arch from the future kitchen, towards the dining room, front door and porch. Blue the puppy wanders through.

2007-09-18T13:37:00.000-07:00

August 2007 - more progress. Actual walls, and window "holes" are visible. Note the beginnings of the front porch.

Here's how it looks...

2007-09-18T12:23:00.000-07:00

Here's what we're hoping for

2007-09-18T12:22:00.000-07:00

Foundation work

2007-09-18T12:19:00.000-07:00

The foundation went up fairly quickly - the design of the house is something like a long "cape style" home.

A work in progress

2007-09-18T11:59:00.001-07:00

I began to realize that this cabin (or should we call it "lodge" ?) project of ours would be well-served if we put up a blog of its' progress. This first page that has some history on the project, plus the photos of what we've done thus far.

Our site work began in 2006 with quite a bit of clearing out of trees and stumps. (This is still going on almost a year later, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel, now.) You can see the view of Smith's Pyramid in these images.