DEADLINE

July 2008.

Time to celebrate? Not quite yet...

July held our last few stressful days to wrap it up before Marflax (who was wonderful to work with by the way - thank you!) came knocking on our door looking for the construction money we borrowed. So not only did we have to pass all of our building inspections but all of our mortgage work had to be tied up with a bow. UGH!

It was a lot to coordinate so the family made the trip to help. Papa came down from the UP and Addie took her first trip ever. She liked driving Little Red.

(Tyler, Ernie and D)

The things they can do with concrete - like make countertops. Tyler of Bay House Design in Traverse City created our awesome countertop. The work was done in his shop after taking all the measurements and it took about 4 weeks to cure. It's the perfect material to compliment our rustic kitchen. A big thanks to Tyler and his crew.

(D actually cooked in our new stove)

Although there were some bumpy moments things fell into place!

Champagne and Certificate of Occupancy!
I can't believe we actually did it!!

This really wouldn't have been at all possible if it hadn't been for all the talented people who worked with us and all the family and friends who gave us a hand. Especially Charlie and Linda. Without their willingness to work with us over the years we could have never made this happen. It's truly a dream come true for us and we are excited to share it with all of you!

In that red circle is the Blue Angels practicing for the Cherry Festival Air Show over Traverse City's West Bay. I took the picture from the front deck where we watched them all morning. We needed a closer look...

Buster is finally going home.

FLOOR WAR

June 2008.

(robins before/robins after)

Floors meant we were closer to the end than the beginning. Floors meant we could take off our shoes and hide the subfloor that haunted us with memories of The Battle of the Tarps and mother nature's evil side. Neither of us realized these floors would cause a different war.

(Country Honey Ash installed/before)

Northern Michigan Hardwoods, Inc. pulled up their truck and delivered Country Honey Ash, pre-finished hardwood flooring for the entire cabin. I should have known by the name. I was enticed by the great price and swayed by the warehouse lighting. Beautiful product, super price, wrong color. I couldn't live with it. The hard part was telling D. He didn't take it well. But...

(we ripped it out)

...I did sway him.
What was it D said?
"...either I pay for it now or hear it the rest of my life."
Look at how happy he was reloading it all back into the truck and driving it back to the warehouse...

(Old Mission Maple installed/after)

This is the fabulous new Old Mission Maple which (D's first choice - ouch). Better, huh? Everything worked out. Ed at NMH was great and exchanged what we hadn't laid down and our mason took the stuff we carefully ripped up in exchange for future stone labor. Best of all our marriage lasted through it all. I think we're in it for the long haul!

Our cabinet guy, Dave - a true talent in the north. It was so long ago when we approached him about our cabin kitchen he probably thought we'd fallen off the face of the earth before we finally resurfaced, ready to go. He's done a brilliant job with our cabinets and came up with so many cool ideas that we would have never thought of. Did I mention his attention to details? He really cares about his work and it shows. We've really enjoyed getting to know him and his family. Oh - and he was so nice about taking out the cabinets he installed to allow us to change the flooring. He took it better than D did. Thank you Dave!!

(Check out the scribing detail around the logs)

(Custom chainsawed detailing by D)

We've also been very fortunate to work Eric and the rest of the guys at Northwood Paint and Supply in Traverse City. They've taken care of all of our stain and paint needs and were eager to give us help and advice. It was always a pleasant trip to town visiting the guys at Northwood. The photos don't do the paint any justice...

(Mudroom: French Linen)

(Guest Bath: Drifting Dune)

(Master Bath: Winddrift)

SPRING HAS SPRUNG

May 2008.

You can uncross your fingers now...

We flipped the crest. Only then did I realized the grout we used was for the bathroom and not the mudroom floor which was way too light. Our solution... hours spent using a dremel tool to remove every spot of light grout without dislodging any tiles. It was then set into the foyer floor and grouted with the neighboring slate tile. So, if you don't count using the wrong grout, hours of tedious grout removal, several chucks of tiles popping out while it was being set and one husband flipping his lid, it went pretty well.

(end result)




Master bath tile is done.

Ditto for the guest bath.

Let there be light...

All of our cool light fixtures were bought using change we had saved over the years in an empty water cooler bottle.

The family still wants to come up even though when they do we make them do hard stuff like dig ditches for the downspouts.

The morels were popping and hunting them is our new favorite springtime hobby. It was our guest's first hunt and guess what? They found all of them.

D cooked them up in a yummy stir fry for us all.

I smuggled in a surprise birthday cake for a certain someone who turned 16.