See the Process Unfold{{ currentPage ? currentPage.title : "" }}
It’s come a long way…
Check out how the project has progressed, from bramble-mania to present!
Starting at square one.
I cleared a space for the cabin by hand.
Staking out a good spot (literally).
Digging below the frost depth and installing the foundation.
Framing the deck.
All the joists in place.
Gotta keep 'em in-sul-ated.
Walls get built flat (solo job) and then tipped up (team job).
Two walls up!
Fourth wall up... bye, bye cross-braces.
Calculating rafter cuts using a life-sized diagram on the deck.
Those rafters required a LOT of sawing.
Spiders, snakes, and toads occasionally delayed construction. This one is a type of fishing spider (they hunt insects, too -- not just fish).
Wesley pitched in to help raise the center beam: a 16 foot-long, extremely heavy wooden beam, that needs to be installed 12 feet up in the air.
Center beam up! This was challenging, dangerous, and tested our teamwork limits, but we figured it out and got it done. Pretty darn cool to see it up there.
Attaching tie beams prevents the weight of the rafters from bowing the walls outward.
Framing complete!
Siding is easier to handle with the help of a homemade holder-upper. Walls get closed before the roof so that you don't risk a wind gust tearing apart your handiwork.
The door weighed about 100 pounds, so we brought it up the trail on our little knobby-tired cart from Walmart. The process wasn't graceful, but it did the trick.
Almost done closing the walls!
I put together a makeshift ladder to help get plywood pieces up to the roof.
First course of roofing complete.
Slide-stops at the base of the roof kept me from falling to my death... that's typically a good thing to avoid.
Leaving the security of the ladder to work on the roof was intimidating, but got easier the more I was up there.
Waterproofed and ready for shingles!
Starting shingles
Shingling done
What a difference some paint makes!
Starting to look like a real building!
<3
Sketching out some fun art for the walls.
#LiveSlow
The stairs were quite an improvement over the 'salvaged' concrete block (nicer term for 'stolen from the side of the interstate') that was my old step!
Interior walls installed.
Painting the interior! This paint color was called "The Perfect White," which made it easy to choose.
When I originally planned out the cabin, we didn't know that a big, sweet doggo would soon be in our lives. Luckily he doesn't mind the close quarters!
Installing the floor! Normally this flooring is too expensive for a cabin like this, but I managed to get it for $70 from a very sketchy Facebook auction.
This cabin is Jackson-approved!
Interior-o-rama!
Hand-cutting plywood is NOT fun, but this murphy bed was a huge improvement over the inflatable mattress and totally worth the effort.
Fun with paint!
Relax o'clock
Getting started on the kitchen area!
Kitchen zone complete!
Somehow we've managed to squeeze two people and two puppers in here.
The stove was a Christmas present from my parents, who insisted that I allow the stove professionals to do the install so I wouldn't accidentally burn anyone to death with their present. Fair enough!
The stove installers were majorly good sports to lug this 250lb stove a quarter mile into the forest. Now the interior is complete!
