Flooring Ordered!!!

We made our final decision on the flooring. We're going with laminate throughout except for the kitchen and bathroom.

Here's the floor sample.

WHOOT WHOOT!!!

Back from vacation and our framer was working like a mad man!!! Getting so excited!!! Thank you Alfred with AE Construction!!!!!

Electrical & Insulation

In the last couple weeks we've gotten further along and the cabin is beginning to look like a livable place.

We had to have some repair done to the roof. There had been a vent vertically along the center of the roof. Thanks to Armstrong Roofing for repairing that for us!

Finally got the wiring all done!!!

And then this weekend Alan, my brother-n-law and father-n-law put up all the wall insulation! It's coming together!

This next week we should be seeing the framer install the drywall. Can't wait!!!!!

Finishing Up the Wiring

Thanks to the four day weekend Alan and I have been able to go in and finish up some of the wiring in the cabin. It was nice to be back in doing some of the work ourselves. We plan to finish up the wiring by Sunday and then hopefully this next week start putting in the insulation.

Here's a pic of my wiring in our bedroom, and then the cans for recessed lighting in loft as well as the windows in the loft. Starting to look livable! :)

Update

So, it's been a year since we've started planning the cabin and I've always said it is harder to simplify than it is to accumulate!  And the test of my patience is true to that!  ;)  Thankfully a few trips out of town and many late nights at our favorite restaurant Frugatti's has minimized the chance of a total break down but a year is a long time when you can't have privacy.  However I do feel I am going to be well prepared in the event of this system collapsing and we all have to live together for awhile anyway.  ;)

Enough pouting and on to our update!  Major plumbing is done!! Thanks to Mike The Honest Plumber for hearing my cries!  haha Most of the electrical is done and is looking great!  Thanks to Ivan for working some over time to speed up the process!

Kitchen cabinets have arrived @ GH Slack & Son and are ready for install when we are!  Here is an extremely poor, cut & paste, idea of how we plan the kitchen to look.

Throughout this year we have had time to refine the design we are going for and although there will be a lot of rustic elements we also like a more modern twist on the cabin look.

This coming week we have scheduled to hopefully start getting in the insulation.  Once that happens I'm going to be a happy camper!!!

See you next update!!!

Let In the Light

This past week the rest of the windows went in. It's feeling more like a home and less like a shoe box. :).

Looks like Alan and Tucker are ready for a shower!

Decisions, Decisions and A Window Is In!

We belong to a barter exchange (Itex) and we are trying to do whatever we can on the cabin using barter or trade so last week Alan and I drove up to Visalia to look at flooring at a company that is on Itex.

We were able to pick out the flooring as well as the carpet for Ethan's loft. We are doing an industrial type of vinyl flooring that has a barn wood style to it. It's really cool! A local restaurant used it and we feel for now and for something to withstand our kids with four legs and the fact we can get it on barter, it's gonna work!

Earlier this week there was a major happenin'! We got a window installed!!! Wow, what a difference it made in the feel of the interior. Really opens it up!

Thanks to my dad for delivering the windows and to A&E Maintenance for their work installing it. Seven more to go. :)

We also got our electrical panel installed and a lot of the wiring is done too. (thanks Jake)

Plan to get the plumbers in there before week's out. Praying things start rolling fast now cause I am READY!!!!

Here's some pics of the window.

Quick Update

Our windows came in!!! Whoo hoo!!! So, hoping those get installed this coming week!  Going in tonight to map out the kitchen cabinets to mark for the window and plumbing in there.  Getting exciting again!  ;)  Here's an updated "rough draft" of the kitchen layout.

Where did they go?

Well, since our last post I have recovered from surgery and we've started back up with homeschooling. Not much has progressed on the cabin since then but we are slowly getting the ball rolling again!

We have started getting the windows framed out and the wall AC installed. We will probably have to replace that unit before next summer because we realized it's just probably not going to be big enough for my comfort. Hopefully we're in it by then. Haha

We have ordered the windows and the kitchen cabinets, which I am so excited about! We are getting our beautiful cabinets and windows from GH Slack & Son. If you're in need of windows and doors they're the place to go! They have great selections and great service!

We've also had two of the most awesome electricians from McCaa Electric, of course, start on the wiring. Whoo hoo!!! :)

This week we plan to drive to Visalia to check out a flooring supplier to check out their flooring options. We belong to a barter exchange and they are members so we hope to use barter on as many things as we can.

So that's pretty much it for now but I promise I will try and be better at posting updates as often as possible!

(To see the many ideas we are thinking about for the design and decor of the cabin click on my Pinterest link at the bottom of page. And if you know any sources or have questions or feedback, we'd love to hear from you!)

Three Bears in Hibernation

Wow! How long it's been since my last post! Life has taken over these past several weeks!

I recently had some minor surgery and have been recovering. Everything went smoothly and I'm healing well but I'm starting to get "cabin fever" which is two fold. All my free time allows me to dwell on how we haven't had a chance to do any work on the cabin and the other is I'm ready to get back to a normal routine and out of these four walls. Thankfully I've been able to recover at my parents house since there would be no way I could completely recover living halfway in a trailer. :) I have felt like I'm on a long vacation but ready to get home, but I don't really have one. Haha

My parents have really spoiled me and my mom has cooked us breakfast and dinner just about every day since I've been here. Man how I've missed home cooking!!! My boys are here with me and I've been able to catch up on some reading and crafts. So I really can't complain! Love my family!

I've also had a couple of long time friends that have come by to see me and brought me the cutest gifts! Love those girls!

So I'm hoping I can have a more productive post coming soon!

Patience is a virtue, right? ;)

Now back to my crafting.

Back to work today

Well, we haven't even stepped foot in our cabin since our last post. Business has been busy and that has taken away our energy from any other physical activities!   ;) But today, we are back at it and going to take advantage of the cool weather.

Goals for this weekend:

- finish framing bathroom
- frame for fireplace
- frame for Windows
- line out electrical

We'd like to have all the electrical and I'm hoping the plumbing too by next weekend!  We will see!  :)

Week flew by!

This week has absolutely flown by!  Sunday was very tiresome!  We tried working on the cabin but poor Alan feel asleep in the camping chair waiting for me to cut the ceiling panels for the bathroom.  We decided to take the evening off and have a relaxing dinner with friends and then to a movie.

In the midst of all of this we have gone in with some friends of ours and are now leasing an office/shop, which we got the keys to on Tuesday.  So our time this week has been spent getting that together.  So excited to get the office out of our home!

Since we haven't done much this week, YET......I thought I could share some of the plans & drawings we have for the cabin so far.  Some of these are still a work in progress and are changing often as we are in the space and getting a feel for what is going to work and what might drive us crazy!  :)

Here is the kitchen layout.  Leaning towards a green color and hoping to do the pantry with a chicken wire front panel.

If you haven't checked out our Pinterest page yet here are a few of the ideas I have found that I would like to copy for the kitchen.  I love the finish on these cabinets and the chicken wire fronts.  Kind of liking the backsplash too.  Not quite sure what I want for that.

                                                                                                           

This is the idea for the Utility Closet

Pendant for above sink

Farmhouse sink

Pantry ideas

Next I'll be working on the bathroom layout.  Off to the drawing board!  Nighty night!

The Blog has been Hi-Jacked!!

Don't panic, Its not hackers, Its just Alan.
Its 11:24 on Saturday night and we spent 16 hours today working on the cabin. Minus a trip to the Depot to get some more lumber and a slight detour to Sequoia Sandwich for one of the greatest sandwiches in Bakersfield. And minus a trip to Chili's for Dinner... So I guess its not really 16 hours but more like...13.5.

Let's give today a theme: How about "EXHAUSTING CHANGE OF PLAN."

Lets step back a minute so you can get the whole picture. When we started this idea over a year ago, we started drawing plans. 18 changes later, we had our shell delivered as you have read.
Note: What looks good on paper, doesn't always work out perfectly in reality.
Once the shell arrived we quickly realized that the bathroom and kitchen design, wasn't going to work.
It would have left the living room too small and well... there were other things too. SOOOOO, what did we do?
Same thing everyone would do right? Tossed the plans in the trash and started from scratch!
We kept the overall feel concept but started changes dimensions real fast. Some of those as we were framing things.
Those caught up with us tonight. Not in a bad way but in a good way.
One of the dilemmas we were dealing with was the bathroom. We had originally drawn in an "L" shaped cabinet arrangement based on a picture we say on Pinterest. However, we just couldn't get it to layout in a way that we feel would allow us to take advantage of the space, serve in a function fashion and not cost an arm and a leg to have built.
Soooo, while at the Depot today we took a look at the custom order Bathroom cabinets and I think we have come up with a concept. Rather than do a custom built "L" shape vanity , I think we're changing to a straight 48" Vanity with a 15" Linen closet.

So where does that leave us?
Well, today we framed the bathroom walls, minus 3 studs against the outside wall. I just did this to give me room to move in and out with tools, etc. as well as the shower base.

The shower is framed from Pressure Treated Lumber. Its 42" Tall and will have glass from the top of the rail to the ceiling. Something along the lines of THIS. We'll be adding a Rain style shower head. We got the drain plumbing in today as well as the first part of the vent line.
The 12" Tall curbing at the bottom is because we will have the shower pan hot mopped in. I use a gentleman that comes in, lines the inside with felt, hot mops the pan in and sets the drain. Its almost 100% leak proof.

I also got the sheeting on the top of the bottom half of the closet.

From here I will frame the top half of the closet, to fit the vanity / chest of drawers combination.
I will resemble something like THIS. Ours will vary because the front bottom open spaces will have shoe holders / organizers in them. The right and left lower sections will have doors for storage and the top section will be out closet slash entertainment center. Out TV will go above the drawers.
Its hard to see the vision now but as we make progress, we'll update you for sure!

Im not as witty as Kinley so sorry for the lack of funny facts!
However, I got lots of technical mumbo jumbo that I can throw at you as we'll see if anything sticks or if you end up thinking Im a construction nerd!

We haven't really given you a feel for what we want the inside to look like to both Kinley and I have started a Pinterest Board with thoughts and ideas. You'll find out what we go with as we update you.
Here's a couple links to help you follow the design ideas:
KINLEY PINTEREST
ALAN PINTEREST - Sorry, I'm not as organized as my wife!

Let's see...Tomorrow's Schedule. 9:30 AM we have a brief meeting before we head out in the Ministry for a few hours and then we're back at it.

SUNDAY's GOALS:
1) Finish frame missing section of bathroom wall.
2) Finish framing the shower section.
3) Frame the ceiling of the bathroom
4) Start the closet. I would like to believe I can finish it tomorrow BUT I don't even know what Im going to be completely do on it so.. Looks like we're shooting from the hip on that one.

Anyway, its now almost 1 AM and I have to be up at 6:30 so, I'm going to sign off and we'll talk soon!

Update from the weekend!

What a crazy couple of days this has been!  We survived the weekend and a long Monday night working on the cabin with only one real snag when Alan was working on the beginning of the stairs/loft.  One of the beams he put in the wrong way and it seemed to take forever to get it back out without tearing down the whole wall area we so proudly put up.  I knew to get out of the way at that moment or possibly be the brunt of a large crow bar being thrown!  But he managed to get it out and install it the correct way and we moved on to working some more on the closet in our bedroom.

Here is a picture of the beginning of the stairs/loft area.

This is the start of our built in closet which will have drawers up the center and an area above to hang our TV. 

Monday night we got more help from Ethan.  Here he is marking out the sheeting for the bathroom and kitchen floors.

And here is Bryan, our brother-in-law helping bring in that day's lumber purchase.  Thanks Bry!

By the end of Monday night we were beat but we felt like we got a lot accomplished! This is the bathroom and kitchen floors with the view into our bedroom.  Next we will be finishing up the loft supports, framing the rest of the closet and framing the restroom.  We had more changes to the floor plan since I laid out the cabinets for the bathroom and kitchen so I hope to post those soon. 

We've had quite a busy couple of days and haven't had a chance to even step foot in the cabin but we hope to get back to work next week!

Lastly, I promised to post a pic of me doing some cutting, so..............ta da!!!