We Have Fire!

Our New Wood-burning Stove

Gary installed our new wood-burning stove today. It wasn't supposed to come in until next week, but the fireplace store got their shipment in a week early, so he went and picked it up and had it installed by the time Debi got home from school. We had our first fire in it tonight. You can barely see the flames in this picture, but there is a real fire in it! Someday we will have rock on that concrete board behind the wood stove.

Master Bedroom Gas Fireplace

Our master bedroom has a gas fireplace on the wall. We will use it mostly for a romantic atmosphere, but it does put out enough heat to keep our small bedroom toasty. The white thermostat on the wall (left side of this photo) can be set so that it comes on automatically when the room reaches a preset temperature. We will have slate installed all around the fireplace--one of these days!

Two Fires at Once!

Gary took this photo to show both fires at the same time--one in our master bedroom, and the other in our great room.

Our New Doorbell

Gary installed the doorbell earlier this week. It has a pine cone emblem on it. The "theme" for our log cabin is pine trees and pine cones, so when we saw this doorbell at Cabela's last summer, we just had to have it!

When we get the final permit signed off, and get permission to move in, we will complete the things that weren't required for the final inspection--things such as adding rock to the entry way of the front door, rock inside the front entry way, and some kind of flooring!

Kitchen Sink

Kitchen Sink is Installed in Island!

This week Gary installed the kitchen sink in the island. We are cooking in the trailer full time now. Hopefully, we will pass our final inspection soon because we've moved the stove, fridge, and two tall cupboards up to the cabin and it's more difficult to cook all our meals in the small trailer kitchen.

A View of the Kitchen Island

Here's what the island looks like as you stand in the dining room. We have moved up the old stove, microwave, refrigerator, and two standing cupboards in order to be ready for the final inspection.

The Kitchen Island as Viewed from the Great Room

As you stand in the great room, this is the view of the kitchen. We have picked out a glass pantry door that will be stained to match the logs--we just need to order it. You can see the shelves in the corner pantry. It will be nice to have space for the food and cooking utensils. We have one more tall white standing cupboard to bring up. When we can afford it, we will have kitchen cupboards installed. There will also be rock installed around the pantry door where you see the concrete board.

Rosemary Landscaping

The rosemary that was planted earlier this spring is coming up with lots of pretty purple flowers. On the bottom level, we have planted periwinkle which also has a shade of light purple flowers.

Landscaping

The rocks and flowering plants are starting to make it feel more like home!

Kitchen Island, Bookshelves, TV Stand

Built-in Corner TV Stand

Gary built a corner unit for our TV and all the components. He custom built it for the TV we have now--a 60" screen. If we ever want a bigger TV, we may be out of luck!

Built-in bookshelf

Gary built a bookshelf just to the right of the corner TV unit. This will primarily be for CDs, DVDs, VHS movies (yes, we still have some of those!), and a few books. We aren't required to have the shelves installed for the final inspection, so those will come later.

Kitchen Island

Gary built this temporary kitchen island just so we would have something to "pass code" on the final inspection. It's made of cheap pine, stained to match the logs, but since our logs are pine, it actually works! The island is smaller than the permanent one we will eventually have, but it is still plenty big for the two of us. The island will have the kitchen sink installed just prior to the final inspection since we are currently using the sink in our shop kitchen.

After debating about the benefits of granite and butcher block, we decided to go with a butcher block counter top on the permanent island. The cost of granite is just too high for our budget. (The temporary island just has a plywood top, however.)

Can you see the dark walls of the kitchen? We are planning to put painted cabinets in the kitchen rather than wooden cabinets. The accent color of our whole cabin is "hunter green", so we thought it would make a nice touch to paint the kitchen cabinets green. In the meantime (while we wait for Gary to build the cabinets) we will look at hunter green walls so we can decide if we really like that color for cabinets or not.

Kitchen Island

This is a view from the side of the island. We placed four oil lamps--one on each corner of the island--so that you could get an idea of its size. It measures 6'x10', but the permanent island will be a little larger.

We are hoping to move in by Thanksgiving!