Windows installed

Not much has happened with the cabin since Thanksgiving. Most of the windows and some insulation were installed last week. The flooring and interior walls should be going in soon. The house is supposed to be finished by Jan. 31.

Front door and dormer

Kitchen

I've been working on getting things ready for the inside of the cabin. Since we can't afford to buy all new furniture or expensive antiques I've been buying things at thrift stores and yard sales and refinishing some of them. I'm giving everything a distressed finish to go with the old look of the cabin. My grandmother is making quilts for the two twin beds that will be in the downstairs bedroom. That will be the kids' bedroom when we're there, so I'm going with a primary color theme since it works for a boy or girl.

My grandmother is making quilts like these from

Pottery Barn.

I painted the yellow antique desk and toy box

to go in the kids' room. The blue desk was

given to us awhile back. I had meant to refinish

it, but I'm glad I didn't since it matches

the quilts.

I bought this nightstand at a yard sale.



Here's the nightstand after I painted it,

distressed the finish and changed

the drawer pulls.

I had to make an emergency trip to the cabin yesterday to check out the siding color. Randy said he was getting "bad vibes" about it from the builder. He was on a business trip and kept calling me, wanting me to mourn the house with him. We'd killed the cabin by staining it, he said.

I was worried, too. Scott said the color looked silvery gray -- not good seeing how the roof is silver. Scott had brushed some stain on a board for us to look at before putting it on the house, but I figured tinted stain could be like paint, never turning out exactly the shade you thought it would be. And what if it were too opaque and the wood grain didn't show through? What if it looked like we'd painted the house silver?

Still, it was done. So I didn't see the sense in panicking. If it looked horrible, it just did. There was nothing we could do about it. But I was curious, so I went, even though we hadn't planned to go this weekend. I asked Randy to stay home with the kids so they wouldn't be in the car all day -- again -- and because having them in the house without railings on the porches is nerve-wracking.

Mom and Dad went with me. I think Mom was worried I'd fall on the stairs; they've just been built and some are boards only a few inches wide. If you fall through, you fall all the way to the concrete floor in the basement.

I like the siding color. When the whole house is done, I think it will look weathered. Scott said he wanted us to look at it before he stained the porches. That was another comment that worried us. I think the railings and posts definitely need to be the same color. If they're not, it won't look like the wood naturally weathered. Here are more photos:

I think there's enough contrast between

the house color and roof color.

Some of the railings were built this week.

View from the master bedroom balcony

This is lattice for plants to grow on. I didn't know

it was in the plans and am not sure it looks cabin-like,

but Mom and Dad and Randy like it, so maybe it's OK.

Siding

Sonja and Eddie took these pictures of the cabin Friday. A crew was putting pine siding on the house. We had planned to use cedar siding, but Scott called last week and asked if we would go with pine. It's more readily available, he said, and waiting on an order of cedar siding would slow down the project. Randy and I spent a couple days thinking about it and googling "Virginia yellow pine," which apparently is quite rare. Frustrated by the lack of information, Randy finally called the Southern Pine Council and the local sawmill Scott is buying the siding from.

Virginia pine trees don't grow very large, so their commercial applications are usually limited to pulp and packing crates. The pine council guy said if it was milled for siding, he didn't think there would be a problem with using it for that and it would probably have an interesting, unusual look because of the numerous small knots. He also said a small mill would be making it because larger ones wouldn't take the time to mill siding from such small trees. The owner of the mill said he's sold a lot of this siding for cabins in Mentone because it has such a rustic look. He's planning to build a cabin there and says he's going to use it.

So we told Scott to go ahead. Since this siding is cheaper than cedar, we're going to trade it out for the extra interior rock facing on the chimney.

We're going to look at the cabin tomorrow, and are going to meet with Scott Monday to pick out a stain color for the siding. The stain product is also a weather protectant. We're going to go with a gray shade; I think that will give the house an aged appearance.

I would have liked to have used salvaged siding for the house, both for the look of it and to avoid contributing to deforestation, but like a lot of salvaged items I'd like to buy for the house, it's way too expensive.

Metal roof

Randy took these pictures of the cabin Sunday. My parents drove up yesterday and said a lot of workers were installing the rest of the metal roof.

Temporary supports are holding up the porches,

but footings have been poured for the permanent ones.



You can see the metal roof and the framing for the
chimney in this picture.

The living room will have a high ceiling.

Scott decided to build an exposed-beam

ceiling in the living room and master

bedroom. He said that's how cabins in

Gatlinburg are being built. The pine

boards will be stained to match the

flooring.

This upstairs window overlooks the living room.



The ceiling over the dining area in the kitchen.

I think these beams will remain exposed.

Porches added

Randy and I went by the cabin Sunday after dropping off the kids at my parents' house in Birmingham. They went to a birthday party for a little boy my mom babysits who is about Caden's age. When we returned that evening, Caden had a temperature of 103.4. It turned out to be an ear infection, so at least he didn't infect the other kids with anything. He felt pretty bad for a few of days (several people, including his teacher, remarked at how well-behaved he was), but he's back to himself now.

The porches were added to the cabin and the fireplaces and dormer window had been framed. I just talked to Scott and he said the metal roof is going on today. Randy might go up there again this Sunday, so I should have more pictures next week. Here are some more from last Sunday:

The back of the house: The

master bedroom is on the top

floor and will have french doors

leading to a small balcony. The

bay window below it will be in

the kitchen.

View from the back porch


Dormer window above front door

Upper floor: master bathroom, closet and

bedroom. I climbed part of the way up there

(the stairs haven't been built), but wasn't sure

I'd be able to get down, so I haven't explored

that part of the house yet.

Framing for the fireplace in the
living room

View looking out front door

Halloween pics

For the relatives, here are some pictures of Ansley and Caden in their Halloween costumes last night.

Ansley was a "bat princess" and Caden

was a "skull ninja."

They could only dress up in
costumes depicting the "wild,
wild West" for school. Caden was
Zorro and Ansley was an Indian.

Most kids were plain old cowboys

and cowgirls, so at least they didn't

conform completely.

Second floor framed, Craftsman door, refinished tub

Some neighbors took pictures of the house for us this weekend. The second-floor rooms (master bedroom and bath) have been framed. The second floor on the left side of the house will be open to the living room on the main floor.

I also picked out an antique front door for the house last week and got to see our first refinished claw-foot tub. Pictures are below.

We're buying this Craftsman-style front door

from Southern Accents, an architectural salvage

store in Cullman, Ala. At $950 it comes in just

under our $1,000 budget.

The door has a dental shelf on one side.



Allen Iron Works in Birmingham did a great job

refinishing the claw-foot tub. I was a little
nervous because the company charged so much
less than all the others I called ($330 compared
to $500 to $700). My dad picked up the tub
Wednesday and is storing it in his basement.


The finish on the tub looks like brand-new porcelain even though

it's actually a thick coat of industrial-strength paint. I'm really

glad I was able to find a place that would refinish the tub for a

price within our $500 budget. (We paid $175 for the tub itself.) If

I hadn't, I probably would have bought a refinishing kit from

Lowe's and tried to do it myself. That would have been a

catastrophe.

The bathtub and claw feet were sandblasted to
remove old paint before the new finish was

applied.

The tub was about to be hauled to a landfill when we bought it.

Here's how the inside of the tub looked before it was refinished.

Main floor framed, Creepy Critters show, pumpkin patch

The main floor of the cabin was framed in two days last week. I guess that's the normal amount of time for that much work, but since we closed the construction loan in April and this is as far as we've gotten, it seems like a lot of progress.

The drop-off on two sides of the house is at least 12 feet, so I couldn't let Ansley and Caden walk around without holding their hands. It was nice to finally get a feel for what the rooms will be like. The view is better than I thought it would be, and windows and glass doors will fill the back wall. There are built-in shelves in the kitchen and living room that I didn't notice in the plans. I think that will add to the "old" feel of the house since built-ins are more common in older homes.

We met Scott at the house Friday, and decided to add an outdoor fireplace that will share a chimney with the indoor one. It will be $800 more, but being able to use the screened-in porch during winter will be worth it. We also decided the space set aside for a stackable washer-dryer isn't going to be big enough. So we're going to put a washer and dryer in the basement and make that space a pantry in the kitchen. I like that better anyway -- less noise and more storage space. Scott also said he's going to build an exposed-beam ceiling in the living room and master bedroom.

The porches are going on next -- this week supposedly.

Here are more photos:

We spent Friday night at DeSoto State Park Lodge, about eight miles from the cabin. Jacksonville State University's Little River Canyon Field School hosts a series called "Campfire Talks" at the park every Friday and Saturday night (May-October), and I've been wanting to go to one. We decided during our drive from Tuscaloosa to stay at the park and I hadn't checked the schedule, so we didn't know what the topic of the Campfire Talk would be. The guy working the front desk at the lodge told us it was called "Creepy Critters" and is the most popular show of the year.

A curator from Anniston Museum of Natural History (and his three daughters) brought a tarantula, python, baby alligator, scorpion, mummified cat and some other interesting creatures. He put on an entertaining show and looked a bit like Steve Irwin. When one of the kids in the audience mentioned this, he did a great impersonation.

Caden was terrified when animals were brought around the room for people to see and touch, but he ended up petting the python before we left.

Here are some pictures:

We went to the annual property owners' association meeting Saturday morning. My parents drove up from Birmingham for it. They own the lot next to ours. We met a lot of our neighbors for the first time since most of them haven't built houses on their lots and live in Georgia, Tennessee or Florida. My parents and one of Randy's cousins and his wife came to look at the cabin after that.

Saturday afternoon Randy dropped me and the kids off at a Pumpkin Patch in Rainsville where our niece is working. It was around 3:00, swelteringly hot, and he said he'd be back sometime after 5:00. I was walking away from the car when he said this and I just looked at him. I thought he was kidding. It wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been the third pumpkin patch I'd been to in six days. I went to the one in Locust Fork with my parents and the kids Monday, during fall break, and I went with Caden's class on a field trip to Critter Creek Farm, which included a pumpkin patch and hay ride, on Friday. I now feel qualified to be a professional pumpkin patch critic.

Despite my mood, I had to admit this was the best of the three. Someone put a lot of thought into the kids' activities, which were, well...unique. The Cow Train should go on record somewhere as one of the most imaginative redneck inventions of all time. I paid $1 apiece for Ansley and Caden to strap themselves into garbage cans that had been painted black and white, turned sideways and mounted on wheels. The power source for this ensemble was a four-wheeler driven by an inarticulate teenager.

There was also a sandbox-like bin filled with corn and accessible via a plastic slide. I almost wanted to try this one out myself. Caden took a turn on the racetrack for suped-up John Deere tricycles. Michelle, our niece, said she's seen some pretty nasty wrecks. Her main job is to ride on the back of the hay wagons, I suppose to make sure no one falls out. She stands behind the gate and holds onto the rails. It kind of reminded me of how sanitation department workers ride on garbage trucks. Kids have spit on her and thrown hay at her, but overall, she says she likes the job.

Caden also spent a lot of time in the cab of a gigantic agricultural tractor that had been turned into a playground. Ansley preferred the corn bin and the hay jump. I'm going to stop trying to describe this stuff now. You can look at the pictures.

As if we hadn't packed enough into the weekend, our 1969 Mustang's two-year exterior and mechanical restoration was finished and Randy decided to drive it back to Tuscaloosa Sunday. A high school auto-body tech class in DeKalb County painted it, and a mechanic Randy knows did the rest of the work. We avoided the interstate except for a short stretch near Cullman, so getting home took awhile. The first time Randy drove the car to Tuscaloosa (we bought it in DeKalb County), a wheel came off on the interstate near Bessemer. At the halfway point of that trip, we were standing in my parents' driveway when I noted only about three of six lug nuts were on each tire. Irritated, Randy told me it wasn't a problem and muttered some other things, the gist being that I didn't know anything about cars. He's right, but still...I guess some things don't require a lot of mechanical knowledge...

Here are some photos of the car, which made it to Tuscaloosa this time without incident.