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.