Gardening with a back hoe

Late summer was spent landscaping.  Loads of material were used to grade the yards so water would run away from the building.  This porous pipe was dug into the backyard to divert water away from the building to the lake.  It was covered with stone to act like a French drain.

A band of washed stone abuts the foundation.  Walking paths are bark chipped and all other areas were layered with top soil and seeded with rye to keep the dirt in place when it rains.  On the following weekend, after this photo was taken, sixty trees were transplanted into this yard.

The under window benches were upholstered and the couch arrived.

The vintage fabric on the cushions was a lucky eBay purchase.  Note the register in the kick plate.  All of the hot air vents and cold air returns are covered with these thin custom stainless steel grills.

The colour of the couch leather is a good match to the vintage lounge chairs.  It's hard to see but now that the leaves are down, the view to the water is unimpeded.

There was enough fabric to cover this bench seat in the library.  In this recent photo, the new green lawn and some of the transplanted trees are visible outside.

A cold return air register in the kitchen island.  Lots of other progress has also been made:  built double doors for the storage room; finished the cement board siding on the storage room, installed some of the outdoor staircases; installed a bathroom sink cabinet; dishwasher installation; and got the plumbing ready for winter.

Finished the guest cottage interior.  The room will be heated with baseboard heaters so it was insulated and a vapour barrier was installed.  All of the walls were strapped with 1/4 inch oak plywood.  Here a worker is installing square oak plywood panels with a thin reveal between each panel.

Baseboards, windows and the door are trimmed with white oak.  The walls and ceiling were treated with penetrating oil.  The floor is a dark grey basket weave textured (plastic) tile.

With every passing day the autumn sun sets further south and increasingly too early.

Beautiful Lake Winnipeg rolls in angry and cold.  We are looking forward to freeze up for the calm.

Third Summer

Street side view.  Finished treating the siding with penetrating oil.  Clad the foundation with 22 gauge CorTen steel.  Most of the exterior is complete and landscaping/grading is scheduled to be completed in a few weeks.

View of the guest cottage door.

The steel is intended to rust to a bright orange colour.

Street side view of the workshop.

Screened the porch.

Cobbled together a screen porch door from left over white oak.

Screen detail viewed from outside.

Deer antler sheds for door handles.

Finished the kitchen and most of the baseboards.

Five seven foot tall cabinets built in the same materials as the kitchen cabinets.

Same cabinets viewed from the library.

Another pair of cabinets by the screen porch door.

Yet another cabinet built in by the front door. 

Built a dining room table out of left over oak and a sheet of new oak plywood.  The built in bench under the window will be installed next week.

This view shows the proximity of the table to the kitchen island.

View where the rafters meet the beam by the windows in the corner of the bedroom.

Washer and dryer in the laundry/clothes closet.

IKEA cabinets in the laundry/clothes closet.
(The side of the cabinet is a weird colour in this photo - it is a dark grey.)

Shower.

Vanity and light in the bathroom too.

Light over the shower.

Summer view from the bedroom window.

Interior doors hardware.

Rocky the grinder and Silvia the espresso machine worked harder than anyone else this summer.

Boneless cat.

Suddenly it's May

A late Spring gave us time to make more progress indoors.

Dinner preparation while the sun sets.

Worker grouting the bathroom tile.

The bathroom wall tiles are a blond version of the dark grey floor tile.

The kitchen is coming together.  The range hood is in place but the appliances still need to be installed.

The dark grey quartz counters and sink are installed.

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All the floor tiling in the main cottage is complete.

Cast aluminum floor grills.

View from the living room, past the kitchen, laundry room and into the bedroom.  Some of the cabinets for the kitchen island are stacked and ready to be installed.

When the floor was finished, the Scan wood stove was installed.  Glad for the lounge chairs so we can sit down once in awhile.

Now working on the bathroom.  Interior walls are being sound-proofed with insulation.  The cement wallboard will make a solid base for the wall tiles.

Finishing of the white oak casing around the windows and doors with penetrating oil is completed.  The casing doesn't cover the drywall.  Instead, wherever it meets wood, the drywall was edged with a 1/2 inch metal j-moulding to create a thin  reveal between it and the casing. 

White oak boards make up the exterior siding on the decks and in the screen porch.  Main cottage front door.

Guest cottage.

Siding on the main cottage in the screen porch.

The cabinets are rift cut white oak.  All of the cabinets in the cottage will use this defect-free, reconstituted plywood veneer.  The doors are edged with a band of solid white oak cut from a selection of the most straight grained boards that we had on hand.

Completed a number of other projects:  installed most of the ceiling lights (including this one in the library); wired receptacles; ran coaxial cable for a satellite antenna feed for the Sirius; ran speaker wires in the walls from the library to the living room; installed a monitored security system with a low temperature warning; and added more insulation in the crawlspace.

Sam approves of the wood stove.

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