Last walls are sheathed...

Feeling under the weather for the first time in over three years...All the long days and overnighter weekend nights are finally catching up to me...But it will be worth it when I get to relax and enjoy the fruits of my labors!

I only managed to finish one main goal this week...But it was a big one. To finish the major wall sheathing..

it was so great having Cambyrs yelp placing these twelve foot board and working them into the grooves. It was super satisfying being able to teach her how to waste them in without damaging the grooves as well as teaching her to cut angle cuts and watching her iterate through the process of getting the cut she was looking for.

She was so happy when it finally fit. Kids..And adults...Need more moments if you're victory like this in our lives. It helps us feel accomplished and confident and inspires new ideas with our newly earned knowledge!

This wall is nearly complete just need to do a tad over the storage loft.

This wall is now complete, just waiting for trim. Oh how satisfying it was to leave for my Vermont weekend knowing this was done...And most of the insulation is finally covered up.

.It was also a great practical math exercise for Cambyr. I had asked her to calculate how many more twelve foot board I would need to buy to finish this wall. She walked me through the reasonings for her calculations then handed me the big number....Nine more board. I went to the store and bought eight...And had two left over...But still have a small section to finish.. pretty good ...She was only two boards off her calculations! A great practical lesson for real life use in mathematics! Home schooling is the best!!!

--/

I took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather this week by prepping the outside for some work too...Had to move all the outer hurricane straps to ready then for adding another 2x6 x24 board to the outer edges of the raft. It was tedious...But I'm buckled down and meditated through the whole process knowing to would ultimately strengthen my floating foundation. 

--

Cambyr also painted two test boards with deep blue to help me decide which one...I'm definitely going the deeper darker  blue...It's calling to me and I can already see it as the perfect backdrop to how I'm gonna do the trim and decorative effects. Lots to do!

last wall

I've decided that I can't keep putting off the wiring for the wall.
I've decided I don't want have anyone else do for me what I need to learn and understand.
I've decided I want to allow this process to unfold organically.
I've decided I want to expose it all, so I can access it when I need it easily.

So, I'm closing up the walls with NO WIRES in them.

I see a house of the future that maximizes the power that exists in a clean free form all around me.
I plan to learn as I go and implement as I learn.

So, I'm only going to use the four outlets I have until I can slowly reduce them to unused.

I will creatively place the wires so they are apart of the interior design and can be reconfigured as needed.

Home Depot price on the tongue and groove I got
installed 10 boards today.

Wanted clean cuts like the cedar so started with the scroll saw.
Realized these boards are thicker and my jig saw abilities are better now
so I abandoned the scroll for the jig...

About four hours of work with my little shadow nailing in behind me and
we have half the wall done. 

redo...we always have a second chance...

I created stairs to make it more convenient to get up to the loft without the ladder...but I wasn't thrilled with how they came out. A bit messy...more like trapezoids than rectangles and inconsistent. But the bigger problem was the fact that to do the sheathing on the wall behind the stairs would have been a huge pain in the ass cutting up around all the stairs. So, I decided to just take the stairs down, design them better, and put the 1/4 inch plywood paneling up on the stair wall.

removing the stairs to try again....we can always try again...it's never too late.

As I worked I felt inspired by AIR (something I am studying this month)....I just stainted (my version of painting with stains) following airs command ...guided by woods grain and ....

A thought of "too much" hit me...Am I using too many different shades, is this too much....Then I stopped and laughed thinking of who is the determiner of "too much", whose standard am I following... and kept going ...."there is no too much"..,,and this is what came of it...,

my 8x6 wall mural for the stairwell

I love it! I am utterly blown (wind-blown) away!

See in it what you will...what you need, it may change each time you look at it with different eyes...just like I do.

the view of the mural from the loft

the installed view from the main salon

trimming has begun

It's hard to believe I'm starting to trim the place out! That means I'll be able to cover up all my inconsistencies in measurements and building techniques! Hey, it's great to know I can fake like I'm accurate! I've had to come up with some pretty creative ways to even trim things out and new ideas keep on coming!

Here is the hand painted leaf trim that I stained over for a more subtle effect....It really came together nicely.

up close shot of the loft trim work

I've also taken time to hand saw around the windows in the loft to clean them up and ready them for trim work as well...

and the first fully finished interior framing under the loft in the bathroom is done! the Cedar trim is so beautiful!

Stained....Leaving a mark

Today I wanted to finish staining the loft trim to get it out of my way. And I need to start making room to do my ceiling project. I'll need all my floor space back for that beast! My canvas is in...Ten feet by about 18 feet big! And I have my mandala stencil....7 feet wide will he the final dimensions! It's gonna look spectacular!

 I also had to finish off Cambyrs project and installed the rest of the barn board so I could get my storage loft back.

I put together the futon legs ....Thank goodness I had access to the impact driver! That was harder than I imagined it would be.

My cuts were good...It's pretty damn level!

The bench legs...Thank you Mary for the tree you contributed to my little home!

The basic layout for the frame of the futon bench.

The loft trim before...

And after.

The big let down for my push today was that when I came back tonight down for my weekend away skiing I found a huge leak! At least this time it was isolated enough that I knew exactly where it was coming from. I put buckets underneath and desperately silicon caulked the while Ares knowing but wouldn't do much while wet....But at least I can redo it wen things dry out . I can't wait to get the rubber roof on and secure my house from these damaging threats!

.

Finishing another wall and making furniture

I try to get in s few hours of work most days during the week and then more on Fridays to make up for time away on weekends.  Gotta keep pushing if I'm gonna have this thing in the water in April and mostly done by March!

This week's pecking away focused on finishing covering the bow wall and getting the futon platform ready for assembly.

I decided to do the lower part of the wall in the 1/4 inch plywood that I did the loft walls in. It's inexpensive , lightweight and fast! And since the counter will be there and it will be storage under the counter... No sense in wasting money on more expensive barnboard that won't be seen.

I stained it after I installed it this time so I could get some working space back.

I also strained my boards for the futon couch and got the legs ready for assembly.

stairs, walls, and bench bed

 Lot's to do today...trying to push to take advantage of being home this weekend and be ready for spring in the water!

yeah...all the stairs are in place and temp treads too.
It's really shaping up!

finished off another wall and I am so loving it!

This is so cool, love this spot.

Out to get legs for the futon bench

It took just over twenty minutes but she did it all on her own!
I'm so proud of her!

my favorite "Farm-girl" workout!

Flying trough to make a proper selection!

OMG this place is so fun!

Got Cambyr into it too!

You go mini-me!

What an awesome addition this will be! $12 for a $100 slide!
YEAH!

Cambyr wanted her own project, so I let her barnboard the loft wall
Looking good too!

The basic layout to my futon frame!

loft stairs going "up"

Today tons of work went into planning out and erecting the stairs....ha ha erecting....sounds funny for some reason....seriously when's the last time you used that word! 

Anyway, I came back from lunch and an electrical fairy had installed a working outlet for me (thanks again Dave!)

yeah...no more chord through
the open door!

Look at that amazing working view!
I LOVE IT!

It was nice to be able to clean up and focus on the stairs all day. 

unconventional stair/storage system.

it does the job....gets me higher.

It was tricky trying to figure this out on the fly...I did draw some stuff out, but needed to see it all to really get a feel for the direction I was going. I wanted the taller end to be open so I could use it as a closet and the smaller ends to be closed so I could make shelves inside them and use it for more storage (every little bit will help).

It's not even close to perfect...but....that means its just a nice reflection of me!

storage loft and electricity

First off, I found out that Tuesdays and Thursdays Home Depot has a discard pile of wood that is marked down to about $1 (orange) - $4 (purple) per board depending on what kind. 

This is a common view lately

 Second of all, it's a pain in the ass to try to straighten those suckers! It's not worth the $2 savings on studs that's for sure!

trying to straighten crooked ways

my techniqu

 I had to use quite a bit of force to get this guy lined up....yeah, I splurge for straight next time it comes to using full length boards...lesson learned!

checking for squareness...
takes one to know one! ;-)

And there she is...my new storage loft!
Already put to good use!

The other goal for today was to get the electricity outlet hooked up. My friend Dave stopped by to check on my work and after some troubleshooting he realized that although I had hooked things up correctly, there was a broken wire inside the sheathing we weren't aware of. So, he took it to fix for tomorrow....nice guy!

got the blue electrical box ready for power.

dying for a closer look?!

finishing the cedar walls

this is where my stairs will go in this weekend

pre-stair view

---

Me shadow dancing to the finished work!

 The rest of the night was prepping and having some fun with the puzzle and artistic freedom putting up the barn board was! I LOVE this part of the process...so much fun now!

Working on wall sheathing where the counter will go...
I love how the barnboard turned out!