The New Cabin Room

So, Richard and I both have some hobbies that require lots of stuff...mine is sewing/quilting and he is digitizing all of our slides, negatives, and photos of our years of travel with some specialized equipment. He's creating albums on the computer, on thumb drives, and in print. Our living room looks like a fabric and photo shop blew up. 

So, we got this wild idea...why not enclose part of our barely used, roofed back deck and make a bonus room to do our hobbies in, and reclaim our living room as a pretty place that accommodates guests again?

And of course, in our infinite wisdom, we decided to do this just before the family arrived for our mini-reunion (which means only 16 people came this time).  We finished it the DAY before everyone arrived - delayed by rain, and by Richard developing a neck spasm that took him out for a few days.

We brought the roof and the room all the way to the outside kitchen wall and decided NOT to remove the siding, but instead, paint it. We did a light green with a contrast trim of darker green.

The beam across the edge of the covered porch was simply covered in cedar, as was the ceiling and walls of the room. We put windows all over so we'd not lose the view from the kitchen window in the house.

The floor is OSB. Our contractor suggested using Bondo Glas in the cracks, so we caulked first and he put the Bondo in - it turned a dark, olive green. He sanded everything down and we polyurethaned it all. It looks pretty cool, although you really can't see it in the photos.

 

We moved our 12 foot sofa table out to the place under the kitchen windows.  The windows act as a pass through and we keep them open so we can talk to anyone inside the house. I re-covered the seat of the chair with the serape on it, in a cotton serape fabric. My computer set-up is on the left. A coffee bar is on the right side. The oil lantern above the coffee bar is for power outages. 

 

 A closeup of the coffee bar. The stack of mugs is from World Market, I got them at a yard sale. The bigger mug rack also came from a yard sale. The oil lantern came from the Amish store, and the cast iron holder it is in came from a yard sale!

This is the view from the door. Richard chose the star rugs, so I followed a Western star theme in the whole room. The beam divides the room a little, and makes it feel more spacious. The windows on the right of the kitchen windows are made into a box, so there is room to put some potted herbs on the sill to catch the eastern sun. These windows have faux wood blinds, I've not decided what kind of valance I want to make.

There are two outer doors - one from the deck to the room, the other is pictured and goes out onto the landing of the stairs to the back yard. If we ever have to split the room up, each section will have it's own door. The horseshoes on the wall were found by my Dad when he hiked the area when he first got here. Some were dug up on his property. There's a mule shoe, a draft horse shoe, and 2 regular horse shoes. The valances and the pillowcover are made from the same serape fabric as the chair in the other photo. Faux wood blinds are hidden behind the valances, so we can close the windows in the evening.

This is the main room that is under the original covered deck. The walls and ceiling are clad  in non-uniform cedar planks. Our contractor planed and cut each plank, leaving knotholes and flaws in some of the wood for a rustic feel.  The wall hanging is a woven scene I bought at the San Antonio, Texas mercado several years ago. The pottery on the shelf above the couches is Native American - from Mexico, some Navajo, some Hopi, and I think, a Zuni piece. The lamp is a little Waterford crystal light I picked up in the Navy Exchange in the Philippines many years ago.

The picture frames a Bedouin bride necklace of lapis lazuli and silver, something Richard picked up in Saudi Arabia.

Later, when he has time, Richard plans to build a corner desk to go on the wall with the weaving scene. We'll move one of the couches to that wall. The couches unfold into twin-sized beds, a bonus when family was here.  We also put 2 cots and a toddler bed in this room when the family was here. 5 girls loved having a private space of their own while visiting.

As a final touch, Dave Geisert, https://www.facebook.com/davegeisertconstrustionartistryinwood/

our contractor, also turns wood, blending two or more types of wood together and making one-of-a-kind urns, vases, and bowls. The pieces are gorgeous works of art, and we are privileged to have one of his vases on display in our little cabin room.

Out And About...

We had beautiful weather for the last week or so, getting up into the 70s in mid-February! I started walking to the bridge with Richard and Buddy most days. A few photos of cloud cover during that time.

 

On the way to the bridge, just around the farthest bend.

 

In the lower right corner, you can see the peak oof Mom's and Pa's house. This was looking over their roof at the pretty pink clouds of sunrise.

Busy Autumn...

Time flies when we're so busy!  Sorry I haven't updated for a bit.  Let's catch up. :)

Richard had successful cataracts surgery on both eyes in September and October.  His distance vision is good, but he still wears glasses to read.  He also has that "twinkle" in his eyes, caused by the artificial lens. That's a good thing. :) 

Because the doctors didn't want Richard doing strenuous things after each surgery, he wasn't able to chop wood.  So we ordered 4 cords and after a suitable time had passed, he stacked it, put some under the front porch and some in the wood rack on the porch for ease of use.  Of course, with this balmy weather we've been having (70 degrees today!), we've not lit the stove, yet.

We didn't do our usual flurry of canning food this year, too many other things going on.  I am hoping after Christmas, at the tail-end of winter (January/February), I'll do some canning of sauces, meats, and maybe even some dry goods I've not tried before.

The animals are in good health, Flint did have a small cyst, but it was drained and he is fine.  Echo only had one bout of her chronic erlichia, but she is now fine.  Buddy and the cats are all fine.

Autumn leaves dropped before I could get pictures - they were green one day, but after a frost the next day, they dropped off.  The maples were glorious along the shoreline, but we really didn't get the good colors we normally see from the other types of trees. Despite the frost, we still have green grass in patches, I expect that to change with the onset of winter.   

Currently, I am quilting and sewing for Christmas, getting rid of massive piles of fabric in the process!  LOL.  Someday, this material and sewing will be at manageable porportions.  Someday!  Hey, I can dream.  If you want to see what I've sewn - here's a link to my sewing blog - http://www.sewingandquilting.blogspot.com/.

Here are some pictures of some of the animals...Buddy, Christian and Dinah. 

 

  When we went to the fair this summer, someone won the purple teddy bear for grand-niece Cheyenne at one of the booths, but with the suitcases stuffed, Cheyenne couldn't take it home with her.  So Buddy took it, and he loves it. He carries it everywhere, even outside. The orange thing under his paw is another stuffed animal that belonged to Cheyenne.  Buddy loves Cheyenne, and he took her leftover toys when she left for home. But the teddy bear is still his favorite.  

 

Christian, sleeping with his usual abandon. 

 

Dinah is hiding from the little dog we were watching while her humans were out of town.  See Dinah's ears behind the pillow? 

 

 

 

The Animals Supervise Our Work...

Our animals are here in a strictly supervisory role.  I took pictures of the bosses doing their jobs.

Echo keeps a close eye on quality control while Richard rakes leaves.

Buddy maintains a micro-management position in the man-cave.

Dinah assures that all computer department personnel are ergonomically conforming to proper handling of feline snugglers and nap-takers. 

Emmy's management position requires her to oversee all aspects of the animal/human dynamic from the boss's chair.

Flint is in charge of sleeping arrangements, testing all furniture for potential nap adaptibility. 

Of course, there's a slacker...Christian sleeps.

And sleeps. 

Scenery...

Photos of the scenery as the colors change. The pictures were all taken in different days except the cloud formations.

The field on the way home from the bridge.

Going up the road towards the bridge past Mom and Pa's place.

The bend in the road before the bridge.

An interesting cloud formation.

The same cloud formation from a different angle and a few minutes later.

A jet streaming above the trees.  If you click on the photo, it will enlarge and you may see some small black dots around the jet.  They are actually turkey vultures in the foreground of the photo.