But it was FREE!

What shall we explore at the cottage today?

Howzabout we take a gander at the "living room". The kitchen/living room is all one space, but they seem separate, probably because the front door enters between them. Veer left to enter the kitchen; veer right to enter the living room.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, the furniture will all be replaced, eventually. It's a short-term solution until we can get better things out there.

I had high hopes for the living room. It has a positively spectacular old wood stove that reminds me very much of the one Grandma and Grandpa used to have at their cottage. I was suspicious of it the first time we toured the cottage, because it doesn't appear to have a proper wall heat shield behind it. In fact, it's wood back there so it's rather the opposite of a heat shield, unless the goal is to heat your cottage by lighting it on fire. Alas, during the inspection, my suspicions were confirmed and the woodstove is a fire trap. It doesn't meet the minimum clearance requirements for an uncertified woodstove. With no heat shield, the distance between the stove and the walls has be to 48 inches from the sides. With the shield (let's assume ceramic tile, since I'm no sheet-metal worker) it could be 24-in. It's 12. *gnashing of teeth*

So, add a wood stove on our list of things to buy. The chimney, fortunately is a good chimney. I think it might still be too close to the ceiling, however. Anyrate. If you're reading this and are looking for information about how to safely install a woodstove: Look somewhere else! I'm not a building inspector or contractor. This is simply an account of our experiences, not recommendations for use. (Can you tell I work in customer docs? Always with the legal butt-covering.)

Another fine feature of the living room is the ceiling, which it shares with the kitchen. As near as we can tell, Buddy the mad cottage owner (not a real name) got a deal on some soffit covering material, because this is what has been installed on the ceiling! *blinks in disbelief*. And it's grimy. Bleh. [writes: "ceiling tile" on the shopping list] I'm guessing he got it for free. Maybe at the same curb from which he's been scoring all the carpet chunks.

Again, this is another item on the list of things to improve, but since I don't look at it much and it doesn't impede my use of the place, it's not as high on the list as some other things. But don't get me wrong: This ceiling must go!

The last living room feature which is both good and bad is the massive front window. (Here's it is seen from outside on the porch). It's big and will afford gorgeous views of the lake. It's also very old and one of the seals is shot, so eventually when we fall into a bag of money it'll need to be replaced. While on The List, "replacing the windows" does not appear near the top. We'll also need to prune some of the scrub and trees in front of the cottage to clear the view.

Thanks for dropping by!