that's it! we've closed up

The cottage 2.0 is now closed up for the season. The dock is up, the water is off.

There was a last flurry of activity this last week by the builder to finalize the stairs and lower dock, the hose faucet is installed, missing siding repaired, range hood is in, shower is installed, storeroom emptied of junk, deck is 90% complete (were just waiting on the replacement glass to come in).

Come spring, the cottage is well and truly open for business! Lord, it's been a long slog.

We have a bunch of things to acquire over the winter (patio furniture, sofa, master mattress, curtains, bunky kitchenette, screened porch), but none of it will impede our use of the cottage. 

Praise Jeebus!

Some final photos, provided by the contractor:

Semipenultimate 2023 post

The cottage closeout didn't happen last weekend due to inclement weather, so we're trying again this weekend.

There have been a few updates in the intervening weeks:

The railings went in today, and they look pretty darned good! I was seriously waffling about the colour, but I'm happy with my choice 

The bunky now has a flushing toilet. LUXURY. This was unheard of 2 years ago, when even the cottage didn't have a flushing toilet.

The lower dock and stairs have been built this week. Originally I had expected no lower dock at all (just dock to stairs, the end), but we needed to build a platform for the boat lifts to sit on during the winter months. It will be nice not to fear for my safety every time I pass from boat to cottage 

penultimate 2023 post?

This might be the second last post of the year. We're planning to close up the cottage after Thanksgiving next weekend, with one later visit to have the railings installed on the deck at long last.

We had the loveliest weekend this past weekend. Temperatures in the mid 20s, sunny and calm. The leaves are just starting to turn on the hills surrounding the lake. One of our neighbours has already pulled his dock from the water. 

We docked at our new dock for the first time. All traces of the old dock have been removed. Only the janky stairs up from the dock remain. They've deposited some rock along the shoreline in anticipation of the new lower (shoreline) dock.

This weekend we did some puttering jobs. We hung some artwork, cleaned some of the tools/moving junk out of the living room corners where it had been accumulating. The bunky now has a smoke detector.

our "grass" definitely needs some TLC.

E spent some time on the bowrider, making sure it will run. We've had issues this year with the battery dying, and it bounced off the rocky shore the one rough day it managed to jump off its lift. So far all seems well. He had to wade over to it as the boat lift is no longer next to the dock, but the water was so warm, he went for a short swim afterward! 

He drove it into the marina in anticipation of pulling it from the water and taking it to Paris for its end-of-season tune up, wash, and wrapping. I drove the pontoon behind him (in case a tow was needed) for the first time. I'm invincible!

Next weekend we'll be closing up for the winter. E has appointments in the coming days to learn how to operate the cantilevered dock and to have railings installed around the deck.

weekend update

It's Poker Run weekend on the lake and the big boats go vroom. It's a lovely day!

The Bunkie now has a door and the front wall siding is in. On? Installed. Due to a manufacturer's snafu and/or breakdown in communication during the ordering process the door unfortunately opens the wrong way (the left side opens, instead of the right). Annoying, but we might be stuck with it.

 

Apparently everything that we used in the original cottage is now discontinued and that's why we have windows and doors with no mullions and a stripey floor. Suss. The hole for the bunkie loo now exists, so that's happening. I guess we need to buy a toilet!

The cottage bathroom mirror is hung at long last. As with everything else in the cottage, it's not quite right; I wish it could go higher up, but the thickness of the wood moulding at the top of the frame won't fit behind the glass shade of the light fixture. Le sigh. maybe I'll swap it out someday? It's cute, if a little oddly positioned. Added bonus: the bathroom door now opens fully as we had the heater swapped out with a thinner baseboard heater.

We exploited a "low supplies" weekend to transport the egg chair for the back porch. It might be a tight fit when/if we get the porch screened off. A hurdle to cross at that time.

Lastly, the captain asked that I include the label I made for the new key for the bunkie, because it's amusing him no end.

small changes are happening slowly

Some work has been done on the walkway between the basement door and the upper deck, but of course I forgot to take a photo. So, you just get to imagine what it looks like.

The bunky has siding, windows, a roof, interior, shiplap (*spit*), electrical, and flooring, but, alas, no front door.

I'm feeling a little perplexed because there's no rough-in for the plumbing that needs to be installed. *Puzzle* 

The builder also unilaterally installed flooring that is not what we used in the cottage (why is it so stripey!?!), and I'm not best pleased.

I'm also unsure why the windows don't have mullions in the upper panel to match the cottage... again, unilateral builder decisions that.make no freaking sense. Honestly how hard is it to shoot a text and ask the freaking question?

Inside the main cottage work has slowed. We're still waiting for the shower to be installed. I guess we need loft railings, and a loft.ladder, too. And curtains. All we managed last weekend was the addition of the main room bookshelf:

the currently empty top shelf will house dad's collection of Terry Pratchett books.

A few more weeks and we'll be closing up for yet another year.

Maybe *next* year it'll be done.

big changes happening fast!

The bunky is mostly up! Framing inspection next week. 

We're still waiting on the concrete hinge point for our cantilevered dock. (C'mon Dave, let's gooo!!!)

This weekend we're working on bed slats for the double and king, deco strips on the cabinets, under-cabinet lighting, window hardware (pole crank), and...? Oh, cleaning the newly acquired BBQ.

Maybe, just maybe we'll have a few minutes to relax.

the deck begins!

Finally we'll have use of our side entrance

📷

this is the song that never ends...

...It just goes on and on my friends.

Grass appears to be growing at the cottage? The neighbors keep trampling it as they walk back and forth between cottages tho. Hello, who does that?! Signs will go up if continues. SIGNS. Passive aggressive ones.

Kitchen is now mostly done with the final drawer installed. A few trim pieces and the range hood are remaining.

In the photo above you can see a few panels on the right; the construction material has arrived for the bunky and remaining deck sections. Calloo callay!

This past weekend was a bunch more unpacking and some wrangling to make our new/used bedframe work. It's close, but we're still sleeping on the floor. At least the girl's bedroom is now ready for habitation with all of the boxes removed.

We were thwarted installing under cabinet lights and the mounting hardware for the window pole crank for the high windows by defective products, so those tasks are on going.

I'm actively searching now for furnishings: dressers, bookshelves, and a sectional sofa are top of my list, as well as a mirror for the bathroom.

I need to clone myself.

another update

This weekend we had running water for the first time! It's amazing how much needs to be washed when you have running water available.

We picked up 7 out of 8 kitchen drawers from IKEA, as well as a PAX wardrobe system that's going to double as a linen/broom closet for us. That was Friday. Saturday morning at 8 am we get the email notifying us that the 8th drawer is ready for pick up. WHY YOU LITTLE....!!!!!

The first day we assembled a gazillion drawers, installed the super cute yet surprisingly roomy 10/8" dishwasher, and then proceeded to wash every dish we owned. Not because we wanted to test out the new toy, but because, when we packed up the cottage 2 years ago in anticipation of the demo, we moved all of the hard goods into the slanty bunky and all of the soft goods (linens, towels etc) went home to be stored there. We couldn't foresee that the slanty bunky roof would cave in during the year we were away, and all of our boxes (and their contents) either had a thin skim of mold, or had been a mouse-hotel during our absence. 🤮

So EVERYTHING got washed/sanitized, and in some cases, tossed (wooden spoons? buh bye).

I also need to get all of the dishes out of the girl's bedroom so I could move her mattress there, out of the boy's bedroom, so I could set up a place for him to sleep. It's the worst game of musical chairs/Tetris, ever.

In more interesting news, we finally have demo/build permits for or bunky!!!! 2 stonking years later. What a bunch of bureaucratic nonsense that was.

We've (I've) been scouring Facebook marketplace to refurbish the cottage with pieces that *I* want this time, rather than a mishmash of cast-offs and hand me downs that were donated unbidden to the cottage.

It's not quick, but I'm finding some treasures.

what's new?

Well, besides the obvious "OMG we have a toilet"...

We got the kitchen table reassembled, some furniture pulled out of storage for the living room, did I mention we have a toilet?

Some trim was installed on most of the cabinets at the bottom edge (we're missing one). We still need to do the top edges. Cover panels were installed around the dishwasher enclosure, the hole for the kitchen sink was cut out of the counter top, quarter round was added to all of the door sills (the flooring was a mess there and needed covering up), the filler panels were added to the gaps between cabinets, and some wall paint was added to the areas I didn't quite cover when guesstimating paint placement prior to the cabinets being installed.

We're still waiting forr our missing drawers (half of them are now in stock), the range hood, the upper trim, and two of the four sections of toe kick. And that's it? I think?

We're probably going to explore under-cabinet LED lighting this coming weekend.... And maybe trek to Ikea for more of our drawers. Hopefully by that time the rest of the water in the cottage will be hooked up (shower, vanity, kitchen sink).

I also managed to unpack 6 or so boxes from the back room into the kitchen. We lost some things to mold or mice after the bunky ceiling collapse, so there's some shopping and a whole lot of washing/disinfecting in my future.

Completely unpacking is currently gated by three things: pantry storage (missing drawers), bookshelves, and a linen cabinet solution. I'm looking at an IKEA pax wardrobe that will double as linen closet and broom closet for the latter. Enjoy this room full of boxes and a bed frame.

The septic and weeping bed are now covered in dirt and we're expecting final top soil and grass seed to go down this week. We had them install a water run off/drainage ditch to manage the grade/water concerns of our neighbor, but now the neighbor is complaining about the draining ditch/possible erosion, so they can go pound sand. Clearly they're not going to be placated, so why try. Eat dirt, you little squeak. 

Our other neighbor again smoked us out by burning garbage and green leaves/branches. The Facebook group for the island was complaining because "someone was burning plastic" and there was just no wind, so the smoke settled over the island. I bet it was the Dingus next door they were complaining about.

Dingus in fine form:

Here's the view from my bed at the cottage.

Breathe.

OK, my bed is currently two bunk mattresses on the floor, but at least I'm sleeping in the right room now that the scaffolding is out of the building:

We should have the cottage ready for use just in time for my work season to kick in to gear at the start of August. Awesome.

There's always next year!

[Insert chorus of angels]

latest news kitchen and GDPH 2.0

The kitchen is ticking along. All of the cabinets are now assembled and mostly in place (were missing a couple of legs for the sink cabinet, and 2 drawers out of every set of 3 because IKEA is still a four-letter word).

Some toe kicks have gone in. All of the cover panels are cut and all but 2 are in. Drawer handles and knobs are installed where possible.

Still to do: remaining drawers, toe kicks, filler panels in the gaps, deco trim, LED lighting. Finish the panels around the sink cabinet, sink cabinet doors, sink, faucet. Hood fan, install dishwasher...touch up paint in a few spots where I underestimated the gap between uppers and lowers, some caulking. It seems like a lot but there's light at the end of the tunnel.

In VERY exciting news, our septic is in and approved!! The pump needs to be hooked up to electrical, and our water system needs to be installed, but I am SO CLOSE to having a flushing toilet. Omg. 

Our builder is incapacitated for unknown reasons, so we're now waiting on him to mend. Send good joojoo!! We need water!

another kitchen update

LONG POST WARNING

Halloo friends of el bloggo! 

The latest from the land of dirt:

We spent 3 solid days and had our first-ever sleepover at the cottage this past weekend (possible due to the gracious offer of toilet access from our neighbour).

Day one we went to the cottage to meet with the cantilevered dock guy and Dave the diggerman to get the ball rolling on the cantilevered dock.  Ball rolling. Wallet melting.

I spent the day washing the fridge. All day. It was THAT filthy. Imagine it had been left out in a barn for 2 years, and the construction guys were using it as a storage shelf for their toolbelts, etc. So filthy. 

E spent the day building upper cabinets for the sink side of the galley kitchen because he couldn't face the "how do I fix the cabinets lining up?" dilemma on the fridge side. In the intervening days since our last visit, I had come to the conclusion that the problem was the support rail (it was supposed to be shimmed if the wall was woopsy, and that wasn't done. In fact the woopsiness wasn't assessed at all.)

Day 2, R came with this sweet girl, M, and they both helped out. The cabinets came down off the wall, the woopsiness was assessed and addressed, and the kitchen returned to the point we had left it. The lower cabinets were then installed, doors put on and adjusted for aligment, and the one drawer we currently possess was assembled, ready to be installed once the counter goes in. The fridge was maneuvered into position.

R and M unpacked our "new" microwave, a gift from my mom and dad for the Old Cottage, which was too big to fit on our shelves at the time so it has been stored all this time. It was christened with some reheated pizza for Rs lunch.

R and M were delivered back to shore at sunset, and we camped out for the night in the only room with enough space for a mattress on the floor: the back bedroom. 

In the evening, we got a better sense of the lighting at the cottage. I don't like it. The pot lights are too blue, the fan light is too orange, the chandelier is too bright, and running the fan in the evening causes weird flashing fan-blade shadows that are going to trigger a headache. Blarg. Not sure how to fix this one. Oh, and a lower cabinet was assembled.

We also were able to spot that the builder appears to have touched up some spots of the wall paint with the trim paint (different sheen) so that will also need to be repainted. 15 feet in the air. Whee.

We slept like the dead that night. 

The next morning 2 more lower cabinets were assembled (the last of them!). And we did some scheming and pondering about the sink-side cabinets and how they're going to fit. The trim around the windows and doors juts out into our planned cabinet mounting area, so some trimming is necessary. We also came to the decision that the planned 18" cabinet near the back door will not fit in the available space, so we're going to swap it out for a 15".

Day 3 brought the return of R minus M. We got counter top cut and mounted and caulked, and glory be it looks GOOD. It's nice to finally have a horizontal surface to rest things on. All but one of the upper cabinets on the sink side went up (all but the 15" we need to buy), and one of the lowers. A bunch of cover panels were installed, the countertop near the side door for the sink side cabinets was installed, and the stove was maneuvered into place. It will also need a deep clean. So grimey.

In lieu of the stove, you get to see E's butt in his fabulous swim trunks.

The pink walls look Really Pink in these pics. It's not like that in person. Much dustier/ beigier.

So what's left for the kitchen? Not much, and a lot, at the same time:

Two lower cabinets and one upper cabinet need to be installed. One of those is the sink cabinet which will be a beyatch with the cut outs/holes for drains, vents, waterlines, dishwasher supply/drain. Then cover panels, filler panels, deco trim, toe kicks, sink and faucet, final countertop section, drawer assembly, handles, range hood/fan, and paint touch up. Then we can consider unpacking. Eeeeee. Maybe by then we'll have running water?

I'm also in the market for an 11' carpet runner for the kitchen that includes dusty pinks/corals/navy, so if you see anything in your travels let me know! Must be 10-11' long.

Bonus pics:

air quality due to forest fire smoke: