Sand, stain, varnish, sand, varnish!

With the hardwood floor installation looming, we got busy with all the sanding, staining and varnishing needed on anything immovable in the great room, dining room and loft.  That included the tall wall, which Greg got busy on.  What a pain to move that 32-foot extension ladder numerous times!  Not to mention trying to stain and varnish from it  : - )

 

 

In the meantime, I worked on the railings, the 3/4 logs on the corners of the great room, and on the edges of the ceiling.  I also spent 7 hours sanding the BIG TREE in the kitchen, before I stained and varnished it. 

 

 

As of today, the 16th of June, the sanding, staining and varnishing of the immovable objects is finally done, including the two big overhead logs, that we thought would be such fun to have for decorative purposes!  We still have plenty of doors and windows and trim to stain, however!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then . . .

The hardwood for the floors was delivered on Thursday, May 23rd. 

 

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention that in the meantime, a VERY bad porcupine had decided to chew on the front porch!  All the trees in the forest, and he wants to chew on OUR LOGS!!

 

So, we took care of him.  It actually took a couple of different concoctions before we found one that worked, but we seem to have gotten rid of him for now!!  The one that worked had putrefied eggs in it.  Lovely, huh?  Good thing the smell went away when it dried. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catching up . . .

I am way behind with the blog, so I am going to attempt to catch up tonight, beginning with a visit from our friend, Dennis Smith, from Cedarburg, Wisconsin.  Dennis came to fish and and to help out with Silverleaf.  He arrived on May 13th.  He and Greg golfed one day, but mostly he worked very hard up at Silverleaf, sanding and staining the loft railings.  He and Greg also played lumberjack one day and cleared some of the roads of the numerous trees that had fallen during a snow and ice storm in January.  He barely had time to fish, he worked so hard on the house!  Thanks, Dennis! 

Our friends Karen and Mark Clemons arrived on May 17th, as Dennis was leaving.  Mark helped Greg hang seven (7!!!) regular doors, a pocket door and two closet doors!  They made huge progress.  They also took one day off to golf. 

 

We also had great fun hunting and finding (and eating) morel mushrooms, and we went to the National Morel Festival in Boyne City on Sunday, May 19th. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John and Mike work with Greg on some big and heavy stuff!

Oh, and some really high stuff too!  Here is John, way up in the ceiling working on the wiring for the puzzle table light.  He had just finished putting up the ceiling fan in the great room - 27 feet up.

 

 

 

(They also serve who only stand and watch!)

 

 

 

Then they prepped and put up the 3/4 logs that we got for decorative purposes.

 

 

They also put the 1/2 logs up on the kitchen ceiling.

 

 

 

 

 

Greg is carving out a spot for the top of the light fixture over the kitchen sink to nestle up into the log. 

 

 

Welcome to Silverleaf 2013!

This is the sign that Greg's brother-in-law, Jim, made for us.  Greg painted and varnished it last winter in Phoenix and we think it turned out wonderfully!

 

We arrived here on Sunday, April 21st, and got right to work!  It was still a little cold here that first week.  We had snow flurries and really cold temperatures, but Spring is definitely here now!  The gas and the furnace were turned on at Silverleaf on Monday, April 22nd, so we had a nice warm house to come to in the mornings to work. 

 

One of Greg's first tasks was to add a quarter log to the edge of the top of the bar, which would help support the counter top. 

 

 

 

Then, the countertops came!

 

 

 

Before

 

After

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lights in the basement! And final plumbing goes in!

After working in the darkish basement much of last year, we finally took time out to get the ceiling lights up.  What a difference it makes down there!

 

 

Then Greg started in on the final plumbing!

 

A lovely look UNDER the kitchen sink.

 

 

 

A lovely look AT the kitchen sink!

 

 

 

 

And voila, finally, a toilet!

 

 

 

It's starting to look like a real bathroom!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A look around at where things stand as we leave . . .

We left to go home on October 15, 2012.


The kitchen cabinets are all in, and they look beautiful!

 

Another view . . .

 

 

The big saw is gone from the living room - hurray!  The sawdust is all cleaned up - hurray!

 

 

We set the master bath counter top into place.  It was a very tight fit!  You can't really see the sinks in this picture, but they are there.  No faucets yet, however. 

 

 

We did store a couple of things in the master bedroom that we didn't want to carry downstairs:  The door for inside the closet, and the wall board for the shower. 

 

 

The loft area upstairs has the vanity and toilet for the guest bathroom stacked in the corner. 

 

 

Except for carpet and window trim, the guest bedrooms are ready to go!

 

 

 

The guest bath still needs above-mentioned toilet and vanity!

 

 

The view from above.  It looks so nice without the saw and all the tools and the mess!

 

 

 

 

Goodbye!  We'll be back in 2013!