New light for dining table

One of the electricians put together the chandelier and installed it. It looks great! Knowing it was there, I still walked right into it! Ouch!!! Needless to say, I moved a couple of boxes underneath it.

Front yard and driveway

Yesterday, I raked a bunch of the rocks and clay onto the center. It's still a mess out there, but it's less than it was when they left. I'll put mulch/compost over it. Next spring we'll put sod over that, but til then, we'll have a gooey bunch of clay.

Sewer tie-in and sump pump.

They got here about 12:00. By 3:30 pm, give or take a few, they were done and loading up the track hoe. There's a mess in the front yard, but we knew there would be. We can live with it.
When the guy was getting the truck lined up to unload the tanks, I couldn't watch. In my mind I could see that big truck going over the retaining wall. Not a good thought!! But the driver knew what he was doing.
This is one step closer to moving in!!!!

Oak trees, acorns and metal roofs.

I've been painting cabinet doors this morning. It's 66 degrees and cloudy. The wind's been blowing. There are several oak trees very close to the cabin. Often, acorn will fall out of the trees, hitting the roof. :-) Even with insulation in the attic and the roof, the sound of a 1/2" acorn falling 20' or so... colliding with a metal roof is still loud.

That sound reminded me of something I heard my parents talk about a long time ago.
When they got married in 1940 Daddy had a place out on Sanderson Lane. I don't remember how many acres, but it was quite a lot. He had cows out there. His only transportation was a black and white pinto called "Pretty Boy".
I don't think they had electricity or running water. The "house" had a tin roof. It was under a hickory tree. They were talking about how loud those hickory nuts were when they fell during a storm.

You know... We take so many things for granted. They were happy living out in the country. No electricity. No indoor plumbing. No vehicle. No TV. No computers.
Here I sit... listening to Classic Oldies on my iPhone and posting pictures on my blog.
I do appreciate all I have. And all the things my parents did for me. And what they taught me. They've been gone 20 and 30 years, but they are here with me every day.
Mama. Daddy. Thank you so very much.

Lunch at the cabin.

I must say this is SO nice! I'm sitting on one of the window seats. It is easy to imagine this room with all our things. It's going to be all I've dreamed about. And it's only a short time away.
I've been planning on moving in by Thanksgiving, but there's still too many things to do.

Tommy, our electrician, had an emergency this morning in Texarkana. It will be next Tuesday before he'll be here.

Next week a guy with a track-hoe will come out to install a sump pump & tie us in to the system at the Landing.

As soon as I get all those cabinet doors painted, Brian will come back with the rest of the cabinets and hang the doors.

We've got a carpenter lined up to get all the last details done. There's a few things that John, our first carpenter, left undone or that will have to be re-done.

I've got lots of details to finish. Some I'll do while waiting for other things to happen. But some I can finish after we're moved in.

New refrigerator.

Lowe's just delivered the new frig. Yep! It doesn't match the other appliances, the price was right.

Blue sky and trees

It's about 50 degrees with the wind blowing. Is cold if you're not out in the sun. But the sky is a gorgeous deep blue. Which is making the trees' changing colors look even better. I had to share them with you.

Doors to paint.

Yes! That is a lot of doors. 65 if we're counting. As soon as I get them done, Brian & Melvin will come back out to hang them. Put the counter tops on. Install the 2 lazy susans. And bring the rest of our cabinets. Whew!!! I've got a lot to do. Better get busy!!!

Colors of Fall

This is the Elm tree in our yard. It looked much better yesterday in the sunshine.

Window seats.

They're in place, but not attached. This is going to look so good when everything is all done.
Brian & Melvin, thank you so much for taking so much time today. It looks great!!!

Desk.

WOW!!! I like it!!!

Tall dish cabinet.

I am so thrilled to get these cabinets installed!

Bookcases are almost done.

These will have doors over the two bottom shelves. I can hardly wait to start putting books and things in there!!!

Plate rack number two.

I have a kitchen.

More cabinets.

Oh! My gosh!!! This is awesome!!!

Cabinets going in today!

I can hardly believe this is actually happening! We've been working on it since the spring of 2003. That makes it about 8 & 1/2 years. Hmmm. Not too bad for a couple of extreme amateurs. I'll post more photos as they get them done.

Last one.

Primer is on the last cabinet here at the cabin. Of course, Brian, the cabinet builder, will be bringing more when he starts installing these. That is ok. That means we're one step closer to moving in!!!!

Upper desk.

Sanded, cleaned and primed. It's sitting on top of one of the window seats. It hurts too much to sit on the floor and paint.

Season change at the lake

This photo just barely shows how nice it really is. There's a light breeze. Neighbors are sweeping their deck. A big Tri-Color Heron just caught a fish out there. WOW! I love it out here!!!

Lots of drawers

These are all sanded w/ at least one coat of Minwax clearcoat on them. I want to get two more coats on them. They are looking really good.

It's been too long.

I'm not sure how this is going to work. Right now the only Internet I have is my cell phone.
I have been busy, tho. I've primed, sanded, cleaned, painted and sanded some more... Most of the cabinets at the cabin are done. Today I primed all four of the window seats.
The photo I'm including with this post is the bar base unit. What looks like the top is actually the front. It was easier to paint with it turned like this.

Cabinets...

This tall cabinet is for dishes and a shelf for cookbooks.  The top will have doors with glass inserts.  When the First Baptist Church was being torn down several years ago, I was lucky enough to buy several of the windows.  I've been saving them for just this cabinet.  After I get the measurements, I'll take one of the window to The Glass Shop for them to cut. 

This is just one of the bookcases that will go on each side of the fireplace.  The bottom two shelves will have doors.  Sunday I got both of these bookcases sanded. 

Guest bath vanity.  Nothing fancy.  It will look much better when it's painted w/doors and countertop.  Oh, knobs and handles!  Another decision!!!  LOL!!!  I'll worry about that tomorrow.  :-)     I'll post this for now.  Can come back later and add more photos.

Ok... I'm back.  I did get several pieces sanded.  Can't do any priming until I get the wood putty to fill all the nail holes.  Then, one more sanding and the primer goes on... another sanding... first coat of paint... sanding... and the final coat of paint.  Whew!  I'm exhausted already!!!      :-)  This piece is the top of my computer desk.  It's just upside down.  There will be doors on the side sections with the center open.  I had planned to leave the inside of all the cabinets natural w/ a coat of clear polyurethane, but the open cabinets might not look right.  I need to do some research online to see what I like best.    

This is the bottom part of the desk.  I had originally wanted a corner desk, but with the sloped ceiling, it was getting a lot more complicated.  This is going to be just fine.  Four big file drawers!  And the big space in the center for the tower. 

Another upside down piece... This one is the over the range unit.  The vent hood goes in there.  There are several more pieces not here, but when Brian has time, he'll bring them out here.

Oh... This is the sink base w/a space for a trash can... a section w/ two shelves.  The open space on this end is part of the lazy susan space.  Down at the other end is a four drawer unit w/ space for another big lazy susan.  I know!  TWO lazy susans?  Yep! I was/am tired of having to crawl into a cabinet to get what has fallen into the black hole in the corner.  I have two of those right now, and don't like them one bit!!!  So, those two lazy susans are going to be AWESOME!!!!!   Oh... There is an open space between the drawer section and sink base for the dishwasher.  I almost forgot about it.

This is the big piece of the lazy susan unit that will go at the other end of the kitchen.  I don't know if those will have two shelves or three.  It really won't matter.  Every time I open that little door and turn that cute little shelf, I'm going to have the biggest smile on my face!!!  :-)

Lazy susan and set of drawers make up the bar unit.  The telephone will be located here on the bar since it's pretty much the center of the house.

Another upside down piece... There's two of these for each side of the window over the sink.  Another luxury I asked for was plate racks.  I've got 12 to 16 Fiesta plates in lots of different colors that will look good in there.  The one in back is a little different.  It has a very shallow set of shelves on the end for keys, phone books, note pad/pencil, etc.  I saw one similar in a magazine.  Brian did this just the way I wanted it!  Thank you!!!

This is most of the doors.  There's a few on top of the desk in the corner.  They're plain and simple.  I didn't want too much detail, since we've got the beadboard ceiling and oak flooring.  Shaker style, I think it's called.  I like it!

Drawer fronts... plain and simple.  Oh!  I haven't picked out door knobs or drawer pulls!  And there are thousands to choose from!!!! 

I guess that's it for now.  I'll post more photos when Brian brings more cabinets out here or when I get something painted.  I'm not sure when he'll want to start putting the upper cabinets up, but I'm hoping to have them painted first. 

It is so hard to believe we're this close... It's been such a long time since we started working on this project... There were times I didn't think we'd ever make it this far!

They're here! Our cabinets, that is...

Oh, M'Gosh! That's a lot of cabinets!!!  But, it's for the whole house, not just the kitchen.  Brian, the cabinet builder, came back with another load about an hour later, so we have cabinets all though the living room and sunroom.  I'll post more photos later, but this will give you and idea of what he's done so far.

You can see just the end of a bookcase on the left.  A tall cabinet is along the pantry wall.  Three of the base units are in the kitchen... The bar with the space for the lazy susan, then the sink with trash bin and a set of drawers... Space for the dishwasher, then the next unit.  I'll post photos of each piece later.  I need to get started getting ready to paint.  And, David & I are working on the deck to our other house.  It has several boards that need to be replaced.  

16 & 17 June 2011 Work on drainage system...

I was thoroughly impressed with the driver of the concrete truck.  He had to get that big truck up our driveway and through our yard to get to the cabin.  In the picture you can see where he drove across the grass.   It was hot that day... probably in the upper 90's.  Those guys worked hard, too.  I'm skipping a lot of pictures, but the concrete truck got here about 8am and didn't leave til 4pm. 

They did all of this and under the house they poured between 10 and 15 footings to level the house. 

It looks really good.  At some point we'll get this all cleaned up and finished.  It's been two months since we had this done and it hasn't rained enough to see how the drains will work.  It's been over 100 degrees for 2 weeks or more.  We've been under a burn ban for a while.  The water department has notified everyone to restrict water usage... no outside watering until further notice.  So the green grass in the first photo sure looks nice!  I'm watering our yard and our neighbor's yard with their water... they have a well and we're on city water.