Old Friend Finds A New Home

When we first started working on our property, we needed someplace dry to store our tools.  We were able to “acquire” this cool pilot house that had been removed from a boat.  It’s been a great Tool Shed but now it’s going to become the Well House.  But that means moving it down the hill where the well head is.  Dozy lends a hand.After slowly backing it down the driveway…We just have to squeeze it between a tree and the barn down below, and place it over the well.  The next project will be to move the 12′ X 20′ metal shed ( that’s covering our supply of on-site milled lumber), over to the West side of our building site so that we can work on the retaining wall on the North side of the house.

Creating Space

Now that we have indoor plumbing (and a working kitchen), we can FINALLY get rid of the trailer.  After 6 years of trailer life, we certainly will not miss it.  We had to shoehorn it into position next to the pump house when brought it up the hill.  Now we have to un-shoehorn it.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         As you can see, there is not enough room to maneuver the trailer with any vehicle.  Dozy to the rescue.  Anybody want to buy a slightly leaky trailer?Now we have some space for a garden or perhaps a future greenhouse.

The Flushing Truth or Another Major Milestone

With all the tile work finished in the guest bathroom, it’s time to install the toilet.  We were given a very nice one-piece toilet that has a skirted side. (no ugly bolts showing) But that involved installing a special mount on the floor first. (Picture above)A few leveling adjustments, then the hidden bolts attached… and Voila!Our friend Kay stopped by with sushi and champagne to celebrate the first flush.         Now we worked on installing the pocket door.Since this is the only room in our house that doesn’t open up to at least one window, we wanted to have a door with glass to let in natural light. So we refinished this beautiful french door (salvaged), that we have made into a pocket door.  We will be putting an obscuring film over the glass for our more shy friends.There is still some trim to do but we now have a fully functioning bathroom!  It only took six years.  PS  Anyone want to buy a 33′ travel trailer?

Missed It By That Much

 

We are installing beautiful travertine tile on the guest bathroom floor.  But first, we need to put down an uncoupling layer called Schluter Ditra.  It will help prevent cracking in the tile if there is ever any movement in the concrete floor.  It gets set in a thin bed of mortar then the tiles will be installed on top of it.

 

 

 

 

The Schluter Ditra was very simple to work with. Lightweight and easy to cut and place.

It was very exciting laying down the first bit of tile.  The 2 inch square travertine tiles are attached to a 12″ X 12″ backing to make it easier to install.The process went fairly quickly until we got to the end and realized we were short about a 6 inch square area of tiles.  Oh well! we will pick up more tile and the grout so we can finish the floor later.  BTW, the hole in the wall is where a cabinet will go that extends under the corner of the kitchen counter (wasted space) on the other side of the wall.  The cabinet will have a deep drawer to hold towels. Aren’t we clever?…. except for that bit about not getting enough tile.:-)