Leelanau, Michigan

Back to Work on the Cabin

26 Comments

May 30, 2022 – Leelanau County, MI – Written by Jim

After a great winter in Florida, we made the trip north to Michigan, arriving in mid-April. Our goal is to get the cabin finished this year so we can get our occupancy permit. We wasted no time in getting started!

First order of business was to get a working bathroom. When we had contractors onsite last year, the terms of our building permit required us to have a porta-potty. Now that we are working by ourselves, there is no need for that…as we have the RV close by. When we left last year, the main bathroom looked like this:

I am fairly proficient in most areas of home construction, but tile work is new to me. Not only was I going to try tackling a tub surround, I was also throwing a niche and a window frame and sill into the mix. Oh, and the tile has a wavy pattern to it.

Before too long, we had a tub surround! Not long after that, we had the flooring, vanity, mirror, toilet and towel bars installed.

We put up a shower curtain for now, as we want to finish the other bathroom before having the shower doors installed. We also put paper on the floor to protect the new flooring while we work in other areas of the house.

In order to get the plumbing running, we had to bring the water softener in from the barn, where it had been installed with the washing machine.

We will scoot that out of the way when we put in the vinyl plank flooring later this summer. Once the softener was moved, we also brought in the washer and dryer.

It’s nice to have those both installed and running! The laundry tub will be installed after the flooring goes in.

While I was doing this, Diana was busy painting trim.

We have 17 windows that require trim, along with 3 outside doors, 6 interior doors and 9 closets…along with all of the baseboard. The window jambs also needed painting, and the entire casing needed to be caulked.

We finished all of the windows! We will get the rest after the flooring is in.

Diana also tackled the mountain of leaves that were dumped on us last fall.

That took a few days, as they were so many! One neat thing about getting here so early was to go to the places we are able to see in the distance and look back at our little slice of Leelanau.

This one is from one mile away.

This one is from 2-1/2 miles away. You can see our place and our neighbors in the distance. The houses in the foreground are on our friends Lane and Patti’s street. Once the leaves popped, we aren’t able to see much of our cabin from these places.

Next project was finishing the kitchen.

Once I had the base cabinets secured and level, I proceeded to make our countertops. This is something I did frequently during my career.

How’s that for Carrera Marble? A special thank you to my friend Jim (a hardware specialist) for helping us secure the cabinet pulls. They actually mirror the handles on the appliances.

Once that was done, we were able to install the tile backsplash.

I finished grouting that today. The rest of this week will be spent on finishing the kitchen, before moving outside to finish up two of our three decks. We’d like to get those done before it gets too hot.

Stay tuned for our next post to see how far we get. Until then, safe and happy travels to all!

26 thoughts on “Back to Work on the Cabin”

  3. Wow! You do amazing work. It would be wonderful to come up this year. We don’t have any plans now, but perhaps we will make it up in September. It’s always fun to watch this progress from a distance.

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  5. Great work! Makes me really glad we were finally able to pay someone to build this last house. Mo built the previous one and said she would never do it again. Love the marble. Everything looks truly wonderful. Good job!

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  6. You two certainly hit the ground running. I can’t get over all of your accomplishments in such a short time. The bathroom looks lovely. Nice job on the tile work. Getting the washer and dryer in right up there with the bathroom. Kitchen is beautiful. Nice job! Your large wall of windows is spectacular with the trim. Boy does that wall look great. Love the distance photos of the cabin. Leaves!!! Our nightmare in PA.
    Hope you get your decking completed before the heat.

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    1. Thanks Pam! If it gets too hot to work on the deck, we can always move back inside for a project in there. We just don’t want the decks to be the last thing in the fall and have it start snowing! 🙄

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  7. Barb and I know all too well how much work goes into every step of the progress you made. If you are like us, it is a labor of love and you are enjoying each step along the way.

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  8. You two are amazing. It just continues to look more and more wonderful! Working bathrooms and washer and dryer installed are a big deal. The tile looks like you’ve been doing it for years 🙂 Excited we’ll be seeing it in person very soon.

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