Dreams, Plans and getting things done!

Yesterday I left off with the start of our journey applying cedar SHINGLES to the outside of the house. (you can read that here) It’s amazing what siding does to a structure. From the back it actually looks like a REAL house! That we built! With our own 2 hands (and the hands of many amazing friends and family #kisses)

Often the response we get when people learn we are doing cedar shingles on everything is “thats a lot of work!” And I guess they are right. I don’t want anyone to think that it isn’t a lot of work… but it is enjoyable, and for us, not daunting. It is really rewarding because it is such a great look, and the transformation is amazing! It is just the right “cottage” feel we wanted at our place, and I am so glad we went blue. It looks great next to bright primary colors, and will feel cheery and bright in the winter. I think I am going to go with a bright red front door. Its a big deal for me to commit to colors… white is so much easier. But, I really love the way it looks once I do it. I’m sure you remember all of my siding dilemmas before committing to blue… and then all it took to commit to and find the right blue. For some reason it is way easier for me to make choices for other people, like when they ask me to help choose colors for a room. It is so much easier. But when it comes to my own house, I might over think it sometimes.

Back to siding. Once we had the scaffolding set up, we decided it made sense to fully finish the wall, soffit, facia, crown, caulking, nail whole filling and paint touch ups. Our family was coming for a camp out in our yard and I did not want the scaffolding set up across our whole deck. For me, it was not an option for us to leave it up with kids running around, and for Matt, it was not an option to take it down before we finished. So, we pulled some long days, worked hard, and got it done! The scaffolding came down Friday, and my family came early Saturday.

I am so excited about this, and it makes me want to keep plugging away to get all of it finished! Hopefully we can put some good time in over the next bit, although Matt has a lot of landscaping work to finish up before fall and winter comes. So, we will really need to manage our time.

Our trusses are kind of funny, and we spent a lot of time figuring out what to do, because our soffit was not going to fully cover the gap, we didn’t want to put a little piece of sheeting up there, so we decided to do some decorative trim up top, that ends up looking like a bit of a crown. I really like the way it caps things off actually!

The boys have been amazing through this whole process. We had a big day to get the oiled stain done. My in laws came over for a day, which was amazing. Matt’s dad helped with installing and cuts. Matt’s mom and I stained and oiled. When the guys started getting high, I went up on the scaffolding to do the last 8 rows or so, because Matt’s dad isn’t comfortable with heights. We can often get a lot done with the boys staying pretty entertained. However, that was a long day, and we wouldn’t have gotten it done without Matt’s mom and dad to help. While Matt and I finished the top rows and got the trim up, Marg kept our boys alive and made dinner. E and G are actually very thorough painters 🙂

We found the cutest lights to go on either side of the doors on the back deck. They are oil rubbed bronze, and remind me of the “barn light” look. It will be exciting when we are at the electrical stage!

Don’t mind the wood filler on the windows… I still need to do  touch ups on those windows, but can do that from the ladder. Matt also needs to put some small pieces under the 2 windows to carry on the row, as well as under the belly band.

It is exciting to see our dream for this cottage start to become a reality, and while we still have a lot of work to do, it is so amazing to see the outside at a finishing stage! This is the real deal. No more steps out here once we are done. We can focus our energy on the inside, and maybe, just maybe, we can be in by Christmas 😉 It’s always Christmas…

I am working on putting together more details about our windows, and how we transformed them from basic stock windows, to cottage style! A few of you mentioned you would be interested in that way back, but my lack of internet has prevented me from getting there. I’m so excited about the siding, I decided to share it first 😉

-Miss Ash