Our New Cottage - Progress Report #4

Hi Cottage Friends.

We interrupt our regularly scheduled program -- Living Large In Small Spaces -- to bring you this special update on our new cottage build. 

What with packing, the move from our apartment into a temporary motel room where we're waiting until our suite with the kitchen is ready (hopefully, this weekend), and keeping up with the construction, my interaction with blogging buddies has suffered.  I hope you'll forgive me for not staying in touch. I told Dennis the other day that it seems like all we do is drive around and eat. Not having a kitchen and thus eating out every meal quickly loses its appeal.

Our temporary-temporary home.

But enough of all that. Here's what's happened at the job site since my last report:

March 23 - 24, 2015

The studio foundation is poured.

March 25, 2015

The T1-11 Grooved 8 in. On-Center OSB vertical siding is going up.

This is an interesting process to watch.

Scott measures.

Will cuts the panel.

Places the panel in place.

And Charlie nails it to the wall.

The siding comes primed and ready for paint. We have two red paint samples to test, but that's a topic for another post.


March 26, 2015


Looking good, my friends.

The exterior doors have been delivered.

March 27, 2015

Dennis and I spend the day moving out of our apartment and book a nearby motel room for one night.

Here's a photo of the motel's cool original bathroom tile, which has nothing to do with our new home construction, but everything to do with the vintage age of the motel.























March 28, 2015

Dennis and I head out of town for a few days of R&R and shopping for exterior and studio lighting.  On the way out we stop by the project.

We see the exterior trim has been delivered.

March 30, 2015

We hear news that the roof trusses for the studio and porch have been delivered to the site. We'll be back in town tomorrow to see the progress.

March 31, 2015

Something is happening on the east side.

The studio has been framed and sheathing is up.

Construction moves quickly today. The engineered roof trusses speed up the process.

April 1, 2015


Quentin backfills the studio's exterior foundation wall.

April 2, 2015

The roof is being built over the side porch and studio.

Here's a peek at the studio interior.

Oh, look, I can see Dennis' studio from the kitchen window. I'll be keeping my eye on him.

Of course, he can keep his eye on me, too.

Maybe we'll meet on the porch for lunch.

What?  You don't see a porch there?


April 3, 2015

How about now? Do you see a porch now?

At least you see the floor joists, right? 




April 6, 2015

Getting ready for the roof shingles and the studio siding.

April 7, 2015

Is that siding I see on the studio?

Why, yes, I believe it is.

The back side looks nice, too.

There's my favorite window looking pretty with her own siding.

Just wait until you see her all dolled up with trim and those sassy vintage brackets.

Will's busy working on the roof shingles. I wonder if he ever gets tired of having his picture taken by the crazy lady.

Redwood for the porch floor is onsite.

April 8, 2015

The roof looks great.

The guys did a superb job of joining the porch roof to the cottage.

Suddenly the house looks deceptively large. 


April 9, 2015

The crew is working on the exterior trim. 

April 10, 2015

Dennis and I show up on the site at 7:30 AM to mark areas in the cottage where we want extra blocking. Here we've noted where bathroom wall cabinets and accessories will be installed.

After breakfast we meet with Ron, Ryan and Todd of Joseph Electric to walk the project and confirm where lighting fixtures, outlets and switches will be located.

Ron retires to the crawl space to begin his portion of the work. 

Our really nice crawl space.

Later he tells us that we have a really nice crawl space. I must confess it made me feel proud. Crawl spaces can be nasty places.



Before I can say "power distribution", Ron has the circuit breaker panel in place (there will be a door covering the panel, of course).

We chose to have the panel installed behind the door in my studio. Most of the time that door will be open, making it the least conspicuous place for the panel.

We had a pow-wow about an electrical outlet on/in/near the mantel, finally deciding to put a floor type outlet in the mantel itself, where it won't be visible. If I want to plug in a lamp or Christmas lights, it will be useful.  

Checking the plans and measuring to confirm the top of the mantel.

Ryan and Todd get to work placing the electrical boxes.

Dennis and Ron discuss the electrical work for the workshop.

Meanwhile, Scott, Will and Charlie lose no time in getting the trim up.

We're having fun and couldn't be happier with the way the project is proceeding.

Living Large In Small Spaces will return next Saturday with another great cottage.  See you there!


If you missed previous progress reports, you can find them here:

Progress Report #1
Progress Report #2
Progress Report #3


You can find our awesome builder at their website:
BLH Construction.