Photos of our Progress!

WOW, has it really been over 3 weeks since I last updated this blog? So sorry, but our lives seem to be so busy lately. And, without the camera to document out progress, didn't seem too exciting to tell you what was going on when I couldn't show you. So, since Poppy bought a new camera the other day, thought I would get back on here. But, before updating you on the progress at Loon Lake Lodge, we must share the excitement of adding yet another member to the family. Jillian Claire was born last Monday, August 24 at 6:44 in the morning. Mother and baby are doing great. She joins big sisters Kate (who turned 2 August 6) and Elizabeth (who will be 4 on October 8!) so they now have their hands very full with three little ones. We drove down to see her and help keep the others this past week and it made for a week that flew right past. I am going to go help with the girls and new babe next week, so I promise to post some photos of Jillian, as well as her adoring sisters when I get back home.

Now, here is what we have accomplished here. When I last posted I reported that the furnace closet had been finished off inside. Well, now we have an entirely new heating and AC system installed. This new geothermal unit will keep us toasty warm and comfortably cool whenever we need it. Plus, it is tucked away back in the new utility room, so when it runs we won't hear it. But, even if we are in the utility room you can't hear it run. The old geo unit was under the stairwell in the family room and when it kicked on we had to crank up the volume on the TV to hear over the loud rumbling. This new system will be so wonderful!! The guys were here for an entire week getting this all installed and all the new duct work done. This closet will eventually have bi-fold doors to hide if from view. All in due time!

Next, the upstairs hallway is about totally drywalled. We have framed in a doorway to create a storage closet on the one side of the hallway, utilizing the wasted space created by the knee wall. We also will have a desk area recessed back into this area off the loft at the top of the stairwell. Hanging the drywall on these angled ceilings and all the can light and electrical plugs/switches made for some time consuming measuring and figuring. This view is looking from the loft area down the hallway. At the end is the doorway into the back bedroom. The doorway on the right is the other bedroom and the doorway framed on the left goes into the storage area. Where the drywall turns the corner there at the right leads into the bathroom at the top of the stairwell. I think I have Poppy convinced to hire someone to come in and mud and finish off all this drywall, as it will be one HUGE, messy job. Money well spent, plus we will then have the textured ceilings we want.

Some of the trickiest and toughest drywall to hang was over the stairwell. This was up two stories and I wasn't sure we could even do it. Well, last weekend with the help of one strong neighbor friend, they got the ceiling hung above the stairwell. This photo is from the vantage point at the bottom of the steps looking up. They positioned these leftover beams across to create "catwalks" on which to stand, then they could be out over the stairwell to access this high space. This picture is actually quite confusing if you don't know what you are looking at, but you might be able to figure out just how treacherous it looked from my viewpoint as I prayed no one would fall!

These next two show the upstairs bathroom. Poppy has started to tape and mud this room, as we hope to have the vanity set and shower/tub functional next weekend. The only part yet to drywall here is inside the linen closet. This first view is looking into the tub/shower, stool area, which can be closed off by a door from the rest of the bathroom. Linen closet is the area there to the left without drywall.

This is the other view of this bathroom, looking in from the hallway. The left side of this divided area will house my top loading washing machine I will use specifically for felting knitted projects. I want him to put a cabinet above the washer for storage. Then, the middle portion of room will be the vanity and sink. We started with a full wall between these two and decided to take it down to a half wall so it would not seem so broken up. Glad we did. The blue up in right hand corner near ceiling is where vanity light will hang, with mirror below. Just to right of this area is the linen closet seen in the other photo.

This week we accomplished one BIG task. On Friday we rented drywall jacks with plans of hanging the drywall on the bedroom ceilings upstairs and MAYBE the master bedroom too. Well, since the master bedroom is a 10'6" ceiling height, he needed the extra tall jacks. This meant they were too tall to use up in the bedrooms with 8' ceilings. (great planning Poppy!) So, we tackled the master bedroom ceiling, which also must be done in order to do the blow-in insulation above that area. However, we had 12' sheets of 5/8" drywall, which are very, very heavy. There was no way the two of us could lift these big sheets up on to the drywall jack, which was about shoulder height. Another poor planning on Poppy's part. He just did not anticipate all of these things. But, don't say that Poppy is not up to any challenge. He soon went to the garage and brought in his old block and tackle pulley system. After hooking it over the main beam of the master bedroom area, we devised a way to hoist up each sheet of drywall high enough to get it on the lift. We could never have done this without the wonderful help of our kind neighbor, Tom. He came over six times to help when we had a full sheet to hang. The smaller 4' square sections we could handle the two of us. In this photo you can see Poppy after fastening up the first section after it was successfully hung. But, notice the chain hoist in the photo, that was our lifesaver! Thanks Uncle Art...who sold us the block and tackle with a sailboat some 30 years ago!

Here was the drill, as I caught the last sheet hoisted up with the camera. This was a piece narrower than the other large ones, as this was only a partial width. But, you can see Poppy and Tom steadying the sheet midway through the process of hoisting it up. I stopped to snap the photo, then hoisted it on up to their shoulder height, then I rolled the lift under it so they could sit it on the rack. I'm surprised they were smiling, this was hard work! I think the "spots" that look like water spots on the lens are all the dust that was floating around in the room all day.

This was a great application for the Roto Zip tool the kids gave Poppy for Christmas. He is "zipping" around the can light in the first section that was hung. This was much easier than measuring and figuring just where to cut that hole prior to hanging the piece. Thanks for the nifty tool!

Here is Poppy screwing the final piece in place. Ah, a job well done!

So, now we plan on renting the regular height drywall jacks tomorrow in hopes of getting the ceilings of the upstairs bedrooms hung. I am leaving Tues. to spend the week helping with the baby, so if we want it done before Labor day when the kids will all be here again, tomorrow will be the day. Wish us luck! I'll be back as things progress. Thanks for stopping by! Come on up to Loon Lake and visit us here at the Lodge. We'd love to see you all!