Trash to cash

28 inch log stove, made from an old air compressor
Legs came from the steel frame of an RV I parted out

Door and ash tray were cut from the front and remounted,  The door with hand forged hinges
The ash pan came from a chunk of the old fuel tank from the dump truck, the tank leaked
I bent the stack mount out of some old scrap piece I had in a pile

Compressor rested on the flat platform that super sized with a piece of plate.
The top is 20 inches wide and 24 inches deep
I am going to put it in the house for aux heat

However it is for sale

Christmas Day, Arthur is firing his bow for the first time

This bow came from an oak log a local tree service dropped off,  Along with couple of bow blanks I cut a dozen 2 inch slabs 7 feet long

Archers 61 inch long bow

While attending an Indian pow wow in Macon Arthur decided he wanted a bow. 

 There was a vendor making them in a traditional way.  We watched for about an hour.  This is my third attempt.  I have yet to determine the poundage

Cheryl's treasure chest

This is a log that I hollowed out using a chain saw and fire, adding handmade hinges and a handle out of saw blades
The chest is 4 1/2 feet long with an inside width of about 16 inches, started out as play time for me but when Cheryl saw what I was doing she wanted it

The tree's keep coming and so the building goes on.

Kevin & Arthur on the sun-room roof. 

The tree's keep coming and so the saw-milling and the building goes on.

Where will it end?

????

Imagination and apparently physics have no end.....

~Cheryl

Cherylwood Forest's Castle

 

I think progress, invention or production should have been Kevin's middle name. I am in awe of the imagination, determination, time, energy, and sore muscles this man puts in for me.....the castle that Kevin built.

.....2 sides of the house are now clothed in wood siding, hand tongue and grooved by Kevin and router The fresh blanks were then blanched with bleach eliminating uninvited mold. Then all set into place

by hand.

We decided to stain the wood rather than paint so took a long visit to Lowe's to pick a color. After drooling over several handfuls of paint chips, I fell in love with a dignified plum and Kevin got busy concocting..... several 5 gallon buckets of mineral spirits and a secret ingredient list....just enough color to bring out the wood grain and give it that dusky evening shade of purple. I think it will be gorgeous with the green tin roof.

No homeowner associations or covenants for us!

As you can see the house and carport now meet at the breezeway. We were thinking about a mote............

….........all for now.

~Cheryl

Calculations, Pulleys & Muscle

Kevin maneuvered this 14 plus foot chunk of wood through the framework maze of the house, over piles of lumber, under scaffolds and around ladders.

Keep in mind this particular beam weighs only around 150 –200 pounds; minimal in comparison to the beams that support the floor or the logs Kevin cut lumber from.

For a minute, imagine the ingenuity and strength needed to manhandle objects this large and heavy, now imagine these tasks being done by only “one” person. Even with the tractor used like a crane to move the logs Kevin still has to engineer them to the mill the same way he sets the beams. It blows me away.

When I come out to take pictures Arthur has a rope pulley on one of the 4x6’s off the wall and Arthur is holding steady this beam so Kevin can manhandle it to balance off the side of the house towards the grotto columns.

The first side is set and clamped into place than the next as the pictures show.

Yeah!

This is the first supporting beam for the Sun Room that runs the length of the southern side of the house, off the kitchen and living room.

The name alone, Sun Room, conjures up all kinds of glorious ideas. With a view of the trees and the lake in the distance see it as a lounge for the soul, a place of contemplation and reflection. I am feeling a soft sigh rest deep inside me.

It makes me smile, this house, this labor of love, creativity and sweat is Kevin’s legacy, one this family will cherish forever. 

~Cheryl

P.s. And when I say beer belly I say it with love. :)

Morningsides

Between the rains and 100 plus degree weather and having to go into the city last Sunday to buy a new refrigerator, Kevin & Arthur have been working on the roof.

The softness of the early day is enchanting to me. So, on this wonderfully cool morning I walked to see the north side stepping into the trees to scope out a view for the camera lens.

I love the peak over Arthur’s room and the high ceiling office to the left of it where I will carry on with my writing adventures and of course continue this blog of Kevin’s artful projects beyond building the house.

South side led my bare feet onto the lawn wet from last nights rain. Here I visit with kitchen daydreams of entertaining and gathering with friends. …or maybe I’ll just it on the deck and write…and let the charm of it all take over me….

This is after all Cherylwood Forest…..

Yes, to me it’s magical; to Kevin with his degree in engineering and Arthur with his love of numbers it’ mostly mathematical. Calculating corners, angles and precision cuts, the hoisted green tin now sets the tone and protects our future lying snug in place boasting smooth overlaps and ridge cap.

Kevin says let the rain come, gutters go up next.

~Cheryl

Skeleton of Probabilities

In gestation, our future grotto emerges and calls out for attention.

I answer, cooing back with quiet plans of contemplation and cocktail party invites.

The groundwork laid, poles set, and imaginations inspired. I see a labyrinth of props and agendas, a skeleton of possibilities.

I watch the unfolding like the faithful audience at a continuous theatre of improvisation.

Clean-shaven, including a missing mustache for the summer, Kevin with the blueprints only in his head allows his creative strategies and arrangements to link themselves together.

I follow promising patterns and delight in the unexpected.

I know Kevin stands, stares and calculates but I wonder at night does he dream of positioning hypothetical boards and structures; building castles in the air before committing them to lumber?

~Cheryl

Subterranean Homestead

Years ago I dreamed of the lush green subterranean sanctuaries I’d read about in George Sand’s Emmanuel Swedenborg influenced novels. 

Today, my own fantasy of secret grottos is emerging from Kevin’s brickwork. I can just feel a fairy tale coming on.

Curvy in nature like a steam through the woods, the grotto walls descend and rise in a flow as graceful as rolling hills.  Morning’s first breath of fresh air comes to mind.  And here I am thinking ivy and maybe a faint waterfall feature…all hidden away from the mighty southern summer sun.

 Here Kevin is filling cinderblocks with concrete and setting the pillar foundations that will support the deck coming off the kitchen and living room above.

Each pillar base consists of 3 threaded 3/3 to 5/8 anchor studs with nuts.  The nuts are the leveling agents.

The pillars are specially selected logs; however trees as they grow towards the may bend and sway and not be completely straight.

Using a template matching the pattern of the 3 anchor studs Kevin will drill holes into the bottom of the each log.  From there he will set each one using the leveling nuts to align each log vertically.   

In tune with the waves of brickwork the log columns are 7 to 8 inches diameter and range from 32 inches to 6 feet in length.

Next the headers that go between the pillars are repurposed from an old house torn down just round the corner.  He will notch the top of each pillar at the appropriate height.  The 12-inch floor/deck joists will sit atop the headers and cantilever out between 1 to 2 feet.

~Cheryl

Going Gable

The original plan was to give Arthur’s room a shed slanted roof.  But that has changed now, its gone gable!

A few more 2 by 8’s, and a few more sheets of plywood later, Arthur so far has the better bedroom in the house.   The master suite is just big enough for a bed and a few shelves…but then again, I will have an office / craft room and an organized kitchen and Kevin has his living room view so it’s all good …

And, yes, we broke down and bought plywood, couldn’t find big enough trees LOL!  J

~Cheryl 

Half sheeted and not tucked in

Half of the roof is sheeted. 

Kitchen and living room areas are now under cover. Arthur’s loft above Kevin & my bedroom and my office are on the waiting list.  

Kevin and Arthur climbed aboard to enjoy the spoils.

Arthur rolled a bottle of water from his spot in the name of gravity and momentum. The X & Y factors of motion. 

They invited me up…..ah, I think I’ll just keep my view from the ground for now.      

Watching them I drifted into a heady admiration, smiled and reflected on the perseverance, sweat and time that went into cutting those boards and then the energy Kevin exerted to haul them to roof level to set them.

New logs are on the way.....

Yeah, I’m happy.

~Cheryl

What's wrong with this picture?

That beautiful limb isn't long enough to meet the beam!

Time to find a new tree!

Yep, we're going for the real rustic look!  Its also happens to be in the budget!


~Cheryl

It's Like Trees In The Sky

It’s like trees in the sky

It’s beautiful.

The moments unfold more gradually these days. I’ve been temping 8 to 5 come lately and around 6.30 in the AM Kevin tells me of his daily plans. Yesterday it was rafters.

I often think how his day is going and about what progress he has made. I was delighted with the sight that greeted me as I drove down our road and pulled into the gravel drive.

These 11 rafters that reach into our woodland skies will roof the living room and Arthur’s loft.

I imagine myself inside the dry walled in house and making decisions on where to place the furniture Kevin will build. I envision a rustic luxury of open space, of abundant cabinets and built in bookshelves. I wonder at my bare feet on hard wood floors cut from local timber. I marvel at the idea of coffee on the deck overlooking the surrounding woods and lake. And I am fascinated that Kevin has already picked out where our Christmas tree will sit.

Reality Check: All the milling of logs that Kevin and Arthur accomplished this last summer in preparation for this build has dwindled. Kevin’s board count for the framing was almost spot on, but now I find him calculating his needs for the remaining rafters, roofing and a few minor interior walls. Already he’s pulled in logs from down the road and 2 huge pines that stood less than 100 yards from the new house site. I keep telling him no more clearing on our property, but apparently thinning is a different concept.

Our house is made of trees I’ve seen, touched and watched morph into something equally as beautiful that reaches upwards just like them.

My trees in the sky.

It’s beautiful.

~Cheryl

When all else fails, add an extra Axel!

Always on the lookout for fallen logs to mill for lumber for the house Kevin found several down the road from us.  (Recently cut down by our local Asplundh crew on a mission to keep the power lines clear)

Between the back hoe, chain saw and a obviously too small homemade trailer, Kevin got as far as loading.

As we began the trek home with me as a precaution following him with my hazard lights on the left trailer tire hissed and blew.  So home we went to get an axel we’d acquired from the mobile home we scraped out earlier this month.

After lifting the trailer with the backhoe we positioned the new axel and Kevin chained it all together.

These logs are expected to go into rafters, floor joists, sub floor boards and roof sheathing.

~ Cheryl 

Aluminum Playday

Kevin (and Arthur and I, but mostly Kevin) have taken to scrapping old trailers.  Recently we took one down not far from the house.  Aluminum and steel are the main items for the Reclamation Centers (Recycling).  Copper wire is also something to keep an eye out for.

This melting expedition included aluminum from that scrapping job as well as our own private collection of candy wrappers (from Christmas) and assorted aluminum pieces saved from the trashcan in the kitchen.   The more we can return to nature, recycle or reuse the better.  

Kevin has played at melting down aluminum for a while now and the experiments have been simple, mainly seeking out suitable molding mediums.  He and I had spent hours designing lovely patterns in plaster of Paris only to find that the hot aluminum cracked them. So this time we played with both sand/dirt and concrete. 

As you can see from the collage, with our makeshift furnace and crucible we are very much novices. Our process is refined bit-by-bit, experiment-by-experiment. And it doesn’t hurt that Kevin likes playing with fire, and concrete and wood and, well the list goes on an on….

For me, I’d like to create aluminum focal points for the jewelry like sun catcher creations I build.  Ever the master fabricator, Kevin will design as well as see the project into production.

From these humble beginnings we have high aspirations. Exploring where our creativity motivations take us has become a major component in our lives.  The impulse to create is strong and we are delighted to answer the call.

~ Cheryl

Open Spaces

It’s a lovely mild winter day with a hint of rain this afternoon. The second floor is upon us, or rather Kevin is upon it, beginning work on the sub floor for Arthur’s loft, which is the ceiling of the laundry, master bath and bedroom.

We’ve all been doing our share of fantasizing about the size of our new rooms. We’ve spent the past 11 plus years in a singlewide trailer all I can think of is open space!

~Cheryl

Wall Jacks One and Two

Kevin, Arthur and their 2 new best friends Wall Jack 1 and 2 have been busy the past few weeks.  The new buddies are built from 2-inch & 1 1/2 pipe telescope style, one inside the other and boat trailer winches.  These incredible tools have played an important roll in raising the assembled skeleton walls, enabling one man to do the work of several. 

As each room came together and support beams were raised into place I marveled at how my house is coming together.  At the end of each day Kevin and I walked the floor plan deciding where the fireplace, the closets, the bookshelves and next years Christmas tree will go.

The wall in the picture above is for my future office.  I am already fantasizing myself there blogging away to my hearts content. 

It’s New Years Day 2011 and a marathon of Star Wars movies are on again. Kevin and Arthur are watching it again.  I am in my currently very tiny office blogging dreaming about my new office…….

Below are a ‘VERY’ short re-play of progress.

Above:  Moving one of the wall tie beams out the carport onto the sub-floor.  There are a total of four beams like this used on the house, all cut from the same Pine tree. (cut from 20 foot long chunks ranging from 14 to 16 inch diameter)  Chain sawed to size then cleaned up with a skill saw.  You can match up the knot holes at a glance. 

Arthur working Wall Jack 1 on his end, and Kevin on the other positioning one of the support beams,

The last exterior wall going up thanks to Wall Jacks 1 & 2.

Last exterior wall in place! (for the the main floor that is, Arthur's loft is next.........)

~Cheryl