Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum Irishguy's Cabin Build...

I was looking through my pictures and realized I had not posted an update lately. With my brother, my nephew, a local fellow who's good at cutting trees really cheap, Mrs. Irish and myself all working on the cabin off and on, things are really starting to come together...

We got all the trees cut down in the front yard to make way for the septic system. While they were cutting I had them go ahead and purge out all the tall pines that looked like they might be a danger to the cabin in a weather event.

It hurt to cut all those trees and open us up even more to the road out front, but it is what it is. I think now we will move those Leland Cypress' back a little and then step out in front of and in between them with some other plantings. Once that all matures it will screen the cabin from the road pretty well. Behind that, off to the left in the picture will be a pretty nice garden space for the future. Once the septic is installed and field lines, we will cut off and grind the remaining stumps. I will probably plant clover all over as a ground cover until I decide about a garden there. Keep in mind that the future addition of a great room and the master bedroom will be off to the left of this picture. It will probably be my first retirement project.



All the doors are hung, all the bathrooms are dry walled, finished and painted the final coats. I have started trimming out the windows and doors. I love working with wood even though I have a lot to learn. I am fortunate to have a brother who I consider to be a master carpenter to help teach me. Even though he is a surly fellow. He and I are completely opposite: I'm this cheerful, happy, outgoing, glass half full kind of guy and he's kind of quiet, surly, and always seems to be thinking about all the bad stuff that can and will go wrong about any situation. Weird how two brothers can be so different.



I trimmed the kitchen window a little different that the rest of the windows in the house, because we are going to tile all around it with the white subway tile.



Some of my amateur carpentry skills on the main windows in the sitting room area. Keep in mind that every single piece of this window trim has to be custom milled by me while I'm trimming everything out, because all of this lumber was cut on a portable sawmill from local pines and it is all very inconsistent in width and in some cases even thickness even though it was run through a planer once already. Plus I am using a router on several of the window trim pieces. So it's kind of slow, but at least I am enjoying it.

My brother looked at my first window (I was all proud of it ) and he proceeded to tell me how I had everything all wrong. So I tore it all out, because I wanted to make it all "right." He showed me how to shim it all out correctly so all the windows of the same size would all have the exact same trim on them and I could mass produce the trim pieces. After I listened to the "Master" and redid that window before starting on the others he came in took a careful look at it and told me, "Now that actually looks like a professional did it." That was probably the best compliment he has ever given me.





Got some lighting installed and we're just about through with that. I'm making a custom fixture for the stairwell with some antler sheds.



Dean's school of carpentry in session. He's teaching Mrs. Irish the finer points of cabinet preparation for painting. Of course he has his Pall Mall and Pabst Blue Ribbon...



My first window, prior to ripping it all out and starting over...