Year end - big progress!

Another huge year for the cottage...

Although I developed severe tendinitis in my right shoulder and cut the tip of my left ring finger off (kinda funny now), it was a big successful year making great progress towards completion of this mammoth project!

The list of completed projects and work done is really tough to summarize but here are some of the highlights.

Inside:

• drywall finished
• cottage painted
• kitchen completed (Thanks to: "Uncle Al", Bob, Scott and John)
• cabinets
• counter tops
• sink, fixture and plumbing
• appliances
• flooring installed
• doors hung
• bathrooms completed
• vanities installed
• back splash tiled
• wood trim work finished
• electrical work finished (Thanks to: "Uncle Al", Joe and Ken) 

Outside:

• entire lot graded twice including final (Thanks to: Ron, Chris, Tim, Brian and Brandon) 
• grass seeded
• retaining wall for drain pipe/septic tank built and back filled 
• driveway reshaped and re-graveled (Thanks to: Ron, Chris and Tim)
• cottage sign installed
• catch-basin finished 

Check-out the timeline photos below. You can see the progress over the last three years...

November 2012

Framed, electrical and plumbing roughed in

November 2013

Drywall, insulation, HVAC and wood ceiling

November 2014

Flooring, painting, kitchen, light fixtures and some decor

Next year, the focus will be finishing the remaining inside work and then get moving on the wrap-around deck. Here is the final exterior photo of the year.

Yard graded, grass coming in and driveway finished

This is the last post of 2014, unless I find something worthy to talk about...

FYI - The Cleveland Browns are now 7-4 and still very much alive in the play-off hunt. So, if they do make the play-offs, you can be assured I will be posting something! 

Thanks again for following.

Early cold snap

I did not make it up to the island this past weekend. The winter season seems to be on its way sooner that we would like. Tim sent me this photo below. Not used to seeing this on the island. I need to get the cottage winterized ASAP.

11/17/14 - snow storm

The weather forecast is super cold for the this week. This upcoming weekend is planned to be the last of the year. More to come!

Last working weekend of the season

As the Fall season rolls on, I wanted to finish as much of the remaining inside work on the cottage before we close-up for the year. Bonnie and me made a solo trip to have some quality "kid-free" time and get as much work done as possible! Bonnie was staying thru the weekend and I planned to stay until Tuesday.

We had a full list of projects to finish. I got Bon rolling on the wood treatment feature wall. I know how much she loves painting (not).

Bon clear coating the master bedroom feature wall

One boring and tedious job that needed to be finished, was the clear coating of all the remaining wood trim - 1) attic access door, 2) skylights and 3) chalkboard wall. This was completed sometime on Friday.

We had decided that we wanted to dress-up the bathrooms with some simple glass tile back splashes. So, I took a stab at tiling for the first time. The results look good. I will need to do some grout fixing next trip up, but overall nice.

Main bathroom glass tile back splash

Sunday afternoon, Bonnie caught the 12:30 pm ferry. It was time for me to get moving on to the master bedroom. Because we had to have "Drywall Mike" re-texture the ceiling, the entire room had to be repainted as well - ceiling to walls. This sucks and we had to do tons of prep work to remove all the drywall mud that was slapped all over the room, mostly right at the ceiling/paint line. After the ceiling was re-painted, I installed the ceiling fan and light fixture. The photo below does not do it justice, but the ceiling looks great and fits the lake cottage style perfectly.

Ceiling fan in master bedroom

Next big job was taking on the master bathroom. There was so much to be done in that little room, I will spare you photos for every step. I had to remove the toilet, and finish mudding the walls. Then finish priming and painting the walls.

Painting the master bathroom

When the painting was done, I moved on to the last bit of flooring for the cottage. Nice to wrap this up, and I still had one unopened box of flooring to return to Lumber Liquidators, even better. 

Finishing up the master bathroom flooring

After I finished the floor, I hung the last remaining door. Again, this photo doesn't do the job justice, but it was a nice milestone because this was the last remaining standard door to be hung. I think this was #10 of 10. I do have 2 closet bi-folds to deal with next year, but that can wait!

Master bathroom door

I believe it was after midnight and time to call it a night...

Monday morning, I got rolling on that bathroom again. I started on the vanity and counter top. Then I installed the bathroom light fixture. Next, was the glass tile back splash, which was much easier since I had already practiced on the other bathroom.

Master bathroom - vanity, counter top, light fixture and back splash

Because I had the toilet sitting on the living room floor, it made sense to just go ahead and put it back in the bathroom where it belongs. After cleaning up the old wax ring and installing a new one, I wrestled with the nasty azz toilet and got it back in place. I do not plan to get it fully hooked up to the water yet, because I will be winterizing soon anyway. Just happy to have it screwed down for now (and out of the living room).

Master bathroom progress - coming along!

I seriously rocked-out about 30 hours of solid work from Friday thru Tuesday. Some things not worth taking photos were all of the tiny paint touch-ups in most rooms. This never ends...

Once again, I think I hit most disciplines this long weekend... carpentry, painting, electrical, tiling, and plumbing. Nice.

Anyway, I think that is it for "big jobs" this year. Next weekend up we will be closing up/winterizing for the season.

Fall family weekend

Packed up the whole fam for our last trip to the island together for this season. This was the annual Halloween weekend for the kids hosted by various island businesses. Bonnie took Sophie and Neil up on late Thursday afternoon. Anna and me came up on Friday, early evening.

Friday afternoon, Tim Arnold delivered a load of gravel for top-dressing of our driveway. Luckily, Captain Ron still had his Skidsteer on island and was able to spread evenly on Saturday morning. The driveway is done for now. Here are some photos of the progress...

Captain Ron working the Skidsteer to level the driveway gravel

I didn't realize I had some black-n-white filter effect on my phone camera. Anyway, here is a nice photo of the driveway finished product.

Driveway looking good

Saturday afternoon, it was time to kick-off the Halloween festivities with the kids. First stop, we headed out to Bag the Moon for pumpkin carving. Then we rolled to the KI Brewery for more kids crafts and costume activities. Check-out Jake the Neverland Pirate!

Lil Neil as "Jake the Pirate"

Next stop was the 4-H club for some food, crafts and a hay ride. We could not get Neil to leave, here he is on the swings with Bon. Shortly after this photo, he took off running toward the lake in the background. He wanted to stay there all day.

Bonnie and Neil

Sunday, we took a long hike along the North Shore Trail. Bonnie packed lunch and we ate it on the rocky north shore on the water. It was windy and chilly but a very nice day and great time with the family.

Since this was an official all-family weekend, I didn't get too much work done, but was able to accomplish a few items on the "to-do" list. 

Cottage progress:

• Driveway done!
• Closet door hung
• Utility closet light fixture
• Dimmer switch in kitchen
• Mini-bar top sanded and sealed
• Shower head swapped out
• Utility sink in master bathroom removed

Next steps:

• Master bedroom
• Re-paint the ceiling
• Re-paint the walls
• Stain the wood feature wall

Off-island weekend update

Big football weekend off-island. We started with a nice home victory from the Olmsted Falls Bull Dogs. I took the girls to the homecoming game on Friday night.

Sophie and the Bull Dog mascot

Island progress:

Since, I didn't make it up to the island at all, no real work got done. However, Chris was working on his new cottage and took a photo of the grass coming in for me.

Green fuzz - all good

The real fun started Sunday morning when my cousin John invited my Browns crew to join him on the boat for the tail gate festivities.

First Energy stadium from the lake looking south

We had big fun rolling down to the stadium on the boat and then hanging out at the new North Coast Harbor Marina before heading into the game.

Pre-game crew

The Browns beat the Steelers 31-10. It was a great day and great game. I hope we can keep this winning streak alive.

Go Browns!

Let there be light #2!

Back at it after a 26-month hiatus from the electrical work, Al and Joe (ANJ Electric LLC) with a very special appearance from Kenny, got rolling again this past weekend. Big huge thanks to Al, Joe, and Kenny for all the help making it happen!

The weekend unfolded as the crew made the 6:30 pm ferry and started working right away. Later Friday evening, we went out to The Pump for perch dinners.

Uncle Al - happy guy with a fresh pitcher of Great Lakes brew

Saturday morning, we reluctantly started working (and a little late) since we had a few too many beers and laughs Friday night.

Here is Al working on the panel. Funny, because the whole reason for all this work was to turn on some lights and this was the darkest room in the cottage for most of the weekend.

Al and the panel

After a rough morning, Joe rallied and kicked it into high-gear to wrap-up electrical work inside and out. Check-out the photo below installing an exterior flood light for the yard. Nice work.

 Big Joe working away

Kenny is the unsung hero of the weekend, helping out all-over-the-place. Here is Kenny leveling off the range installation. I've been staring at the over-sized box for months. I've had to move it in and around the cottage several times. Getting this thing out-of-the-box to finally having a working electric range is so nice and looks great in the kitchen space.

Kenny

I was so friggin' happy to be able to turn on lights with a switch, I wanted to post photos of every working light in the cottage, but that would be silly. Anyway, here are a few of the highlights below. 

 Kitchen pendant lights and electric range

After shopping for ceiling fans for a few weeks, I found these really cool modern/rustic looking ones from Menards. Bonnie and I preferred the 3-blade model with a single light fixture. The blades look like white-washed driftwood. Here is a photo of the fan in Anna's room. We will have the same style fan in the master bedroom as well.

Ceiling fan - Anna's room

Check out the main bath fixture, below. You never know how a lot of this stuff will look until you lug it up to the island and install. Well, this one worked out well. The fixture is brushed-nickel with two lantern style lights. The lights look great and are the perfect size for this smaller bathroom. You really have to see this live to appreciate. 

Vanity fixture - main bath

Bonus item:

On Sunday, the crew finished work, packed up and headed for the ferry. I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up and actually got the TV and HDTV antenna working with high-def channels again. The Browns game came in free and clear! Another noteworthy item, the Cleveland Browns won the game, on the road against the Tennessee Titans, in the biggest road team comeback in NFL history!

Grass update...

It's been about two weeks since we seeded the grass. There are some nice green sprouts here and there seen around the yard. I took a few photos, not really because it looked so great, but so I/you/we can look back in a few months (or years) and see where it started!

Grass growing progress - slow but steady

Next steps....

• Paint the ceiling (again) in the master bedroom
• Stain the feature wall
• Paint the master bedroom (again)
• Master bathroom everything
• Doors, trim, etc...

Sunday morning disaster!

After a hugely successful weekend of site work and lawn seeding, etc...

Around 11:15 am on Sunday morning, I drop a heavy iron rod on my finger while loading up Tim's truck. The tip of my left ring finger is hanging by a piece of skin. Not good. Panic sets in! I am covered in mud and need to leave the island immediately to get to the Emergency Room. So after trying not to bleed too much in the cottage, me and Tim bandage up my finger, I pack up my bag and rush for the ferry.

waiting...

waiting...

driving...

thinking...

By 1:15 pm I made it to the Firelands Urgent Care who took phenomenal care of me. I can't say enough good things about this facility, the staff and especially the doc who stitched up my finger like new.

THIS SUCKS!

dumb

So, several x-rays, 15 stitches and a Tetanus shot later, they send me on my way home.

--Kurt Cobain, "I think I'm dumb". 

Left hand x-ray

Bone tip sheared-off

Not to state the obvious, but I think for the rest of the season, I will be slowing down the pace somewhat.

I guess I should be thankful that I've done so much work alone with power tools and have not had any major injuries before this nasty occurrence.

Lot grading and grass seeding!

Big, big, big working weekend. The plan was to 1) finish the landscape wall and 2) get the entire lawn seeded. I finished up the wall, on Friday morning, by installing the 2 x 8 top cap, putting in some additional bracing, dropping in some drain pipe and finally back-filling to cover all the pipes.

Below is a photo of the finished wall, just waiting on final back-fill.

Landscape wall from front-to-back

Landscape wall - direct view

The work crew involved Chris and Tim Arnold plus Brian and Brandon Biltz. Here is a shot of Brandon on the Bobcat working on scraping and leveling the front yard.

Brandon on the Bobcat

Friday night, since Tim was staying at a cottage on the beach in trade for other work done on the island, he invited us over for a beach fire.

Beach fire with the crew

Saturday morning, we were back at it working all day with the plan of getting the seed down before dark.

Brian and Brandon working the property front-n-back 

Part of the new landscape wood wall was the backside of the dirt mound needed to cover the large drain pipe. Chris, Tim and me built a short 3-course stone wall to catch the dirt mound behind the cottage. Here is a series of photos...

Stone wall looking across towards Chris's new cottage

Stone wall from the patio door area

Stone wall and pipe hidden

Stone wall and septic

Shortly after dark on Saturday night, we finished up the seeding just in time for a light rain. The timing couldn't be more perfect. There were minimal to no visible rain puddles = job well done. Here is a photo from Sunday morning of the finished product!

Graded, leveled and seeded

 

Front driveway view

Since we had the heavy machines on site, we decided to push back the overgrown wooded area on the back edge of the property. So not only did we push back all the poison ivy and other junk foliage, we have like 15 more feet of yard to use.

New extended yard thanks to Brian and his tractor work

 Another shot of the extended back yard

Wishful thinking, the grass seed takes and comes in green and full...