The mighty wall comes down

Once upon a time, there was a wall between a kitchen and a living room.  The wall really served no purpose.  It was not structural and was not a load bearing wall.  So, the wall decided it needed to be removed!

We saved the paneling.  The plan is to use it on some of the walls that needed repair that were not being drywalled.

Here, the paneling was removed.  Barb is working on removing some of the electrical that ran through the wall.  We had to relocate a light switch.

Sorry for the dark picture, but you can see the studs were removed and we were working on removing the top and the bottom of the wall.  What's that called?  I can't remember.

Done!  View from the kitchen.

Done!  View from the living room!

Fire Pit

One of the tasks that we wanted to get done was to install a fire pit.  this first task was to determine its location.  We knew that we didn't want it too close to the cabin, but we also didn't want it too far either.  Right out the back door, there is a couple of hills, so we decided to place the pit in the valley of these two hills.  We are hoping that the hills will block some of the wind.

We knew that there would be things to burn instead of filling up our dumpster.  We were right on the money with that.  The boys managed to demolish some dressers and bookcases and one VERY solid wood table.

For those that know me well, you know I like to refinish furniture and give it new life, so it pained me to destroy some of these pieces.  But, in the end, they just were not going to make the cut.

The first step was of installing the fire pit was to clear a space...  Of course, this was Eric's favorite part because he got to use the new toy!

Thanks to a friend that Eric works with, we have this brush hog (for free)!  Eric took down all the sumac trees in the area that we wanted to put the pit!

This thing is dangerous!  The boys and I were watching and a stick flew across the field and landed at our feet.  We were a good 20 yards from Eric.  Wow!  This thing cuts through just about everything!

This is the part of the property that is somewhat clear.  The pines in the upper right corner of the picture is were the woods start.  There is about 70 acres of woods.

Eric loves his new tractor!  The pictures are a bit far away, but he was smiling from ear to ear the entire time!

I put the boys in charge of moving the fire ring to the right location.  They were kind of like hamsters... running in their wheel.

They showed good teamwork!

Up over the hill!

Eric used the tractor to dig the whole and then the boys used shovels to fill back in around the edges of the pit!  They did a great job!

They filled it with cardboard to get a fire started!

After a hard days work, Sawyer had to take a nap.  He told me he wanted to rest and read for a little bit, but when I checked on him 20 minutes later, he was out like a light!

Thanks for stopping by!

Lisa

Dumpster

So, we headed up to the cabin over Memorial Day weekend with a long list of things to accomplish.  One of the most important things on our list was to clean out the cabin of the unwanted items.  The previous owners left quite a bit of furniture.  Use your imagination to smell the mold and mildew in these.  To be honest, I was almost afraid to touch them...  just didn't know what would come out of a sleeper sofa that has been left in a basement for 20 years!  Yikes!

Thankfully, I didn't see any critters living in them.

All of the wood items were dragged into the yard for the boys to destroy.  They managed to smash a changing table, two bookcases and a dresser.  They managed all this without smashing themselves!  Thank goodness because I am not sure where the closest hospital is at!

We had a 20 yard dumpster delivered on Friday morning and to be honest, I didn't think that we would fill the think up.  To my surprise, I was wrong!

Check out those gorgeous plaid couches!

All in a days work!

Eric was able to go to the cabin last weekend with Sawyer.  I wasn't sure what 1 man (and an 8 year old) could do, but Eric really surprised me!

First of all, he hauled our new tractor up there!  It's like a new toy for Eric and he loves it!

He got up there late on Friday night and discovered that our new well had been dug!  Woo hoo!  You know how much easier it is to work on things when you have running water?  Needless to say, Eric had to turn on the water and verify that there were no leaks...

So Saturday morning, he got up to discover that the water heater had taken a crap.  I guess when it sits there for 20 years, there are going to be issues.  So guess what?  He replaced it!  Now we are able to take hot showers, which is a good thing since we are planning to be there for a 4 day weekend over Memorial Day!

He was also able to rake the yard... mow the lawn... replace kitchen faucet... replace bathroom faucet... and took old furnace out.

Not too bad for a days work!

I'll take pictures when I head up next weekend!

First Project - Basement Slider

So, we went to the cabin on Easter weekend.  We left on Good Friday and came home LATE Saturday night.  Eric really wanted to spend the night there.  Me, I was a bit skeptical because, well, we have unwanted guests there... squirrels and lots of bugs.  Seriously, it has been vacant for 20 years, so did you really expect anything else?

We got up early on Friday morning and rented a UHaul trailer to haul some furniture that we were getting from my Aunt Oda's place.  She nearly furnished the entire cabin with the exception of the bunk room.  We headed to Monroe to load up the furnishings...  grabbed a quick lunch and got on the road to the cabin.

We arrived safely and unloaded.  It had already been a long day, but we wanted to head into the nearest Home Depot (in Cadillac), over 30 minutes away...  This will come into play later in my story.

We managed to clean up the entire cabin and when I mean clean up, I technically mean, we vacuumed up the bugs.  Eric lit a fire because it was really getting chilly in there and we all slept in the living room with the wood burner.

So, the plan for Saturday was to replace the glass slider in the basement.  Why?  Well, our property does not have a barn or a garage (yet) and we have to have place to store the toys.  We replaced the glass slider with a french door to allow us to get the tractor and quads in.

We headed out to Menard's in Traverse City (the closest one that had the door we wanted in stock), which was an hour away.  By the time we loaded it and got back, it was nearly 1 PM.  Kind of late to start this project, right?

BEFORE

Taking out the door was more difficult that it should have been, but finally, we had a huge hole in the wall.  No turning back now!

Next step was to dry fit the door... to make sure everything fit.  Well, because we were going from a slider to a french door, we didn't take into consideration that the new door had brick molding.  Sorry, I didn't get a picture of that.  (I'll take more pictures for my next post!)  It's the part that sticks out on the sides to cover the cut siding.  Needless to say, it wouldn't fit without trimming the siding.  I did that by hand because we were working with limited tools.

Also, did you know that a french door is 3 inches shorter than a slider?  Well, you do now!  Eric headed out to Home Depot (again, over 30 minutes away) while I stayed behind to guard from anything entering the house!  Since he was gone for 1 1/2 hours, I also managed to clean some of the 20 years of grime from the windows.  It's amazing how bright the place is now!

Eric finally returns with one 2X6.  Note to self, buy more than you need!  A 2X6, for those that don't know, is 1 1/2 inches thick.  You do the math!  So, I head off to Home Depot a 2nd time.  Meanwhile, Eric stays behind and cleaned the other half of the windows!

Jump ahead a few hours...new header is in... kids are starving... the sun has set... REALLY cold outside, but the door is in!  Hallelujah!

Let the Adventure Begin

It has always been a dream of mine to have a second home. To be honest, I really thought I'd want it to be on the water, but we live in Michigan so the reality is that the summer season is far too short.

So, to really take advantage of all Michigan has to offer, we chose a cabin not far from two gorgeous lakes (Lake Missaukee and Houghton Lake), less than 1/2 mile from thousands and thousands of acres of state land, close to the Manistee River and on 80 acres of our own

Did I need 80 acres? No, but that part is for my husband (and all of his hunting buddies).

Please join us on this adventure of getting our cabin to the point where we can call it a home.

Currently, it has no flooring, no furnace, very little completed drywall, no running water, and few undesirable tenants.

I'll be taking pictures of our progress and posting them here with some details on how we got from point A to point B.

Enjoy the journey!

Hugs, Lisa

Who Am I?

Hi, my name is Lisa Haiss.  I live in Clarkston, Michigan with my wonderful husband of almost 15 years and our 2 boys.

Although I am not a certified interior designer, this is where my passion is.  I've been helping home owners coordinate colors for years.  I have a talent for combining colors that others would never put together leaving your home feeling warm and lived in for years, even if you are just moving in.

I take old furniture and give it new life.  If you are looking for a piece to be rehabbed, I am what you are looking for.

I help home flippers coordinate the colors and finishes in a home to feel cohesive throughout.  I can do this all within your budget.

I help current homeowners get their home ready for market.  This can include decluttering and staging your home.  I work with what you have on hand to transform your home into a showplace.