Slipcovers by Shelley

New windows and painted wood paneling @ the cabin

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So this last weekend my dad came and helped up put in three 48″x48″ windows on the main level of the cabin which replaced three 24″x24″ windows. I can’t tell you the difference in light and how much it opened it up. I was literally jumping up and down when they popped out the first opening for the first window. I found the windows on KSL.com (like craigslist) for $40 each, and they had never been installed. When I priced them at Lowes they were $120 each. So with the price of the windows and the lumber, trim, calking etc. it cost $250 total to replace the windows/trim and baseboards. TOTALLY worth it!!

before with small windows on the deck
after with big windows…you can see the small window that we took out sitting on the ground in between the two windows. This was a very happy day for me. The inside is now so light, and not just a dark whole with cute furniture. I love that you can actually see the view now. You can see all the trees and everything. I fall more and more in love with this little cabin with every project that we finish.

Here is a pic of the view from the deck. My nephew Seth also came up to help on the windows and hangout with grandpa and my sisters.

Here is a pic of the opening that was cut for the window…that’s my handsome hubby, Heber looking excited to be doing all the work with my dad.

That’s my dad skill sawing out the opening with saw dust flying everywhere. My dad came up from California to visit for a few days, so I talked him into helping us with one of our projects. My dad loves having a project. He built almost all of our houses growing up. It was fun to show him the cabin and get his ideas. One of his ideas that I liked was to remove the outside staircase and build the steps into the grade of the slope with railroad ties, then you would enter from the back of the deck. Heber doesn’t want to talk about any more projects though.

Here’s a pic from the inside after we took off the paneling to frame out for the window. Good thing men know what they are doing. That’s my dad.

Then Heber had to hurry and get all the paneling back up on the inside of the cabin, so that my friend Becky could come help paint the paneling. I decided to leave the ceiling and vaulted parts wood as well as the trim around the windows and baseboards. I debated what to do, which would make the biggest impact and not be an insane amount of work. After I saw a post on http://frugalfarmhousedesign.blogspot.com/2010/04/beach-cottage-living-room-before-after.html I finally got my inspiration. I don’t have it all put back together yet, but I was so excited to show you the progress, so I’ll post some more after pics when the trim and slipcovers are back on.

Here is a before pic that I found of the kitchen.

Here is the after (well the baseboards aren’t back on yet) with the walls painted.

another after of the kitchen

here is a way before pic of coming down from the loft into the family room. This was before Heber removed the two small walls and the header at the bottom, and put in bigger windows. Oh and the light fixture got switched out too.

Here is the painting in progress of the family room. I can’t wait to get all the furniture put back together, and the curtains hung. The curtain hanging might take some serious persuasion on my end to get Heber to help. His least favorite things are hanging curtains and shelves.

Cabin— bathroom floor

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Logan helping with the wood putty process, he thought it was fun for about 5 minutes, and then decided chopping down a tree outside with a hatchet was more fun then helping mom.

after the stain was applied…see how great it matches at the threshold of the door.

I brought up a footstool for Carter to paint, I bought it off KSL.com for $3. He got bored halfway through too, and went out to help Logan chop down the small dead tree.

So…the cabin has amazing wood floors throughout, except the bathroom (I thought). They had a subfloor nailed on top of them and then nasty disingreating peel and stick tiles on top of that. I started tearing up the tiles, so that we could lay REAL tile. Just as I was finishing that nasty job, I asked my husband if the wood floors continued under the subfloor, because I couldn’t see where they ended. He said “probably”. So then I started tearing up the subfloor and there they were…a little rough, but they were there.
Just a side note…this discovery of the wood was after we spent $200 on tile and hauled it all up to the cabin in a sled behind the 4 wheeler and carried them up the steep driveway and 26 steps.
My husband still thought we should tile…because refinishing the wood floors would be alot of work…so I told him, “Well I’ll do it then”. For the record he DID let me do it ALL by MYSELF. But I guess I also let him haul all the tile back down on the sled by himself.
First I had to wood putty all the cracks, I talked Logan into helping for part of that. I had to do it twice, because when it dried it shrunk and some of the cracks were 1/4″ thick.
Second I had to sand FOREVER…my mom let me borrow a belt sander that took all my strength to keep it from getting away from me. My whole body was sore the next day.
Third I had to apply a wood conditioner, so the stain would apply evenly.
Fourth I had to stain the wood (that was easy and fast). I actually got it to match the original color outside the door pretty well.
Fifth I had to apply 3 coats of floor grade polyeurethene… that required 3-6 hours of drying time in between each coat.
Finally now the floors are done!!! Now we can set the toilet and take off the rest of the nasty wood paneling on the walls. We are going to put up beadboard.
Heber is up there today clearing away more brush, and might start diggging up the water line so we can fix it and get the water on. My dad is coming up this week to help replace 3 windows on the main level to 48″x48″ windows instead of the small 24″x24″ windows that let in hardly any light and you can’t see any of the fabulous view.
Oh yesterday we got to drive ALL the way up to the cabin, the snow has finally melted off the road and driveway. This is the first time we have had access since January when we got stuck and had to dig the car out for 2.5 hrs with the kids.

slipper chair

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Before —a little too contemporary for my client
After

So I was about to load up this chair to take back to my client and decided I need to hurry and get a pic of it. I love how it turned out with the band on the front in a different fabric. I was able to get a tight fit on it..the fabric was a little bit thicker and had that sticky back on it, so I wasn’t sure how tight I could get it. But it turned out fabulous.