Thursday, June 16, 2016

28th Posting - The Cabin Warming (and a furnished interior!)

WOW!
It is unbelievable to walk into the cabin now and see what we (lots of people helped me along the way) have actually accomplished with this Earthbag Cabin Project!
Saturday, June 11 we had a cabin warming, and my sisters decided to combine it with a 60th birthday party, even though that event doesn't occur until September.
Nevertheless, about 50 people came for the day, many of them from out of state, as far away as Florida, Maine, Texas, Indiana, Illinois, Washington, and Idaho.
What a great time we had.
Several friends came a few days early in order to get everything spic and span.
A few cabin gifts just perfected the decor of the cabin and now it's almost a masterpiece!
We had a beautiful day with enough clouds to allow us to be outside.
By late afternoon, 18 of us were still at the cabin when it started to rain..... and rain..... and rain!
The road is pretty impassable when wet so we waited until almost dark and then took the 3 biggest four-wheel-drive vehicles and made a slippery run for it. It was precarious, but we all managed to stay on the road and get back to the pavement. Sunday we went back and rescued the other 3 vehicles we had to leave behind. A fitting adventure to close out the celebration!

Valeta (Indiana) helps me put up signs directing people to the cabin.

Shelley (Washington) makes a fruit salad while Sherry and Pat supervise.

Gaylene decorated with the help of Valeta, Wes, and Ruth.

Andy grills burgers and brats for the crowd.

Rachel and Gaylene serve the birthday cake.

The 4 Floridians enjoy the meal.
Jan & Hal Drake and Jeanne & Art Veldman.

Mother loved watching all the activity - here with Shelley, Maxine, and Vaughn.

Cousins Cindy, Pat, Maxine, Shirley, and Sherry enjoy visiting.

The weather was comfortable for spreading out in front of the cabin.

Carol (one of the original Lettuce Ladies from my cruise ship days) came from Illinois, as well as our friend Libby from Tennessee. Rod from Maine looks on.

Vaughn, Gaylene, and Rod (Maine) take a break as rain starts late in the afternoon.

And then it poured!!

The cabin (with the wood stove blazing) was comfortable for waiting out the rain.

Valeta stands in front of the now-drenched cabin.

Sunday was a beautiful day. Here the owl house stands above the ridge.

My piano and various furnishings.

The back wall with the Swiss Alps and red buttress (to hold the back wall in place against the hill).

The wood stove, sofa, and new handcrafted side door.

The little wood stove is the perfect size for the cabin!

The ceiling reflects a lot of light. The brown trim gives a Swiss feel.

Mom in the big chair, under the western painting.

Mother enjoys the cabin. Now it's all furnished and cleaned up!
Home Sweet Home!

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

27th Posting - The Transformation!

Wow! It is finally all coming together. This spring I was able to spend quite a bit of time working on the cabin. Once we got the floors down, I turned my attention to painting. Since the walls are adobe (mud!) I had to figure out a way to secure them. I decided to go with KILZ2 as the primer, because it creates a good surface bond and solidifies the wall. Just the first coat in my 16x24 cabin took SEVENTEEN GALLONS of primer!! But it was worth it. The second coat took only 6 gallons and by then the wall had a nice feel to it. It was fun experimenting with colors while doing the primer, but in the end I settled for a cream/rose color for all four walls, and a bright 'in-your-face' red delicious for just the back buttress.
The floor was painted dark brown like the trim in the cabin and that matched nicely. 
We put down about 120 square feet of white patterned tile in the 'kitchen' area.
Then I put down a bunch of area rugs, moved in a sofa, big stuffed chair, and my PIANO!
 A wood stove and a few paintings on the wall, and VOILA! Home Sweet Home!
Saturday June 11 is a cabin-warming and BBQ at the cabin and we are expecting 40 to 50 guests to come help celebrate this amazing project!
Many thanks to all who helped along the way.

Lots of rain this spring left the cabin in a beautiful green setting.
 
The walls and buttress are painted. Ruth works on the floor.

Here's the tri-color - cream, red, and dark brown.

Ruth helps on the tile floor in the 'kitchen' area.

Valerie is on the roof, working on the hole for the chimney.

Gaylene admires the little wood stove on its black pad. 

The piano is in! It sits on its own little area rug.

Interior overview looking southeast. Piano, buttress, and stuffed chair.

Overview looking northeast. Sofa, chair, wood stove, and buttress.