still trimming…

Yes, we're still plugging away on the trim. Logan came over last weekend to join in the fun. He's finishing his basement and wanted to get some trim boards ripped down as well. The planer has certainly been put to good use. It's a beast and whenever it's running it sounds like our house is getting ready for take-off!River came over later and joined the clean-up crew. He was a little shy at first with his big ear muffs on. Notice that white bag next to River. That's the dust collector system and it fills up fast. We've lined the trails in the woods with the poplar shavings from all the planing and woodworking that's been done.

Last night Willy and Todd started working on the sill pieces for the double hung windows. They used the router to finish off the edge with a slight curve and step down.After a few jigsaw cuts then it was time for some fine tuning with the chisel. And here's our first sill that's all ready to be primed and installed: They're back at it tonight. One last thing…I have to post this photo of Willow. She is such a good girl and loves the spot between the sofa and the coffee table where she can feel the warmth of the wood stove. Okay, so I can't help but get closer. :)

Trim & stair update

This afternoon I ran down into our workshop to snap some photos of Todd and Willy working but unfortunately I missed out on the action and only caught the clean-up. Notice the dust spots. They've been working hard for the past 2 weeks getting the poplar boards ready for the trim. It's a slow process to plane down the boards and then join the edges but it will be well worth it in the end. They've got a pretty good size pile of 3" inch boards ready for me to prime. I started working on the pile on Saturday but didn't get too far before my back started hurting. These are the boards that will go around the doors and windows. Our stairs are almost complete. We were missing some of the detail pieces and Todd and Willy cut those with the router today. These are the cove molding pieces: The cove molding goes under the stair tread and provides structural support and also makes the stairs prettier. These are the quarter round pieces:The quarter round fills the joint where the stair tread meets the riser. It's hard to visualize here but I'll try to step things up (hah!) and post some photos of the install and the finished stairs later this week.

Trim Time

This weekend we trimmed our first windows. The boards have come a long way from the poplar trees that once stood in our jungle of a drainfield. It's hard to describe the feeling when we look back at old photos from 2005 and how far we've come (and aged).Throughout each step of building this house we've felt a sense of accomplishment but there was always something next. Well, we are finally reaching the end and the feeling is a bit surreal and unimaginable.

We got a late start on Saturday but actually ended up having a pretty productive day. We set up a jerry-rig dust collector on the chop saw and got busy. I primed while Willy and Todd cut, shimmed and hung the trim boards with the finish nailer. And here's our first trimmed window, plain and simple - the way we like it!Just look how excited Willy is…By the end of the day we trimmed 7 of our awning windows. Now it's back to ripping and planing down more poplar boards. We were pretty encouraged by the progress made in a short afternoon. If we can keep ourselves motivated, hopefully we'll have the trim finished in a month's time.