Cabin interior walls, exterior siding, and a very blue pond

I have been waiting to write an update on the cabin interior walls until we were totally finished, but we tend to finish a job about 95% and then move onto the next task. Over the last few weeks we’ve just about finished the interior walls, we started installing the siding and the exterior window trim, I painted the front door, Tony built a bathroom vanity, we bought the kitchen cabinets, and started building the front deck. 

cabin Interior walls

We bought some pine tongue and groove for all the interior wall panels from a local auction. It’s very easy to install, and makes it smell so good inside. All you have to do is stack them on top of each other, and using a finishing nailed to nail the tongue into the studs. I’m waiting on Tony to cut the final row for me on the table saw, and then I can completely finish the interior walls. 

Bathroom vanity

Tony also built this bathroom vanity using pallet wood. At the beginning of this project we got massive shipping pallets for free. This is the wood we used for all the posts and beams of the structure, but there was also a lot of smaller sized wood that we’ve been re-purposing throughout the cabin. I bought a white one piece sink and Tony built the vanity to fit. 

Kitchen cabinets

We bought the kitchen cabinets from Home Depot. Originally Tony was going to build all the cabinets, but as time went on we realized we need to find options that take less time. These cabinets were more expensive, but a lot quicker to put together. I also ordered all the doors instead of having Tony build them, but they haven’t come in yet. I ordered green doors, which is way out of my comfort zone, but I’m pretty excited to get them installed. We will also have two horizontal upper cabinets, and an open shelf. It’s a small kitchen, but it should have everything our guests will need. 

Front Door

I painted the front door, inside and outside, this deep blue color. It’s the same color that I painted the bathtub, and it’s called Approaching Storm by Behr.

Front Deck

And in one weekend, Tony and I built the front deck. We still need to add the roof on the covered porch, but that will happen later.

Siding and Trim

And finally, we’ve been working on the exterior siding and trim. The exterior is a pine cove siding that we also bought from the same online auction. The trim Tony cut from the leftover rough pine we bought for the rafters. I painted it first with an opaque white exterior stain.

Pond

I almost forgot, but the pond is looking really great! It filled up over the winter, we got some goldfish, and added some dye (that’s meant for a pond, but I think we did too much), so it looks very blue and clean. We also got a pump and some bubblers to keep the water moving around in order to minimize stagnant water.

NEXT STEPS

As you can maybe tell, we have a lot of little projects going on that we need to finish up. Next on my list though is to finish the inside walls and the interior trim, and finish up a few of the other tasks we’ve been working on.

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CABIN DESIGN AND PLAN

PHASE 1: SITE PREP AND EXCAVATION

• Trench for water line and electrical
• Basement, gravel pad, blocks, and beams
• Pond and driveway

PHASE 3: CLOSING IN THE CABIN

• Tin roof and tiny cabin exterior framing
• Housewrap, cabin windows, and exterior door
• Exterior siding

PHASE 4: INTERIOR FINISHING

• Electrical wiring, interior framing and loft
• Cabin insulation
• Whitewashed pine ceiling
• Vinyl tile click flooring
• Loft flooring and pine walls
• Clawfoot bathtub
• Interior cabin walls

PHASE 5: FURNISHING