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Tucson tried, but failed, to keep us there with a beautiful soft sunset our last night before heading back to Colorado.  It had been a tough month of wanting badly to be elsewhere, not to mention the searing heat and the late monsoon.  We did the trip right this time, with a layover in Albuquerque after a seven hour drive.  It seems we had to leave home to experience rain, which we did a few hours south of our first day’s destination, and we were treated to a lovely view across the Rio Grande valley, filled with rain, to the brightly lit bluffs to the east.

Travel day number two found us anxious to get on the road.  We had another seven hours of driving to do, plus some brief provisioning stops, just enough for a few days as we wanted to catch our contractor, Brian Shelton, onsite before he headed home for the weekend.  Turning west onto 24 out of Colorado Springs, we climbed through the gorgeous Ute Pass with a passel of other travelers pulling trailers and pop-up campers and ATV’s, all trying to get a jump on the weekend.  We gloated that we were heading up for weeks, not days.  Arriving, we could see the framed peak of the cabin from the road below, and whooped at the top of the drive as we saw the cabin with most of the siding and windows in place, and the roof half sheathed.  It was our first complete view of the shape of the cabin and we were thrilled.  My husband even had a couple of hours to pitch in with the work before Brian and his son, Brett, headed out.

Over the weekend we cleaned up around and in the cabin, my husband moving lumber into sorted piles, beginning his work on revegetating our abandoned down road, having a little chain saw therapy, and both of us sweeping up inside the cabin.  We can look out all our windows now, the actual windows, and the views are just wonderful -- somehow taking on a very precious quality from the limited lines of sight framing specific sections of our panoramic view.  There are now five gorgeous 4x12 beams across the living area which not only give it a very massive lodge-like feel, but which will be great for the hanging of kitchen and dining room lights.

The weather is lovely here, cool overnight and warm by day.  Sleeping is delicious and deep, under a blanket in the trailer bedroom that is barely bigger than the queen-sized bed, and with windows open on three sides.  The days generally start bright and clear (no jacket required), but over the course of the day clouds appear overhead out of nowhere, and to the south and west they build behind the mountains, slowly sliding north and east later in the day.  Afternoons often have a soundtrack of thunder growling across the valley, though we’ve not had much rain here either since our arrival.  The birds are out in full force, and we are enjoying the bossy rufous hummingbirds, a stunning iridescent burnt orange.  We had dinner with our friends across the lake on their deck and it was hard to concentrate on the excellent company because of the antics of a myriad of birds -- woodpeckers, black headed gross-beaks, pine siskins, chickadees, and nuthatches -- and the continual zooming by of hummingbirds, so close you could feel their wind wake on your cheek, to the half dozen feeders ringing us.

I realized that I’ve never been here this time of the year.  After jumping the gun the first year we had the trailer, five years ago, we settled into a pattern of last week in June/first week in July and a return trip of a week towards the end of September to see the aspen turn.  Our first trip this year in late May/early June was chilly, and we often resorted to fleeces if we sat in the shade midday to read.  Now it’s jeans or shorts and t-shirts weather, and I haven’t touched a jacket.  We’ve yet to sit inside to read, even in the early morning or late evening, in fact we’re hardly reading at all since we outside working or wandering from sun up until it gets dark after 9 PM.  For those like us who aren’t happy being inside all day, this is heaven.

We can’t help but think forward to next year when we’ll arrive at the beginning of June and stay through late September or early October.  Our cycle will be determined by the aspens, arriving as they begin to leaf out and leaving when their leaves have turned to gold and tangerine, and have faded and are falling, fluttering to the ground.

But for now, we have weeks to come here this year, the good company of our many mountain friends, the much-anticipated visits from family, and many exciting phases of the cabin build to experience.  A summer to remember and the beginning of the rest of our lives.

Decisions, Decisions

We are nearing the end of our Rocky Mountain exodus and preparing to make the return journey.  Our time in Tucson has been filled with work and endless decisions.  For my husband it meant work work, four ten hour days a week of it, plus working on things that needed attention at home, his volunteer work with the botany department at the Desert Museum, and spending time with Tucson friends. For me it meant the usual chores, grabbing some girlfriend time, and making decisions, finally, about everything from door knobs to cabinetry to flooring.

I swear, it was easier to decide on the cabin design that to make a commitment to the details of the material and color of its contents, or maybe our contractor, Brian Shelton, just made it seem that way.  I've been thinking about all of this for over a year, pouring over books and magazines of cabins and small homes, drifting through endless websites of furniture, rugs, and lighting, doing sketches of kitchen layouts and other interior details in an attempt to visualize my ideas.  I've considered, and often discarded, dozens of materials (beadboard got tossed out for instance), genres (not brave enough to do a genuine retro decor), and configurations (open shelving in the kitchen is now about six inches worth).

When it became clear that our Tucson time was running out, I made an appointment with a kitchen designer, Vicki Pilant, at the west side Home Depot on Costco Drive.  She had connected with me as I was sweating bullets over the Formica possibilities, and during an ensuing chat we discovered that she had lived in Colorado not far from where we're building, and at a much higher elevation, so she understood the whole small cabin in the Rockies thing.  Ever prepared, I showed up with a drawing, to scale, of my idea for the kitchen.  It's L shaped, with the short side housing the fridge and stove against the wall and the long side dividing the kitchen from living/dining area, with the sink and dishwasher.  Though she had sold me on the idea of hickory cabinets with their beautiful mineral streaks at our first encounter (echoing my contractor who is also enamored of this lovely wood), there were still lots of things to consider such as wall height, appliance sizes, and exactly how I used a kitchen.  I enjoy cooking, for us, for family, and for friends, but I wanted several people to be able to pitch in to get meals on the table.  The nearest place to get a sandwich or a gallon of milk is over 16 miles away, and most of that on dirt roads, so we need room for provisions and plenty of space to prepare those three meals a day, seven days a week.

Home Depot has some pretty snazzy software for kitchen design.  Exact cabinetry and kitchen components can be grabbed and put into the plan, though having done GIS (geographic information systems, computer mapping) for a couple of years I could see that there was considerable skill required to really use the program.  My kitchen designer came up with some fantastic ideas, like TWO lazy susan cabinets to utilize all those corner spaces, and a wide cabinet door to make sure I didn't have to be a contortionist to get at my dishes.  Vicki was a master at problem solving and suggested solutions for things I didn't even know might bother me down the road, like too many shallow drawers or too small an over the fridge cupboard.  The real magic comes when she pushes the button that gives you a picture of what your kitchen will look like from different angles, right down to the cabinet style.  The other button gave me a total price and it was right on budget, and my budget was not that big.

But wait, there's more!  One of the best things Vicki helped me with was coordinating all the other things  critical to the look of the cabin.  Once we knew the cabinet style, wood, and stain (American Woodmark, Annapolis collection in hickory with a sheer spice stain), we could think countertops, flooring, and wall colors.  Vicki guided us away from the too red, too dark floors we kept choosing.  Walking around with the Hickory Spice small cabinet door sample, we found some color families that would work.  We didn't love any of the laminate fake wood flooring (a necessity for us in a cabin that we want to be a relaxing place for everyone, including grandkids and a steady stream of dogs).  To my surprise none of the "safe" white paint samples did a thing for the wood cabinets, and Vicki suggested that with all the windows we were going to have something with more color might me nice -- we found a delicious hue in the Freshaire collection named Natural Ginger Root.

We decided to cast a wider net for flooring, checking at another big box home improvement store, but with similarly ho-hum, not-quite-it results.  A last ditch stop at an independent flooring store, THT Flooring presented us with an option that we're thrilled about.  They carry Karndean flooring, flexible virgin vinyl that looks, I kid you not, like hand-crafted wood.  We chose the Aged Kauri style, and it is gorgeous and works perfectly with the hickory cabinets.  We still want a little contrast in the kitchen, so we'll likely use some of their "tile" vinyl flooring in the kitchen and bath.  Unlike conventional floating floors, these floors are impervious to water, so there are zero concerns about using it in a kitchen or bath area, or doorways where folks will track in snow.  The dealer said that it is so durable that both Safeway and Walmart use it in their stores.  I remembered being amazed at the gorgeous wood flooring our local Safeway had put down in the produce section during their remodel three years ago, so yesterday I went back in to have a look and it was still in perfect shape, and still fooled me and everyone else I mentioned it to in that it was vinyl plank flooring and not wood at all.

We had a trip to the lighting store and found a couple of sconces for a little general lighting in the living room and the stairs, and lights for the bathroom.  We're debating kitchen lighting, but as there's a convenient beam above the kitchen counter will likely opt for using track lighting.  After grappling with the need/don't need decision of a ceiling fan, we caved in when the slightly smaller version of the one we love so much in our Tucson living room showed up on sale.  We're being frugal where we can, and splurging just a tiny bit where we think it will pay off.  Frankly, we only want to buy these things once and that this will almost undoubtedly be the only home we build together.

So we're heading back to the Rockies with lots of decisions made (and many of them in the cargo area), but still lots to come.  We can't wait to see the progress on the cabin in the month+ we've been away.  The windows are going in and the siding is going on.  I'd guess the roof is next.  Uh-oh...there's a decision due on the shingles!  The stain for the siding!  Well, gotta go...

SHAZAM!!!

It's been over a year since we decided to build this cabin.  For all of that time I've been agonizing over every single detail of it, down to door knobs and drawer pulls.  We're preparing to return to Colorado in 11 days (but who's counting?), and it was Come to Jesus time on some of the purchases we're responsible for.  As it is frankly easier to get small stuff here, where Lowes and Home Depot are 13 minutes away, rather than wait to get to Colorado and then spend whole days in Colorado Springs instead of in the mountains with our project, we spent the morning buying everything from dead bolts and lock safes to faucets and sink strainers.  You wouldn't think this would be too arduous, but after all this time it was hard to actually commit, for SURE, to brushed nickel everything.  Plain wore us out.

We arrived back home, taking refuge inside from the triple digit heat.  Checking our email we found a note from our contractor, Brian Shelton, with four -- count 'em, FOUR -- photos attached.  We've been away from the project three weeks now, and Brian was away for over a week of that on a trip to visit family, so we were not expecting the progress we saw in the photos.  We were blown away!  When I handed my husband the printed photos you'd have thought I was handing him his newborn child -- and since that is completely out of the question, the cabin is clearly his new "baby".


The second floor is framed and the trusses and huge Versa Lam beam up.  You can see the shape of the whole cabin now, and we LOVE it.  From the front it is classic Cape Cod -- the front door smack in the center with two same-sized windows equidistant on either side, and a steeply pitched (45 degree) roof, pretty much what most kids would draw when they drew a house.

From the back, what you'll see when you come up the drive, the raised portion of the roof, the better to accommodate the loft, is quite obvious.

This shot was taken standing outside at the back of our bedroom looking up at the loft.

Of course now all we want to do is pack the car with our door knobs and plumbing fixtures and head north.  Now, right this very minute.  It's going to be a long week and a half.