Author: mountainbill
History Repeats Itself
When I was a little kid, in 1961, my parents took a huge chance – really a giant leap of faith – and bought a vacation house on Cape Cod far from our home in Cincinnati Ohio. I was clueless at the time of how tough a decision this was for them. After they died … [more…]
Loving It
This post was written August 15, 2018 but never published! The process of creating the getaway cabin was a joy, it could have been a nightmare but turned out to be fun project thanks to the professionalism of Luke Mann of Rangeline Homes. But that was just a step to get to the real goal: … [more…]
Fill ‘er up!
With construction pretty much complete the time had come to make the house into a home. While there is a zen beauty to an empty room, and you can almost always benefit from de-cluttering like Marie Kondo preaches, it is also nice to have a real bed to sleep on and a proper table and … [more…]
Morning Mountain Madness
It has seemed like forever, but really the renovation has been pretty quick considering the amount of work that has been done. But finally I was able to stay in the house during my last visit. Sure, it was like camping out – indoors. I slept on a leaky inflatable bed The heat didn’t really … [more…]
It is all relative
Einstein showed us that time is relative – in theory. I think it is in reality, too. When my grandfather was 99 years old we thought he wouldn’t live much longer (he made it to 101.) So we threw a big birthday party for him and invited the Mayor of Cincinnati to honor him. I … [more…]
While the cat is away…
The old saying is that “while the cat is away the mice will play.” From the beginning of this crazy idea of having a cabin in the mountains I have been worried how I would manage the place from 1700 miles away, never mind managing a substantial renovation project. Several knowledgeable friends whose judgment I … [more…]
High & Dry
We started construction right after Labor Day in early September. One of the first things to do was to begin ripping off the roof. The project was risky because without a roof the interior of the house could be damaged by rain or snow or hail. Weather in the mountains is always hard to predict … [more…]
Going Up!
The work has begun! I went to check out the progress – and it is exciting! Lenny with his crew of Mike, John, Joe and Dave are busy framing. Luke is the General Contractor and Ernie is his main man. I spent 3 days watching them do their thing. Demo and framing and finally, raising … [more…]
Getting To Work
Labor Day signals the end of summer vacation and time to get back to work. For our renovation it is the beginning of the next phase – real construction, to be preceded by real demolition. Last week our construction plans were approved by the Department of Buildings and a permit was issued. Crews have been … [more…]
Getting rid of the blues
When I first saw the property mysteriously there were a bunch of blue barrels strewn about the meadow in front of the house. I wrote about it in an earlier post “The Blue Barrel Mystery.” They were visible from Google Earth and Google Maps and obvious when visiting the property: But now they are gone. … [more…]
The New Old
In life it is important to know when to stop. And when it comes to renovations on an old house it is important to save that old feeling while updating aspects that don’t function or aren’t appropriate. We have been working with the architect since January to design renovation to the cabin without ruining the … [more…]