Just living the life in the Cordwood on Pinewood

Hey!  I've been getting a lot of requests for any updates we may have on the house.  So for those of you that have been patiently waiting on the edges of you seats for this.. here it is!

This will be our third winter living in the cordwood and I can say we couldn't be happier.

We closed in the lean-to for a place to keep all of our gear out of the elements and to protect the freezer.  Also in the background you can see the nice wood shed Cory built.  Since snow is such a good insulator we decided to bank the house with it!  One thing you may notice is the red water spigot.  We tried our hardest to put down a sand point well with no success.   So, there it stands. You could pump it all day with no success of water.  We have hired a well driller to come in the spring.

I also finished up all the electrical and passed the inspection with flying colors!

Lets go inside..

 We stained the concrete floor in the Fall of 2011. 

We just love our Jotul! It's such a great wood woodstove.

Cory made us some butcher block style countertops, all from scrap lumber!

Well, what's next?  The garage! We're hoping to get started on that this summer. We have already cleared the site and brought in fill for the slab.    Timber framing has been on our minds lately.  The plans are slowly coming together.  Stay tuned next summer for the timber frame garage.  

A Homestead

Hi! I'm back. We've been busy working on the place. Here's what it looks like now. A true homestead!!!!


The blue barrel is our rain collection system. It is gravity fed down to the garden. We kinda lucked out with the garden being downhill from the house.
The lean-to has been a great place to hang out in the shade! Our plan is to close it in before winter.

The Garden

It is made of leftover cordwood material. I am even mulching with cedar bark from the cordwood. I hope to add two new garden beds a year. That's enough to keep me busy for a season.


Compost bins
The outhouse.
The interior
Upstairs tongue and groove finished!! Even the trim around the windows!
The ladder to the loft. Cory milled it out of jackpine.

Now we're ready to spend some much needed time on the water in the breeze!

Come On In

Welcome to the inside of our home:)









The sun from upstairs.

The ladder is genuine aluminum and is full of dried mortar, an original.

Thanksgiving in our construction zone!

Smoking the Thanksgiving turkey.

Now we are getting back to our regular lives that we had before we started building. Just in time for the lakes to freeze over too!



Our plan is to slowly work on interior details over the winter, so stay tuned.

And Then Your Done

Well not really. But we did officially move in Nov 2!!!! It was amazing to wake up in our own home, custom built by us (and a lot of friends and family).

Now details details details. Cory and I are both taking some R&R for about a week. I headed home to my parents for deer hunting. Cory is embarking on a wilderness deer hunt for a week too. Sorry no pictures this week. I just couldn't publish a picture of the pile of boxes/tools/everything we own. Stay tuned for those photos of our soon to be organized space that is our home.

Propane and Propane Accesories

The wood stove, back up propane heater, and oven are in!!!!


The break in fire.



The supports for the stove pipe still need to be put up.





We also built our front door and hung it. The hardware is still a work in progress, do to the extra thickness of the door.




Also the trench was dug for the power line to the house.
The countdown begins to move-in day!!! Only a few more days.

The Times They are A- Changin'

Progress progress progress. Pictures speak a thousand words for the past few weeks.







Check our that floor!!!!!



So many people helped out the last couple of weeks, Thanks!!! We couldn't have done it without you folks. Even this little guy:)





Not only have we made great leaps foward on the house but we even had time to help out some other builders with a timber frame raising.




And, I was sent on a 6 day fire assignment in the wilderness.















Soon to come, installing the wood stove, propane, making a door, and probably snow.