little things

So there have been some more additions.  First Mom finished the guestbook sign.

Then John installed the dumb waiter.

Finally we cut the posts to size and added the decorative caps.

painted trim

Today I painted the remaining trim and the permanent ladder.  The bench at the side of the building is one that Dad made for me 20 or so years ago.  It sat in my backyard in Wichita and now is part of the Baldwin treehouse.

What's left?  My brother-in-law John is going to bring out a length of rope for the pulley for the dumb waiter.  It will hang off the header that extends over the back edge.

Here is the side view of the newly painted trim and ladder.   John is going to trim off the corner posts just above the railings when he gets some time off from umpiring.

ladder and grab bars

This weekend I did a bunch of painting.  The deck has its second coat of sealer.  The handrails their first.

Dad built a ladder. We put it up today.  We also installed the playset grab bars that I bought.

gate and game table

Tuesday night after work I installed the twig gate across the back opening.

While I was at work today, the treehouse elves came and installed a game table below the deck. I mentioned over the weekend that I wanted to get a little table for under there.  Turns out the elves were way ahead of me on this one. (Thanks Mom and Dad!).

barnboard and paint

This weekend, Dad finished putting up the barn board on the back of the building.

He also installed the handrail caps (complete with router'd edges).  Now I'm working on painting and finishing.  I added decorative cedar shingles and a piece of twig trim above the door.

I've started painting.  Several more coats are needed to get the colors true, but the color scheme is coming together.  First the side view.

Next the front view.

more railings

Today I put on the first coat of deck sealer (not much to see there).  Then I put up the two more railings that I had finished.  In front of the house...

Next to the back of the house.

shutters

Early this week, I painted the log siding and the opposite wall siding.  The picture gives it a bluish cast but it is really a dark brown color (see the rafters picture below for a better representation of the color).  On Wednesday this week, Dad installed shutters on the side windows.  He also put some extra bracing on the floor joists but you can't really see that.

Today, Caleb and John came out and installed our tin roof.

After they were finished, I painted the rafters the same color as the log siding.  Then I put primer on the siding on the front, below the log siding and on several of the trim pieces.  Everything that is white will likely be another color.  I'm planning to use up four colors of leftover porch paint from another project on the treehouse.

first railing

I am in charge of railings.  I'm using the rest of the branches leftover from last year's twig arbor project.  The first railing went up today.

the siding

We had enough lumber to do three sides of the building.  Here is the side facing the woods and the front with the window opening.

And from the opposite side, the front and the side facing the yard.  Cool log-look siding right?

We ended up adding a couple extra posts so it will be safe for adults to be up there too.

Check back again...we still have the roof, back wall, shutters, railings and probably more stuff as we think of it.

framing the building

Dad told me to draw a sketch of what I wanted the building to look like.  Now I'm no architect but did my best.  This past weekend, Dad, Caleb and John showed up to work on the building.

Dad had precut the lumber for framing the walls and had everything marked and taped in bundles.  Just after the first wall went up we figured out that the guys were installing the building rotated 90 degrees from the direction that I expected.  It turns out that the "trees" in my sketch that would have indicated direction were not recognizable as such...it was clear to me.  Anyways, I took my abuse and we got things turned around.

the deck

Dad found a lot of the materials that we are using for the treehouse at a garage sale in Wisconsin that he and Garret visited when they were up north after Mom's surgery.  The first family work day was the Saturday after Father's Day.  Here is Caleb nailing the decking in place.

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Summer Construction

When I write my autobiography, this will be the chapter called "Summer Construction".

While the professionals are building my permanent residence the amateurs are building a treehouse.  I checked out a bunch of books from the library to figure out what I wanted and what we might be able to build.  I decided on a four "tree" design.  Acutally we are using two trees and two forward posts.  Dad started by setting the posts and building the floor frame about mid-June.

The day he set the posts he told me that he'd have to wait for the weekend to do the frame so that I could hold it in place.  A couple of days later, I got home from work and the frame was in place.  Maybe the dogs held it for him?????