The ache for home lives in all of us,

 the safe place where we can go as we are 

and not be questioned.
-Maya Angelou

 

I love that: the idea of home as a safe place where I am not questioned. Today I'm longing for such a place! (There's a huge back story that I'll skip here. You're glad for that, trust me.)

So. News! The bathroom in my little place is framed and ready for electrical, plumbing, walls and floors. And fixtures. Lighting. Tile, perhaps. Then mirrors, rugs, and decorations. In other words, I've barely begun. But it's so much fun working on this little place!

I am more excited about the cabin than ever. Seeing walls going up is thrilling! Everyone who's come over has looked at me with crazy eyes and asked, slowly and with feeling, whether I intended to put the bathroom in the middle of the cabin? I mean, did I realize that it's facing folks as they walk in the front door? That it slices the cabin into two separate living areas? That no one makes design decisions like this?

Yes. Why, yes, I did. Come on in.

This weekend the electrical goes to the cabin and in the cabin. I'll be moving in right away. (Having lived in Freeman House for three months without power or water, this will be a cake walk!) It will be a relief to be near everything: my chickens, the garden, the before-now-unattended cabin, and the peace and tranquility that come with being near the woods in the center of exactly nowhere.

Grateful today for my walls, however placed, and all the unquestioning quiet they afford....

Cottage Cabin Project #1: Lose That Loft!

There are elements of intrinsic beauty 

in the simplification of a house...
-Gustav Stickley

Work on the cabin is underway! Project Number One? Remove one of two lofts- the one over what will be the living room area- to take advantage of those 12-foot ceilings.

And what a difference that made!

With that extra loft cleared away, plans are to build the walls for the bathroom this week. It's taken me awhile to settle on an arrangement for the cabin. Non-negotiable? A full bathroom, a full kitchen (with my I-will-never-part-with-this-awesome-thing! oven), and room for my books. 

Some girls are all about the closets. Me? I'm all about the bookshelves. *wink*

I'm still trying to decide exactly where I want my windows- and what style/size. And where in the world am I going to stash a water heater? I'm working with 360 square feet, so options are limited. So many decisions! I wish I could throw open the doors and walk you through and collect the many suggestions and ideas. Part of me is concerned that once I cut holes in the outer wall, decide on room placement, etc.,, some shockingly brilliant and perfect idea will come along and then what will I do?

Wonderful, happy worries!

Your New Year is off to a pleasant start, right? Hope so.  -Brin