Our Very First Cottage Weekend - July 2008

I thought I should summarize a bit about our first trip to the cottage last July long weekend.

We arrived to find the place pretty much a disaster. The previous owner had not completed moving all his stuff out nor had a rather large unsightly garden shed (also full of stuff) been removed as per our agreement of purchase. Somehow all this didn't surprise us and we quickly set about tidying the place up.

After cleaning up all the left over debris, there were still a few items to take care of. We started laying new floors, then had the wood stove overhauled including new tile hearth pad and a completely new chimney. We also had some new windows installed, furniture and appliances for the kitchen shopped for and delivered, renovated bathroom with new shower and sink, a dump truck load of red granite gravel spread on the driveway, a gift picnic table (from my parents) assembled, a tree over the bunkie cut down, many repairs to the plumbing, utility closet built, bunkbeds in place, new electrical panels in the house and bunkie, shopping for my dream canoe (a swift) and kayak for Matthew, getting that new BBQ barely in time for our dinner guests arrival, finally we settled into a great summer of fun!

But of course the renovations and work continue.....

Just writing these run-on sentences down makes me tired....it really
was a busy first few weeks!

Here are a few of the early snaps from last year.

Our first few hours in paradise were spent emptying out the junk left by the previous owner

Now that all the junk is out - cleaning the plywood floors to get rid of the lingering cigarette smoke odour is next - cudos to Murphy's Oil!

This old garden shed was supposed to be removed before closing day - instead we added all the junk from the house and then contracted a local neighbour to take it to the dump! 

A view of the old shed now gone, an old peddle boat we donated to a neighbour and our Bunkie in behind which is now being transformed into a guest cottage, complete with composting toilet and workshop storage area. 

The inside of the bunkie - before we started renovations....the previous owner apparently had done "some work" on it

Almost Clean - Matthew worked really hard that day taking control of mop duty.

Okay, time for new floors - Rough plywood is not my style!

Matthew working with me to lay flooring in his bedroom. 

Now that's better! New floor, new hearth pad and new chimney.... and a bit of furniture.

Now there's a bed I can sleep in.... in fact these futons are more comfortable than our bed at home, or maybe it's just the air!

Looking good!

Let's check out the roof! 

Matthew in the lead in his new Kayak heading upstream!

Matthew being towed home - Somehow I knew that would happen!

Bunny hops on the deck - fun for Matt, headaches for us!