Shangri La

Shangri La

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Spiral stairway to heaven

LSW here. You'll be happy to know, the summer came and went without any further injuries.
We've been busy the last couple of trips up to Shangri-La. Beautiful wood floors just don't appear out of thin air, you know. Admittedly I had nothing to do with them, so the Vermonster will have to add his two cents. All I know is that we used a flooring STAPLER, not a flooring nailer. This difference was fortunately pointed out by the gentleman at the hardware store where said equipment was rented. (Yes, we had to rent it again. The Vermonster took apart his co-worker's stapler, which she had generously lent us, but to no avail. It needed more help than he could give it.) Another good thing-- we found that a closer hardware store rented tools, not just the evil two-hour-away Home Depot.
So while the Vermonster did the hard work, I did the meditative work of sealing tile, painting trim, hanging the new shower curtain and staining the decks.



But hold onto your hipster knit hats, because we have some big news: the spiral staircase is in da house! We went back and forth a million times on whether we should get a staircase or a ship's ladder. I was actually pushing for the ladder; it seemed more in tune with the cabin vibe, and we'd found some beautifully crafted ones that would've been cheaper than the staircase. But here was the true test: when the Vermonster finished the upstairs floors, I wanted to take a peek, which meant I had to climb up the regular ladder. Not really a big deal, unless of course, you're suffering from mind-altering vertigo, which is my permanent state. I got stuck on the top rung and thought we'd have to call the fire department to get me down. Only there is no fire department in town, thus rendering me a shaking, sobbing mess. The decision was made. A spiral stair it would be!
A big truck showed up in front of our house and out came a huge box. No, it wasn't free shipping with Amazon Prime. This box contained 11 heavy-ass stair treads, one even heavier gate, and a huge pole. We somehow managed to squeeze it all into the truck and my car and off we went.
Let me just say, it is a true miracle that we got that staircase up without incident. This is due to the Vermonster's strength, agility and skills with spatial relationships. I have none of those qualities; however, I do lay some mean tile.

In any case, it took pretty much the whole day, but by the end, we had this thing of beauty:


We stood back and looked at it and both had the same revelation: we don't want a woodsy, moose-themed cabin. We want a New York loft in the woods. After five summers of working on the cabin, we finally had a vision for it. Next up: insulating the basement, railings at the top of the lofts, and kitchen cabinets. By next summer, we should be D-O-N-E. DONE!

One last note. In August, our beloved kitty Bud Light started slowing down. At 14, he wasn't really an old cat, but we knew his time was coming to an end. We obviously didn't want to leave him alone, so we took him up to Shangri-La with us one weekend. He actually perked up a bit in the cabin, and spent some time exploring and sitting in the grass. That was his last weekend with us, and I'm happy that he got a chance to be there. Rest in peace, Budley.







 

2 comments:

PatsyAnne said...

OK - I'm back - lost the link to your blog and just found it tonight tucked away in a folder of recipes, well I guess it could be said that you're cooking with gas now that you're in the home stretch. Sorry about Bud, I lost my Oliver just about the same time. Its hard when they get old so fast. Their little lives burn out quickly. They love us so much and we will always love them deep in our hearts. Can't wait to see what else is going to happen, the furniture moving, the "cellar", the "landscaping"... I'd say welcome back but that would be wrong, how about, so glad to meet up with you and yours once again!

CabinFever said...

Talk about a delayed reaction! Thanks for checking in - I'll be posting more soon. I've got to recap the final work of last year and tee up this year's projects. We hope that we can finally call it 'done', at least for now...