Red Bird Cabin

My new art studio is coming together!  Adam, my partner-in-crime, has been painstakingly building it over the past 2 months (with my help here and there), and now we have the doors & windows in, the siding on, shingles on the roof, and sheetrock installed.  I haven’t tallied up the total cost of the project yet, but it was done on a tight budget.

Art Studio in Progress

We bought the windows & doors on craigslist, the stained glass window on Ebay (which had to be reframed), got the shingles for free, and bought the Board and Batten redwood siding from a local guy who sustainably harvested & milled a few trees on his property.  Board and Batten is one of the most inexpensive ways to cover a building, and is easy to install.  It also gives the studio that rustic, barn-like feel that I love.

Hours and hours of hard labor

Who knew that you could use shredded blue jeans as insulation?  I’m glad I found out… because the prickly, itchy, fiberglass insulation is gnarly to work with.  (It also leaves fiberglass dust all over your house which is hard to fully clean and isn’t good to inhale.)  I definitely recommend using Cotton Fiber Insulation instead. There are a few different brands out there. We used “UltraTouch” because we could buy it nearby, but they are all similar.

the joys of insulating

It’s safe, green and easy to work with. You just tear off chunks to fit snugly between the studs in the wall (the same way that you would with regular fiberglass insulation). Thick cotton insulation has a good R value too, so you can feel confident that it’s going to keep your house warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Here’s a helpful link you want more info on cotton versus fiberglass.  The cotton’s slightly more expensive than fiberglass, but so worth it if you have to touch the stuff yourself!

installing it is easy

Our cabin came with those flimsy particle board walls that rattle when you shut the door too fast.  You know… the kind that you don’t want to lean on too hard for fear of falling through. The house wasn’t insulated either, which added to the general “hollow wall” feeling.  So, they had to go.  Equipped with a hammer and crow bar, the walls came down pretty fast.

inside the wall

What’s Behind an Old Wall?
Mostly, we found empty space.  But, there were quite a few dead spiders, abandoned webs, and other creepy crawly remnants.  (We also found an old black & white photo of a toddler and a rose quartz crystal.)  Yes, it was a little eerie.  Now that the walls are off, the cabin is ready for rewiring and plumbing.  After that, she’ll get a fresh set of real sheetrock walls.

It took us one day, amped on coffee and loud music, to tear out all the hideous green wall-to-wall carpeting.  And WOW, what a difference it’s made.  Tearing out carpet is easy, actually.  All you need is an exacto knife, needle nose pliers and some arm strength.  Begin with a corner and start pulling it loose.  When you get a manageable size chunk free (say 5 feet by 3 feet or so), use your exacto knife to slice that section off.  Throw it out the door so you have a clear workspace.  And continue carving off chunks.  If you’re comfortable removing bigger sections at a time, go for it.  Once you’re done, use your needle nose pliers to pry the carpet staples out of the floor.  Staple picking takes some time so you might want to sit/kneel on a pillow and have a good beer handy.

No more ugly carpet

Here begins the epic renovation story of a cabin nestled deep in the redwoods of California.  My handy, tool-wielding, partner-in-crime (Adam) and I bought the cabin exactly one year ago.  And we’ve spent the past 12 months restoring, and decorating it.  Since we’re both creative, DIY types, we opted to do all the renovation work ourselves.  (Ok, we didn’t put in the septic tank.)  But everything else has involved our blood, sweat and tears.  The process has been challenging, but full of lessons and enjoyment… which is what inspired me to start this blog.

A Little History…
The cabin was built in 1941, likely starting as the water tower for an even older logging cabin next door.  For decades, it’s rumored to have been a summer cabin rental for wealthy San Franscico families… until tourism in the area dried up.  It changed hands many times over the years, losing some of it’s original charm along the way.  In the 70’s, thick shellac was painted over most of the redwood trim.  In the 80’s, the vintage bathroom and kitchen elements landed in the dump.  And in the 90’s, plush green wall-to-wall carpeting took over.  Nonetheless, when I first stepped into the cabin, I saw a diamond in the rough!  Despite the ugly kitchen and bathroom renovations, the place still had a lot of charm… exposed redwood ceilings, original trim & bookshelves, & 6-pane wooden windows intact.  When I ripped up a bit of the dirty carpet, I was thrilled to find a battered hardwood floor beneath it.  I was sold.  That was plenty for me to start with.  The rest could be restored.

The Way We Found It