Lake project is DONE

I didn't think it was possible, but by 5pm on Sunday the lake project was DONE.  Saturday night I thought that was impossible, Sunday morning I thought maybe, and then, somehow, it all came together and it's DONE.

Friday I met some of my sister-in-laws at Lowes to go over paint color and some lake stuff.  Saturday a bunch of us headed up and it didn't take long to figure out the floor wasn't ready.  Matt and his brother worked on a solution.  In the meantime some of us tore out a wall behind the kitchen cabinets, just for something to do.  (And because it needed done.)

Had to do round 3 of floor prep (after filling cracks and leveling) which we started around 3:30.  Luckily that dried pretty fast and by the time they got across the cottage the first part was ok to walk on. 

That was all finished by 6 and we started on the wall behind the sink again, getting metal flashing up to keep animals out.

Matt's sister and brother-in-law were up in the afternoon and they did a lot of work (all the work) on painting the kitchen cabinet and some electrical stuff I don't understand but apparently it's better now.

We all went to church at 7:30 and then back to the cottage for more work.  Matt grilled up burgers and we went back to the ceiling.  Had it sanded and a coat of primer on by the time the lake fireworks started at 10.  We all walked out to the beach to watch.  It was a pretty impressive show for the lake!!

It was very pretty to see them reflecting in the water

After the fireworks it was back to work for all the adults.  By 12:30 we had bead board up behind most of the sink area, the ceiling completely painted, and the lights back on. Also did a 5 minute paint job to the bead board.  We did a really late night swim out at the beach which felt amazing after being so dirty all day.  Then bed.  Finally. 

By 11:30 am Sunday the  kitchen wall was completely finished and the lower cabinet was in.  Worked on the plumbing, getting the counter cut and the sink in. 

Started on the 4th (and final) round of floor prep (glue primer) about 1pm.  That was down and ready pretty quick and it was onto laying the floor about 1:30.  It went down fast until we got to the fireplace side of the room which required a lot of cutting around that, the cabinets, and the final wall.

Laying floor

Almost done...

The floor was down around 4:30.  We started moving furniture back in and putting the cabinets back together.  We heard a storm was coming so we took the jet skis out for about 20 minutes.  Jumped in the deep end (felt amazing) and finally got to enjoy the lake for a bit.  Nice quick break before back to the cottage to finish up.

Look at that!!  We added about 1.5 inches with taking out the subfloor and with rearranging and the white ceiling it all looks so much more open!  

 AMAZING!

I am sooooo pleased with how it came out.  We busted our butts to get this done in just 9 days and I am still impressed and blown away with how great it looks.  I just keep thinking of this picture from late Friday night (7/9):

To go from that to the above in just 9 days is amazing.  From Friday (7/9) to Sunday (7/18) there were people working at the cottage 8 of the 10 days.  Matt & I may have done the coordinating and planning (and a lot of work) but there is no way we could have done it without so much help from his nephews, siblings, and in-laws.  I am beyond impressed with what we accomplished.  After 6 lake trips in 2 weeks, I am sooooo looking forward to going to the lake and actually relaxing.  It'll be nice to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

And yet another work night at the lake

Thursday was yet another work day at the lake.  Some of Matt's sisters went up with their kids in the afternoon to work on mudding & sanding the ceiling.  Matt & I and some of his (older) nephews went up after work.  Mudded the ceiling until we ran out of mud and then worked on cleaning the floor.  After Matt's sisters left (kids to get home and all) we started to work on the floor leveler.  And by "we" I mean I watched while Matt & the boys did the work.  I had the exhausting job of going on a pizza run (took 45 minutes) and taking pictures.  Like I said, exhausting.  It took longer than expected and apparently wasn't much fun.

Boys working on the floor

All the drills were dying so Matt tried to mix it with his hand.

Our mess outside the cottage

10:30pm - finished

Late night working at the lake and we'd all be back in about 40 hours for more work.  Getting somewhere on this project though and that feels good.

It started with a new floor....

The family lake cottage needed work, everyone knew that.  We had a meeting to talk about projects and priority.  The redoing the floor was top priority.  Then it was decided something needed to be done about the ceiling since it's dark and just gross.  We had talked about a lot of different things but decided the front room was going to get done first.

Friday night Matt & I went up with some of his nephews to finish tearing down the ceiling and start on the new one.  It took a couple hours to get the ceiling down, the 1 billion nails out (I'm not exaggerating much), and clean things up (that was all me). 

10:30pm, taking a little break.

Finally starting drywall shortly after midnight, I swear Matt & I helped too

We had 2 sheets up by 1am and then Matt & I went out for a quick swim to rinse off all the grossness.  I highly recommend that.  There were millions of stars visible, it was so peaceful and calm with the few lights reflecting on the water...magical. =)

Saturday morning one of the nephews left to skydive but the three of us still managed to get 3 sheets up!  

Once again, I promise Matt & I helped too.

Took a jet ski break which was over when one caught on fire (not ours!).  Time to get back to work. We got the drywall all hung by 6:30 and the mudding started.  Still needs some mudding & sanding but it's all up.

Then...time to start the floor.  After pulling up part of one sheet of subfloor we made the executive decision to pull it all up and put the new vinyl floor right on the concrete.  That was a very good (but messy) decision.  There was a lot of termite damage.  

In the middle of tearing up the subfloor

Just part of the mess.  Imagine this, times 5.

Termites!

Cottage the way we left it on Saturday night.  Subfloor was almost completely up (still under the kitchen cabinets) and ceiling is completely drywalled.

We put in a lot of work and made major progress.  Of course, once we started we came up with more projects.  Lots more work still needs done but we are getting there.