Today I started on what will be the kitchen in the great room. It will be an open kitchen,
with a bar and countertop on one side, and fridge and range on the other.
These three Birch Plywood boards will become the bar.

After a few hours of work, this is the intermediate result:

I know, It doesn’t look like much yet, but trust me, it will.
After this, it was time for cooking on the grill outside; Jalapeño Sausages and Brussel sprouts.
Daylight savings ended here this Saturday, so it’s now dark at 6PM, but I had a nice sunset BBQ on the deck outside,
as it is still 69 degrees out there (21 celsius) and it’s now 7PM.

Well, frankly, it’s hardly a question when it comes to US homes; most have walls made from OSB (Oriented Strand Board).
My log walls obviously don’t require OSB, but the gable ends and extension does, so work has been done on those today;

As you can see, half of the western extension wall has been done, and almost all of the eastern Gable End.
The windows that were visible when stick framed are covered for now, so it is all protected from the elements.
Once the windows are to be put in, it’s easy to cut out the holes in the OSB.
You can also now see the little diagonal connection I made between the front and side decks.
When all OSB is in place, the only entrance will the the front door, so being able to access the main deck from the side decks became essential.

These famous words of John Hannibal Smith describe the feeling when I climbed the scaffolding on the deck I made;
Now I can reach almost anywhere without any problems. Well, almost… I kinda cheated as I placed the top half of the scaffolding from above,
as I was reluctant to climb up and hold the steel parts that make the scaffolding’s second level.
I’m fine with climbing on it, but assembling a heavy railing on top of the second floor is not fun for those of us with Vertigo.
Likely I will ask Dave to do the top ends of the gable end walls (The top triangles closest to the rooftop)
Or maybe I will manage standing on the lower scaffolding floor, I will see how safe I feel doing it.

That’s right, I had to stick up 25 8ft 2×4″-ers also know as stick framing. Basically, it’s a skeleton of 2 x 4’s on which OSB boards will be screwed.
So this wall is made of 200 ft (61 meter) 2×4 pine.
The framing is good old fashion hammer and nail work, although I used screws to keep the wall flush and still reposition-able.
I’m standing in the main bedroom, behind what will be a 36×48″ window.
The next layer will be OSB boards, then a moisture protection and finally cedar siding. That’s boards horizontally placed with an overlap of about 1/5″.

Finally part of the actual home is becoming visible; the walls are almost finished. In case you wonder; there will be windows and doors, but this is how log homes are built; walls first and then the 4 trusses will go up. From my bank account I can clearly see these walls are not paid by Mexico. But at least it’s finally starting to take shape.