Building...

On December 21^st, 2018, I went outside, took a shovel from the shed, and started digging. I wanted to dig the perimeter of my future cabin, 20' x 20', then work my way through the middle. The hole had to be 18 inches deep. The ground was so rocky that after two whole hours of hard work, I'd barely made a dent in it. I could barely fit my foot, or rather my boot, in the hole I'd created, and it was only eight inches deep. I grabbed my phone, took a picture of it, and went back inside to take a shower. As the hot water was soothing my sore muscles, I decided to create a blog and document every step of what seemed to be a long, and painful, process. I set up the blog and wrote my first post. Then I proofread it. As I was reading it a second time, I realized my words depicted the disappointment I felt with the inadequate outcome of such hard work. I didn't want the blog to convey a negative experience and I definitely didn't want to feel discouraged by my own words, but I still wanted to document the progress of the work, so I chose to include only pictures showing the advancement. There was no other way for me to stay completely objective and maintain a positive attitude at the same time. https://newstudioproject.blogspot.com/

I hadn't shared my plan to build a new cabin with anyone, except a neighbor who'd claimed he had done a lot of construction work in the past. I'd asked him to come over and make sure the space I'd chosen for the cabin was acceptable. It was the only place in my half-acre land where I'd only have to cut down one tree, and, in this case, the tree was sick and had to be cut anyway. I thought it would be a good spot, with minimum damage to the environment. He'd tried to discourage me, saying it was going to be hard work, it wouldn't be something I could do, and the material was going to cost a lot. I'd thanked him. Then I'd sat down and written the reasons it had to be done, just to make sure I wanted to go through with it. This is what I'd written that day:

Current Cabin: Current Problems 12/13/18

foundation

There is none. The cabin is sitting on broken pieces of cinder blocks and rotten pieces of wood.

bathroom:

The shower is too small. I can't even lift both my arms at the same time to wash my hair.

There is no sink. I have to use the hand-held shower head to wash my hands and face and to brush my teeth.

kitchen:

There is not enough counter space. The cabinets are a waste of space because they occupy the whole area under the counter, and there are no shelves installed. I tried to put shelves and little drawers to organize non perishable grocery items in that space, but the cabinet doors are too narrow, and nothing fits through them.

The kitchen sink is ridiculously small. Anything I wash makes the water splash all over the counter. If the counter were empty, it would be easy to wipe it. It is not, though. My toaster oven, coffee maker, instant pot, range, and refrigerator are on the counter. Wiping the whole counter every time I wash a plate is super annoying and a definite waste of time.

other:

There are smaller issues, too. For instance, most of the electric outlets are located in places that can't be reached. No matter which way I put my bed, it covers three of the four outlets in the room. Another example is the toilet. Both the bowl and the tank have problems, so the toilet needs to be replaced completely. These could be fixed, but considering there are too many things to repair at a high cost and fixing all the little things would end up costing a considerable amount of money, it wouldn't make sense to spend any money on the current cabin. It would be like the painting the walls of a place that is about to fall down, a complete waste.

All of these combined with the fact that I need a little more space for a desk and a comfortable chair and the fact that I've always loved fireplaces convinced me that I needed a new cabin, one that would be designed and built exactly the way I want.

That's why about one week later, on December 21^st, 2018, I went outside, took a shovel from the shed, and started digging. It took me five months to dig and one month to clean up the hole and even the sides. Then I had to measure everything and prepare the ground for the slabs I was about to build. Everything had to be level. I also had to make forms for the slabs.

Once all the measuring was done and everything was marked, I used gravel to level the ground in the areas where it was not level. Then I started making the slabs one by one when I could afford the concrete for each slab and when the weather allowed me to work. I couldn't work when it rained or even when it was too humid, and with all the rain that comes down in this area and the high cost of concrete, making the slabs took about six months.

Today marks one year since I made the decision to build a new cabin. After my first day of digging, on December 21^st, 2018, I told myself I'm lucky if I finish just digging the hole and making the slabs by this time next year. I'm happy that I've managed to finish that part of the process within my own time limit. It hasn't been easy, and I still have a very long way to go, but I'm feeling proud that I've come this far and motivated to continue.

The next steps are laying three rows of blocks to elevate the cabin, getting the plumbing and electric work ready, and pouring the concrete, and my deadline is March 19.