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We managed to come up with the money to hire Monte, the Log Home Restoration Man.  To save a bit on the bill, he lent us some scaffolding and we (meaning me) diligently got to work to remove the brittle, curling caulking between the logs.  It had long ago lost it's effectiveness, so, inch by inch I poked, prodded and pulled what remained.  The product I was removing was inefficient, ineffective and unattractive.  Some of it was still somewhat pliable, but it was not helping to retain heat inside the house, nor did it help in keeping the cold out.  I managed to fill a few buckets full of the stuff before Monte was due to come over and start removing the old stain. Monte, it turned out, did not actually have employees to help him with this substantial project.  He brought with him a couple of guys he had probably picked up at the local shelter.  Neither of the two men had many teeth nor did they seem to have any inkling of what their responsibilities were on the job site.  They help

Shortly before Spring had sprung that year I noticed an eye catching advertisement in a local periodical that had arrived in the mail.  Log Home Restoration.  Intrigued, I called the number and although it was after 8pm on a Friday night, had an educational conversation with Monte.  He told me about his experience, the materials he used and approximate cost of re-staining this house.  The house looked like battered up Lincoln Logs I told him.  Monte responded with the fact that he would make it look like a beautiful piece of furniture.  With those words, I agreed to have him over on Sunday morning so that he could demonstrate his technique to both the ex and myself.  It was a very brief meeting that Sunday... he stayed only 30 minutes or less, but we got a good feeling from him.  He was knowledgeable, seemed hard working and showed us (by pointing to rooftops further up the mountain) projects that he had recently completed.  He gave us a list of references, which I diligently called,

Soon enough, Spring was finally here!  The snow had melted, revealing nothing but what appeared to be grass, but was soon to be discovered as just green weeds with a few blades of grass here and there.  The trees on the property (eleven groves of trees) started to sprout leaves.  And Magpies built nests...  for bird lovers, I'd bet that would be magnificent!  And it was fascinating...  but Magpies build the biggest nests you could possibly imagine out of everything available!!  Twigs, dog hair, leaves & dirt.  Sorry: but Yuck!!  The grass/weeds in the back forty, as we evenually, (with affection of course) called the back field, soon became overgrown.  My ex got out there with the push mower - haha.  It was funny and horrible all at the same time.  The grass got to at least 18" seemingly overnight!!  He pushed that thing about 20' and that took him at least an hour ...  Not good.  We drove over to The Home Depot that afternoon and purchased a riding lawn mower.  We ar

Moving day + two young sons + a ferocious storm = a bit of chaos. Everything that day got put into the garage just to get it out of the truck. Again, because of the weather, moving "day" turned into moving "days".  Naturally, nothing was where it needed to be for days to come;  boxes of "things" were everywhere.  It all seems a blurr now, but I know that after the storm finally passed and because the laundry room was downstairs, my ex and his pal carried the washer and then the dryer down the slippery, sloping landscape and in through the door down there.  As with previous moves we had made, it ended up being my task to organize everything.  Boxes got moved and re-moved as we determined what would go where.

Move in day was - UGH!!  Still winter, and of course, a blizzard decided to swing through.  We rented a truck from our local U-Haul and had been packing everything for weeks.  The boys were somewhat prepared and it was time!!  Unfortunately, we had to take them out of their last few weeks of school - I went and picked them up when the truck was piled high with everything.  My car was loaded up as well and I drove behind them for those 30 miles - very slowly.  The weather got worse and worse - icy, white out conditions: reminded me of our move here to this wonderful state.  This new location is actually 1000+ feet higher in altitude than the old one, and we would come to discover that it is it's own little world weather wise.  As a matter of a fact: this location seems to have a bad rap throughout the state: frequently mentioned on news channels when bad weather is discussed. We had no idea that there was actually a circular driveway (again: since the minute we'd seen the hous

Luckily this house had been winterized.  Still, when you see a pile of snow inside a house and know that it is blowing in through the door jamb it's a little disheartening.  We really didn't have to think about anything though, we asked Jacquie to start writing up paperwork.  She called that night and said it was all ready to go.  The house had been in foreclosure and abandoned (according to the neighbors) for four years... the price drop was attracting some attention so we knew we had to move quickly to secure it.  My (ex) husband had been an "entrepreneur" for many years and I will leave it at that.  My job at the time was what qualified us and got us in.  Inspections revealed a few things that needed to be done, and actually, with so much snow still on the roof and around the property there was no real exterior inspection done.  We had a Registered Geologist/Hydrogeologist come out as well.  There was a crack in the well cover, that had to be replaced immediately.

There was a bay window in the dining room area and one at the front of the house.  One of the tired wooden single pane windows didn't even close all the way - so, cold air seeped in.  The deck of both bay windows had wood on it that had been stained and restained and varathaned - it was also warped and peeling from the sun and we could feel the cold coming in through the cracks of the trim.  The old and outdated theme of gold light fixtures continued in the master bedroom and the other two bedrooms upstairs as well.  The light fixtures in the bedrooms were especially horrible, with three glass lights that looked like they would be something Aunt Mae from The Andy Griffith Show would have chosen.  The master bedroom was large and my visions of what I could do with the room were already formulating.  It had an odd shaped walk in closet that was not big enough for two people to stand in at the same time.  There were 29" x 24" shelves up one half of one wall and a single ro

We continued to walk around - everything was worn and dated.  The dining room light fixture was gold, the light above the sink was gold - the light above the garage door was gold.  I discovered these same gold beauties in the master bedroom walk in "closet", and the hallway as well.  At least they were consistent (by using the least expensive, most generic materials they could possibly find).  There was a two light spotlight on the dining room side of the beam and the kitchen was lit with a 48" shop light with a gridded acrylic panel - stuck in up between two of the beams, it made for a poor lighting choice there, too. The kitchen was late 80s/early 90s white washed maple & there were some missing cabinets - there was a 6' space from the end of the cabinets to the garage door wall where they may have intended to have a nice cabinet run.  They hung a corner cabinet up at the very end of the room, just for the heck of it, I suppose. There was a nice sized mud roo

Never mind the honey pine tong and groove ceiling ... all I saw when we walked into the house - there in the middle of the front room - was this big, fat, black wood burning stove pipe - connected to this little teeny tiny wood burning stove.  The pipe went up 8' to the ceiling then through where we could not see, but knew was another 10' through the roof.  The stove was matte black with a gold framed glass door.  The glass on the door had a crack, and you could smell the charred wood that had been left inside... a lingering campfire smell.  They left their poker and worn out broom as well... and this was all sitting on a 4'x4' pad with cheap, old ceramic terra cotta colored tile. There were burns in the looped berber carpet in front of the stove.  The people must have been careless and opened the door when the wood was burning hot and crackling inside.  The carpet was matted down; and there was a soot colored stain the size of my (then) 11 year old right smack in the

So anyway.  Getting back to this log house - and how it came to be in my life.  I was transferred at work, and the commute was just too far...  this area was middle ground and we had been talking about it for a while.  My ex-husband and I had bought and sold four houses prior to this move.  We had moved a total of eight times during our 22 year marriage.  He liked a house, I liked a house, he chose a house...  it was never a mutual decision.  We were never really on the same page.  So, we got together with his friend's wife, Jacquie, who was a real estate agent.  She showed us two places prior to this one.  Neither were to our liking - on that we agreed.  One had train tracks - and trains that passed by quite noisily several-times-a-day, plus it was on what seemed to be a fairly busy street.  The next one overlooked a trailer park on one side and had a transfer (garbage) station in the back plus a kitchen that we and our two young boys could not all fit in at one time.  A few day

Colorado?!  My parents asked when I told them we were going to move there... but something about it spoke to me... I grew up listening and loving John Denver sing about "Rocky Mountain High....Colorado".  A woman I worked with went to Colorado for her honeymoon... a girl I had known since 3rd grade showed up to my 10th High School reunion and told me she was now a Mountain Ranger in Colorado.... it all just started clicking together. Growing up in wet, lush, evergreen Washington, the brown mountains here did NOT impress me - I was actually almost in shock for the first year - I had a hard time seeing the beauty.  Plus, of course, the altitude took a little getting used to - coming from sea-level to 6,000 feet: it took a while to completely adjust.  Then the ladies at work started inviting me to go hiking with them in the mornings - "Bring your dog!" they would say.  So, I got out with them and eventually became addicted to rising early and getting up to the park. 

It wasn't my dream or intention to live in a log house.  I think some people just, that's what they want.  In my case, no. I have always loved the outdoors.  Moving to Colorado from Washington State was the first step in this journey.  Growing up in Washington, you can never see stars because the skies are always cloudy there.  One summer we went to visit family in Canada... I remember sleeping outside on the deck at my aunt and uncle's cabin and loving seeing the stars... of course, again, emphasize the fact that it was summer time because even in Washington the skies are clear in the summer. We moved here to Colorado to follow my (ex) husband's dream of opening a bar and grill with his buddy.  He had been telling me it was sunny here for a few years, then one day I was driving home from work in drizzle and grey... I got home and said, "okay, let's go".  We sold our house, packed our stuff, said goodbye to our family and friends and within a month we we

A Little History...      There is always a beginning... and as I start my blogging journey I would like to share a little bit about myself so that you can get a feeling of who I am, what sort of surroundings I grew up in, how that influenced the styles I am attracted to today and how this house came to be in my life.           

Welcome!!  My name is Shelley.  I live in a log house here in the foothills of the Colorado Rocky Mountains..  I've been doing some remodeling to my home.  It's been a lot of fun, and I'm photo journaling my adventure!  Thanks for joining me!!