We are just about finished up with the lake cottage we are building in Northern Minnesota. The exterior work has been completed, including the painting of the siding and trims. We used horizontal fiber-cement siding which creates nice, crisp lines. The vertical siding on the gable ends—darker gray in color— is some material we salvaged from the existing cabin on the site. The deck is made of Trex composite material, and the railing balusters are white aluminum pipe.
Last week the cabinet maker installed the kitchen
cabinets and the bathroom vanity. The cabinets are all painted. Bead board was used at several areas, including around the fireplace. The top of the fireplace is stained maple which contrasts nicely with the painted millwork in the cabin.
The owners decided to include a built in bench seat in the dining area. This is a very nice feature with three storage drawers below the seat. Drawers are much easier to access than a lift up seat. The seat is maple to match the fireplace top. Guests can relax here with wonderful views of the lake out the sliding glass door.
The boathouse is finished, but final painting will wait
until next spring. The structure includes a deck on the roof with a railing around it. The boathouse faces west, so I’m sure many summer evenings will be spent here enjoying breezes off the lake. We used a compact roll-up door for storage access for large items.
We have some trim work to finish up, some final painting to complete, and appliances to install and we will be done. This has been a fun ‘long distance’ project for us.
