Nov
10
2014

Order Tara's Bicycle Touring Cookbook Today!

Cleaning Our Timber Frame Cottage

by Tara

We've spent countless hours cleaning this place. There is continual sawdust sweeping from cabinet construction, and a giant plaster clean-up operation to finish. Entire days have passed where I'm on the ladder, scraping tiny bits of plaster off of our beams with a plastic putty knife, and wiping them down with wet rags. Then, because the plaster lightly bleached our timbers (as seen in the photo below, taken a month ago), I've been re-finishing them with our favorite stain: Black Walnut Danish Oil.

Tyler Cleaning Straw Bale Cottage

Once the staining is done, I define the edges where the plaster meets wood with a razor knife, scraping off any plaster that had stain bleed or drip onto it. The end result is gorgeous. I usually enjoy this time-consuming process— with a good audiobook to capture my attention, the time flies.

Though we really should have taken more time to protect our timber frame before plastering, the truth is we're kind of glad we shirked the task. If our beams hadn't gotten messed up, I never would have taken the time to re-stain them, and we are LOVING how the darker beams look! In the picture below, the horizontal tie-beam has been re-stained; the vertical post to the right of it has not.

Timber Frame Straw Bale Cottage in Construction
Previous Entry
Congratulations!
G
Topics:

5 comments

Your G'ma Jeanne and G'pa Don are looking down on both of you and are sooooo proud. How did you get so smart? I wanted to be an architect----didn't happen----but I loved your whole building process, trying to figure out the angles and nooks of your beautiful cottage.
When you have some "spare time" I wish you could sketch a map of where each building is, the cottage, the work shed, the driveway, the pond and your trailer. It will add so much to your followers' imagination. Your G'ma and I also loved maps. You've gone so far, be proud and keep going. Blessings. Marian
Posted by Marian from St. Louis on February 7th, 2015 at 1:00 PM
Hey Guys,
What's going on ? I'm really sad you guys haven't updated the site in a while, looking forward to it.Hope everything's alright.

Cheers
Tejas
Posted by Tejas Dongre on February 9th, 2015 at 3:38 AM
You guys have made such fantastic progress! The house is beautiful and you should be really proud. Keep up the good work and hang in there!
Posted by BreAnna on February 11th, 2015 at 2:14 PM
It's looking kind of phenomenal:) The frame is beautiful. I admire the careful attention to detail you've put into everything. Stay cozy.
Posted by Zoe Tilley Poster on February 11th, 2015 at 6:20 PM
gorgeous - glossy and dark. any good audio books? xx
Posted by elizabeth on February 13th, 2015 at 6:03 PM
Bookmarks