When building our little cottage, we didn't stack straw bales all the way to the roof. Instead, we left an open, angled channel running along the eaves. The base of this channel is a "bale stop" that compresses the straw for increased wall strength. The top of the channel is where our wall plates meet the rafters, roof decking, and drywall.

Since this channel was uninsulated we had it partially filled with spray foam insulation. And, since this channel would have been wasted space otherwise, I built a pair of nooks into it, where we now store books.

The front and back faces of the channel were covered with plaster, but there are visible, open accesses to the channel between each set of rafters. You can't really see them unless you're above them, though.

Still, it's been an ugly view from our loft: peeling ends of drywall, scattered pieces of straw, hardened poofs of yellow spray foam, and little mouse-killer pellets we dropped in there to prevent rodents from making themselves at home. (Plus random items we accidentally dropped down there and neglected to fish out.)

At least that was the view until this weekend. We spent our Saturday and Sunday tackling the long-dreaded indoor eave project. As per usual, it was less heinous than we'd been anticipating. As we blasted classic rock, we worked on installing supports, cutting pieces of 1" x 6" to go between each rafter pair, sanding and staining the pieces, and installing them over the supports.

Finally, we cut, stained, and installed pieces of quarter round trim to finish off the project. It looks so much better! Having this project done is a huge relief, and it means that our cottage to-do list is seriously dwindling. I find it kind of hard to believe, but this fucker will actually be finished eventually. Hooray!