One of my more ambitious projects, was building a lean-to shed behind our cabin in the Catskills. I had a rough design I sketched out, and for the most part only had to make a few adjustments along the way. At 12 ft tall, this was very tricky to work with. Fortunately, I had the surrounding trees to use as bracing!
Lean To Shed
While I enjoy using a sauna, I do not enjoy commuting back and forth to one. And so I thought I’d design and build one for our condo. It’s a small one-person sauna (3x3x4) that fits perfectly under our staircase. Having to make the sauna vapor and heat insulated posed it’s unique challenges, but it turned out great, and I learnt a ton in the process. Eventually, I do also want to build an outdoor cedar barrel sauna for our cabin, but one step at a time :)
Indoor Cedar Sauna
During the pandemic, we bought an old cabin out in the Catskills. The cabin had the right bones, but the exterior and interior was in desperate need of some love. It’s been a multiyear project that will continue for many more years, but it’s already come a long way from where started.
Cabin Makeover
Before
After
We have a wonderful hemlock forest behind our cabin. But between the forest and our cabin, there was a thick expanse of shrubs that was not only an eyesore, but also rendered the space unusable. We therefore took on the ambitious project of transforming this space into a large gravel area for entertaining. While we designed the layout and built the structures on the space, we cannot take credit for the excavation itself. As excited and tempted as I was to rent an excavator, it was a multi-person job, and so we worked with the good folks over at Smitty’s Nursery for the excavation.
Back Cabin Landscaping
One can never have too many firepits :) The area out in front of the cabin was looking barren, and so we decided to build a firepit over top. This was a fun and simple weekend project, that only required a pallet of bluestone, and 2 x 8s for the benches.
Bluestone Firepit + Benches
Most of my projects have actually been indoor projects (building and restoring furniture, installing hardwood, lime washing, etc). Unfortunately, I haven’t been too good about documenting these, but will change that going forward, so stay tuned!