Day 5

It happened like this...
When we started, the floor was nearly finished. We just had to put in the remaining supporting boards, and cover the rest of the floor. While we were adding boards to the foundation, we were visited by Katie, Matt, and Michelle. I told them not to hide in the trees for the picture, but they obviously didn't listen to me.

Once the rest of the floor was screwed into place, all that was left to do was trim around the edges. For an operation as skillful as this was, we needed assistance. My dad directed us in using the chalk line, trimming the OSB board and removing the excess on the corners of the foundation.

As we thought about our plans for tomorrow, we decided it would be great if we started out with boards that had already been cut. So, we measured and cut the boards that would be used for the second wall. Seeing the boards all cut, made us want to just finish what we started. Thus, the completion of the second wall.

“If you hold a cat by the tail you learn things you cannot learn any other way."

-Mark Twain

Total Hours: 6

Day 4

We began by digging through my storage container. It's more challenging than it seems. Moving boxes, bags, odds and ends from the inside to the outside, we finally found the board, and shouted for joy!

We placed the boards under the foundation to visualize exactly what we wanted. Then, we cut the boards. We didn't make them the exact size we needed; we thought ahead this time and left room to fix our mistakes. Once cut, we laid them on top of the foundation and marked where the boards where underneath. Excited to start making the floor, we started to screw on the first board. Our excitement must have made us blind, because we didn't match up the board with the foundation very well. We had to unscrew the board, fix it, and screw it again. Each board was marked so we knew where the boards underneath it were, and then screwed into place.

At the end we found foibles in the floor. Now we have to add boards to the foundation. The floor should be complete by the end of day 5.

"Genius is the ability to act rightly without precedent – the power to do the right thing the first time."

           -Elbert Hubbard

Total Hours: 4

Day 3

On this day, we felt like we did a crap load of work, and only a little was accomplished. We used boards my dad acquired from a friend. They were wonderful boards, except they were rough cut. Each board's length, width, and thickness was different. However, this was not the biggest problem. The thickness on each board was different from one end to the other. The average width of the each board was about 5''. To prevent ginormously thick walls, we split the boards in half with the table saw. 

We worked from noon till 8ish with a half hour break for linner (lunch and dinner).  Needless to say we laughed a lot, called each other names, and acted like exhausted fools. 

Our greatest accomplishment was the completion of our first wall. Yay!

"Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward."
           -Kurt Vonnegut
Total Hours: 8

Day 2

Put in simple terms, we screwed a bunch of boards inside THE SQUARE to make a firm foundation. This was the first day we used the skill saw.

We cut and screwed into place 3 large boards and 2 short boards between each of the long boards. This took a lot of measuring, patience, and skillful sawing.

Michelle and Matt came over to witness our hard work. She took a picture (shown below) of our unique teamwork. I used the saw, and Brittni held the board in place.

By the end of the day we had completed the foundation. We felt very accomplished. We finally had tangible proof of our hard work.

"How firm a foundation..."
        -Hymn #85


"A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him."
      -David Brinkley

Total hours: 4

Day 1

This was the day we pulled out nail after nail and staple after staple from pallet after pallet.

After we had enough salvaged wood, we began construction of the foundation. First, we had to talk with "the experts" on how to build a foundation. Next, we decided the dimensions we wanted. The first big problem was that the wood was thin, so we had to double the wood for double the strength. Our last accomplishment of the day was the completion of THE SQUARE (the basic structure of the foundation).

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

             -Henry Ford
Total hours: 4

Day 0

With the help from a few experts (Dani and my dad), Brittni and I came up with our plans for the playhouse. It took several hours and plenty of distractions, but we had plans. We decided to be thrifty and use whatever materials we could find at our houses rather than spend tons of money. We began our search by taking a tour of my yard. The materials we found were not the highest quality, but we were confident we could make it work.

"Work without Hope draws nectar in a sieve,
And Hope without an object cannot live."
          -Samuel Taylor Coleridge