Due to several factors beyond our control, we decided to delay starting the MVC (Minimum Viable Cottage) build until 2024.

What this means for you, dear reader, is a bigger focus on birds, tree felling (known as "lumberdacking" here), wood stacking and stickering, and preparations for the ski run, including rope tow hardware and engineering. It will probably also lead to at least one and possibly several more pivots on our plans for the MVC.

So, let's get to it.

Here's the entrance to the back bowl. This initial run has been cleared down to the gorgeous white pine in the distance, which is about 250 feet long with 65 feet of vertical drop. It's roughly the halfway point. It's ready for ❄️. Anticipating that I flagged some of the bigger stumps and rocks I couldn't remove by hand.

Here are our kitchen shelves, along with the some 6" stock for our pocket door slabs. The initial idea was to have these being floating shelves, but 2" x 12" solid oak will demand beefy steel brackets (and probably a steel-reinforced wall).

Here's our 1-by material so far. It's flooring and cladding for all the walls and ceilings. There is lots more still to be milled.

About two weeks ago I met with our architect for a deep dive into wall height, roof pitch, and what makes a cottage a cottage.

We couldn't figure out that last one — cottage architecture is all over the place — but we did agree on abandoning our original 10/10 plan (10' wall + 10/12 roof) and pivoting to an 11/11 approach. In short, to make the MVC more Silvernailsy.

I pulled the idea into SketchUp and I think this is where we're going to finally land. I love how this looks.

Why all the glass, you ask? The view! We want to see it as much and as often as possible. This is the front of the house. The money side. The entire reason why people pay a hefty premium for escarpment lots in Door County.

We're putting folding patio doors in the center bent to connect the indoor and outdoor spaces, and also enlarge the size of our mere ~850 square feet. If we weren't in Climate Zone 6 and at ~45° latitude and have a shit-ton of giant 🦟🦟🦟, I'd put these doors in all three bents and have them open all the time.

One thing I did discover in doing this was SketchUp's new Live Components. So cool. This feature is clearly MVP — there are so few LCs — but these windows and doors are all drawn with components built by and hosted at SketchUp, so they can be configured live and presumably updated with new features as the SketchUp team adds them. My favorite part was playing with the window and door openings to see how things look open, closed, and in-between. SketchUp team, if you're reading this, kudos and please add way, way more.