building

Building a Backyard Pirate Ship: Step-by-Step Guide

| Heather

I guess I’m using this winter to blog about all the projects I’ve gotten behind on writing about.
The garden and greenhouse took up so much of our extra time, I haven’t posted about one of the most awesome and most fun projects of all…THE PIRATE SHIP!

It all goes back to the giant cardboard pirate ship we made for Liam’s 1st Birthday. If you forgot about that beauty, you can read about it here. As Ryan and I were planning for that project, we both thought, someday we should build a real pirate ship. Because that would be the normal next step, right? Everyone thinks this way, right? Right? Well regardless, Ryan and I were thinking it and like so many other things that became possible when we moved to the Lost Wood, this was now possible.

Also, our sweet kiddos have really gotten into the idea that every birthday needs an elaborate theme. I’m sure that is in no way my fault, like not even a little bit (wait, actually, don’t read about Liam’s 1st Birthday above). Anyway, Jackson announced that his 6th Birthday would be Pirates vs. Princesses and he needed us to make another cardboard pirate ship to make the theme work. Ryan and I were both 100% sure we didn’t want to make another cardboard edition, it was time to make THE pirate ship.

I would say many of the steps were similar…

1. We made our own plan to fit a few specific goals:

  • We wanted it to be two stories tall, with an upper deck and lower deck.
  • We needed it to be big enough for our kids and cousins and friends and any adults feeling the need for piracy.
  • We wanted to create a cabin so the kids could camp out when they are a little older, and have a door to close (cougars in the woods, friends). And said cabin needed to be big enough to fit an air mattress or hammocks or bunks or something.
  • We also wanted to be able to add onto the ship as the kids get older and more adventurous (zip line to a crow’s nest, anyone?).

2. We made a couple of small, scaled cardboard models to see how our dimensions would work full size. We ended up with an overall size of 18′ long x 8′ wide. The finished cabin being about 8′ x 8′. Big enough for a queen-sized air mattress.

3. We bought supplies one step at a time. Because we weren’t using a set of plans, we wanted to be able to be flexible as we went. And we figured we would need to pivot at some point and didn’t want to buy materials we wouldn’t end up using. This ended up being a smart strategy, although we went to the local home improvement store a LOT!

4. After so much measuring and plotting, we dug some post holes. (This was the global “we”, I did not dig the holes.) We used 4 x 4 posts and filled the holes with concrete. Then we framed up the outline of the ship and basically built a floating deck.

5. We then focused on framing the walls of the cabin. Ryan also opted to make an “invisible” slanted roof so that water could drain off the cabin roof. Goal here was to keep it nice and dry inside the cabin.

6. After adding the corrugated roofing to the cabin, we essentially built a second deck on top of the cabin for the upper deck. We then added posts for railing, and then, you guessed it, railing.

7. We decided to use siding on the outside of the ship. Our hope is that it will withstand the weather well. And here you can see what I meant by the cabin roof line being “invisible”. You can’t tell it has a slant from the outside of the ship, but still get the benefit of water running off that roof and out the back of the ship. Liam really loved helping with this project!

8. You can see we also added a transition between the two-story level of the ship and the front of the ship with some plywood, and by extending the siding. Aesthetics are important! We also added some wood chips to even things out around the ship.

9. This is funny, often, the land gives exactly what you need. During the initial excavation of our property, we found this old post with a big chunk of concrete still attached. Unfortunately, it did not get removed with the other construction garbage. I had told Ryan we needed to take it to the dump or get rid of it somehow, I didn’t want a collection of random junk piling up around the property. A friend of ours joked it would still be around in 20 years…I did not find this idea funny. Well, the post sat and sat and sat because it was too heavy to get into a car to remove. But then, when we needed a way to mount a mast, by golly, we repurposed that post. We dug a big hole under the deck of the ship, and muscled it in. It gave us a sturdy place to mount a spray-painted PVC mast onto the ship. See, the land gives and yes, it will still be around in 20 years. Richard was right.

Total side note: It was a CHORE to get it muscled into place. To this day I’m still not sure how Ryan and I moved it on our own. Really Ryan gets the credit!

10. Next up, paint. No self-respecting pirate ship would be anything but black. (Also, it just so happens to coordinate with our black and white house, imagine that!). So I sprayed SW Tricorn Black on all of the siding. We did opt to leave some of the wood unpainted, loving that two-tone look.

11. Finally, we got down to the decorative features. More railings on the front of the ship, a second PVC mast on the upper deck. Sails out of inexpensive drop cloths. Very cool ladder with hand holds for safety and small children. Love what Ryan created there! Ship’s wheel, pirate flags, and we were ready for the party!

12. We later added the posts and rope bridge entrance. Also, some solar lights and the ship’s name on the stern. We have plans for a door on the cabin. But again, no project is ever, ever truly finished. (See every other post on my blog.)

This was an ambitious project for us. We had never done anything of this scale and we completely made up our own design. It was amazing how well it came together and how well Ryan and I worked together in each stage. Not because we don’t work well together (we do), but because at each step our vision really was so in sync. (And yes, we also listened to NSYNC while building this ship, I love me some 90s boy band music during a project.) This was also the project where I got over my fear of the chop saw and the pneumatic nail gun, which was amazing on its own. Our hope is that this ship will bring years of fun and imagination and delight for our kids.

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me!

xo,
-h

The Story of the Lost Wood

| Heather

Not sure exactly where to start this story… I could go back to May of this year or March of this year or approximately 13 years ago when we decided to move from Springfield to Harrisburg or even 15 years ago when Ryan and I got married.

Ok, I’ll make it quick. 15 years ago, we got married young. Realized we couldn’t both be in college at the same time, so we took turns. Ryan graciously allowed me to finish my Master’s Degree in Professional Counseling and then he decided to go to Oregon State University. OSU was about an hour from where we lived in Springfield.

So, we decided to move from Springfield to a small town between college and work called Harrisburg. It is less than 5,000 people and one stoplight small. We bought a house and we loved it there. And even after Ryan was done with college, we stayed. We loved our house and our small community.

Moving back had come up a few times over the 13 years we lived there. We both work in Eugene. Our church is in Springfield. Our families and friends are in Springfield/Eugene. But we just felt like Harrisburg was home. And although it added to the daily commute and made getting Kyrie to school in Springfield more challenging, moving just wasn’t on our radar. Maybe in a couple years we said. Maybe when it’s time for Jackson to go to school. Maybe.

I just have this picture in my mind of a path, a lovely steady path that really had no plans of changing. It was nice, it was comfortable, it came with a bit of a commute, but it was our path.

Then COVID-19 hit*. Similar to many others, the stay at home order meant a lot of Netflix, looking for toilet paper online, and creating a sourdough starter. Am I right? Who else has been baking sourdough? Luckily for Ryan, it also meant it was a perfect opportunity to tackle a few projects around the house.

We finished the wainscoting trim in the dining room.
We changed out the vanity in our powder room.
We planted three trees.
We added some brickwork around said trees and in the backyard off the patio.
We barked everything.
We added river rock around the pool.
We repainted our master bathroom.

The done list was looking amazing.

One last project, you know that dishwasher that had been sitting in the backyard for the last 5 (almost 6) years? Shameful, yes. We decided to finally make a trip to the dump and get rid of it. Yes, great weekend excursion for life in the time of corona virus.

Isn’t it interesting how God uses the most mundane moments to change our paths? A trip to the dump that we’d been putting off for over 5 years. God can use that.

After the trip to the dump and a smashed finger (poor Kyrie!), we decided to stop at Ryan’s parent’s house. We hadn’t seen them in weeks and thought it would be good to just say hello, even if it was a socially distanced hello.

And here is the moment that changed the Green family’s path.
Here it is, are you ready for it…???

We were talking to Ryan’s mom, Danielle, and she apologized that Ryan’s Dad, Greg, wasn’t around and that we would miss him during our visit. But he was up mowing some different properties that the family’s trust had on the market.

Time out, side note: Ryan’s grandparents owned several properties that they rented out. After their passing, these properties have been sold one-by-one by the family trust. We knew these were being sold, but we were happy and comfortable in Harrisburg (see paragraphs 3 and 4).

Time in: Danielle began describing one of these properties.

Danielle: It has a meadow, and creek, and lots of trees, it really is lovely (other than the dumpy trailer). Anyway, he’s up there mowing today.

Ryan: Meadow, creek, trees… how big is the property?

Danielle: 3 acres.

Another side note: In the past when Ryan and I would dream about owning property someday, we always said we would want 3-5 acres.

Ryan and Heather: knowing look

Ryan: We should go look at it.

Heather: Yes, yes we should.

Yet another side note:  Just so you, the reader, know, we were both only about 50% serious, maybe less. But life in the time of corona makes any excursion sound exciting. And it was almost like a game of chicken.

And so, everyone back in the van, and a couple miles up the road. Wait, actually, Ryan turned the wrong way. He nearly missed the moment, we nearly missed the new path.

Me: Hey, weren’t we going to look at that property?

Ryan: I thought you were joking.

Me: I was, but hey, why not!

Ryan: Ok!

Ryan whipped around and a few miles up the road and we were there. The driveway was a canopy of old Douglas Fir and Cedar trees. We hopped out and immediately saw the dumpy trailer (details), I could smell the fir/pine and cedar and rain. We could see the delightful meadow (aka front yard), we were surrounded by every shade of green you could imagine. And in the distance, we could hear the rushing water of a creek. Lovely, delightful, sweet, but someone else’s dream surely.

We went home and returned to normal.

The next day, I had decided I also wanted to repaint the powder room and had this super cool idea to do a dotted-diamond wall treatment. Ryan really is awesome at all things geometric (plus he’s super tall with long arms), so while the kids napped, I asked him to help me measure and mark the walls. About halfway done with the first wall (and at least 1 hour in),

Ryan: What did you think of that property?

Me: It was really nice, lots of potential. I’d love to have something like that someday. But we aren’t ready for step like that, right? And I love our house, we’ve done so much work lately, and I don’t want to give it up.

Ryan: Yah, it was really nice. [Insert a ton of Ryan talking about how much he loved growing up in the country. Space to run around in. You can make trails. Play in the creek. Put up a basketball hoop. Space. Build a tree house. Room to garden. Space. No neighbors looking into your backyard. No neighbors judging your lack of brilliance at landscaping. Space. I would love for our kids to grow up in the country.]

Me (nearly in tears, good tears): So what you are telling me, is you want to give our kids a lifestyle like what you grew up with? And that raising your kids in the country has always been a dream of yours? Ok, I’m in…. But the trailer isn’t livable, right? But what about our house? Harrisburg? Could we even afford something like that? Etc…

Ryan: I’ll call my dad and see if we can go back out with him and take a walk around.

So back to the picture of my path. Did it start a few months ago? Did it start 13 years ago? 15 years ago? I have no doubt in my mind that God knows exactly where this path started. But in my mind, I see a fork in the path that happened on that ordinary May day when we went to the dump.

I’m standing here writing this in an 800 square foot apartment. We sold the house. Turns out, all that work we were doing uniquely set us up to get the house on the market in about a month. Did God have a plan? Why yes, He did. The house sold in two days, the second family that walked through made us an offer. We went through the process of finding a lender and a builder.

Now we are living in this apartment while we get everything going on the build. Demo, trees, permits, etc. We spend several weeknights and most weekends up at the Lost Wood. Oh, yes, we named it. The kids already love tromping around in the woods and throwing rocks in the creek (looking at you, Liam). Each kiddo has their very own walking stick, courtesy of the Lost Wood. The property isn’t landscaped and has decades of old trees and broken branches and debris. Ryan and I have been clearing brush and raking leaves and thinning things out. Neither of us has ever enjoyed yard work, but we love this yard work. Ryan has dreams of creating walking paths, and a few patios areas, and a tree house. I’m excited for a lovely outdoor patio to enjoy the view, and to plant a bigger garden, and to watch my kids grow up in the Lost Wood.

God has showed up in other ways as well, ask me sometime about our fence, my grandparent’s legacy, apartment 84, the rats, or the unethical appraiser. We’ve already been blessed beyond measure.

The next adventure involves moving to the Lost Wood in a travel trailer. But more on that another day. 

XO, Heather

*Please don’t think I don’t take COVID-19 it seriously. I know it has been a global tragedy in so many ways. And my heart breaks for all those that have been impacted negatively.