Wyoming Cabin Life

Our plan was to get as much done on the house before we took a little vacation to see family at Christmas time. It was a good plan, but there were a few hiccups. Kitchen The kitchen cabinets were finally delivered and we jumped on getting them installed. We knew we were going to tile the kitchen floor so we lifted the cabinets with a 3/4” board to give us enough room to lay the Duroc and the tile. This is an important step! If we didn’t lift the cabinets the dishwasher wouldn’t fit correctly under the countertops. Now everything is level and if the dishwasher needs maintenance we can pull it out easily.  With all our prep done we were ready to go. There were a few challenges: -the wall oven cabinet couldn’t be lifted so we had to get creative with the toe kick (we will eliminate the toe kick and have the cabinet face go from floor to ceiling) -the gas range valve had to be placed in a different position due to HVAC ducts (we bought a longer hose to reach the valve on the rang...

A lot has happened since my last post. We are finally all under the same roof! We moved Jim’s mom up to Pinedale on the 23rd. It was a long day in the cold, with wind, and slippery sidewalks and parking lots. It is nice not to have to travel back and forth the 100 miles between Rock Springs and Pinedale, especially with the winter weather. It’s also nice to have all of our stuff in one place! We didn’t get everything done that we wanted to before we brought her up, but have made some good progress. Pantry The new pantry used to be the small laundry room. We knew that our front load washer and dryer would not fit into the space as it was, they are just too big. There were lots of ideas thrown around, but no matter how we arranged it, it still would have felt cramped. So it was decided that the room would become a pantry with a freezer in it and the washer and dryer would go into the mud room. This would require moving plumbing and electrical. Jim’s least favorite thing is plumbing!...

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted. We jumped right in a few days after taking possession of our house and it’s been a steady stream of work and progress. The flooring was removed and new carpet put in the bedrooms. Recessed cans were put in the bedrooms, ceiling fans installed and the walls painted. We ran across some challenges and had to make adjustments. The paint colors were reassigned: weathered white became the wall color and chic gray became the accent wall color. We haven’t quite figured out the trim yet. Before After Next we began to work on the guest bathroom. The soffit and lighting, flooring, toilet, exhaust fan and countertops were removed. We laid down cement board and tiled the flooring. We replaced the toilet with an elongated bowl and top mounted flush mechanism. New lighting, mirror, and exhaust fan all replaced. I think my favorite part is the black walnut countertop with stainless steel sink and nickel faucet. The cabinet above the toilet i...

There are a few things we look for in a house to remodel: structurally sound, up to date electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems, layout, spaces for storage, and most important the vibe! How we feel in the space is important. We’ve walked into homes and immediately felt like we needed to turn around and go back out the door. We’ve also been in places that made us feel okay or maybe nothing at all. We know we have a winner when we feel at home and excited about a house. That’s how the cabin makes me feel. There is a peace there that I really enjoy, even though I know there is a lot to do to remodel the house to make it ours. Knowing that the house feels good is what will help us get through the rough days of remodeling ahead! We are facing some challenges with this remodel because of it’s location. Pinedale is a little town of just over 2000 people situated 77 miles from Jackson, Wyoming and about 100 miles from Rock Springs, Wyoming. Our supply resources are limited and the costs are ...

The Wyoming retirement plan has evolved over the last 6 months. Originally, we were going to sell our house in Oregon, use the money from the sale to move to Wyoming, find jobs and buy some property with a house on it or build a home on it. The goal was always to have a job, but as time went on we really started to enjoy being retired. We know we are relatively young to be retired, but not having to deal with the stress of full time employment has been a blessing. Our mental and physical health has improved and its been nice to spend time with each other. The epiphany of wanting to stay retired (for now) changed our housing goal. It took some time to adjust our goals. The big house on property was a good goal and we had been focused on this goal for months, so giving it up has been difficult. We started to compromise on our wants as time went by. Maybe we don’t need property. Maybe we build a big new house on a lot. Maybe we buy a big house that needs some remodeling. None of these m...

One of the great things about Wyoming is it’s desire to keep government regulation under control. One of the challenges of home buying in Wyoming is the lack of government regulation. It’s a double edged sword. Wyoming is a “buyer beware” state. Sellers aren’t required to fill out a disclosure form listing the deficiencies of their property. This is great for the seller, but not so much for the buyer. When we asked the realtor for the disclosure on the first house we wanted to put an offer on she replied, “Oh, we don’t do those here. In fact we discourage sellers from filling them out because they really don’t know how to.” What!? It was a bit of a shock because we had just sold our home in Oregon and the disclosure was part of listing the house. We decided to use common sense and paid for a home inspection, including a radon test. What a blessing the home inspection was! We learned a lot of new information during the home inspection like: Outside city limits permits are not requ...

It all started with the crazy idea that we would take a two week road trip checking out different states to retire to. We drove through Oregon, California, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho. Prior to our trip we researched housing, job availability, taxes, and outdoor activities like hiking, fishing, motorcycle riding, and water sports. By the time we were ready to leave we already were leaning towards Idaho or Wyoming. The taxes, or the lack of certain taxes, was a big plus for Wyoming! We had a great time on our trip and fell in love with Wyoming. It’s stunning beauty, nice people, low taxes, low crime rates, and housing costs all fit the bill for our retirement needs. We were ready to move! Jim fully retired that November and I was getting ready to leave employment by February. We had a plan! Needless to say, the plan did not go as smoothly as hoped. The job Jim had applied for had an extremely long hiring process which made it difficult to plan an exit date. So we fini...