Hello all you wonderful people!
You may have seen our first section {the foundation!} of this little cabana series, and the second in our how to build a cabana series: framing! If you’re not familiar with this project at all, check out the full reveal here. + see all the All the posts on this series here.
We built a little cabana in our backyard, for all things outdoor entertaining last spring. And it was so much fun! Don’t let us fool you. It was a lot of work in the meantime, but still a lot of fun. Before spring, we’re slowly rolling out each post one by one, so that if you want to build one of your own, they’ll be ready just in time for all things warmer weather!
But first a necessary legal disclaimer:
This is not a small piece of furniture or a simple build, but a real structure. Therefore we will not be providing building plans, but more of a guide. If you’re new to building or do not in any way feel comfortable do not attempt this project without professional guidance. This tutorial is meant to serve as a jumping-off point for someone who feels comfortable with building or has professional guidance. It is not a construction plan, nor is it to be taken as a blueprint to build. We, The Handmade Home, assume no liability if you attempt this project.
Okay. Now that the lawyers are happy, on to the build.
What You’ll Need:
Siding + Roofing:
• 1 x 6 tongue and groove boards
• 1/2 pressure treated plywood
• 16 ga Finish nails and nailer
• framing nails and hammer
Adding the siding, while physically taxing in the dead of summer, is a nice mental break from some of the technical aspects of this build. It truly is as simple as it looks and really doesn’t need much explanation.
You’ll pick one side to begin, then measure the distance between the corner, and the farthest stud you can reach with the length of board you have. Then simply cut the board and after fitting it in, nail it in with your finish nails. Each board fits like a bit of a puzzle piece, building one off of the next until you’re finished.
Once you complete one side, simply start on another side with the same process.
(Pro tip: if your boards don’t naturally hit where your studs are placed, you can simply cut and add another 2 x 4 where you need it so that you can avoid cutting each board for the siding.)
Because we weren’t going to plank both sides of our closet walls, we went ahead and moved on to planking the inside wall.
Note: You’ll need access to one side of every wall if you plan to run electricity. If not, go ahead and plank everything.
Next, we moved on to the roof so that we could completely dry-in the structure.
To start with, we added some blocking to the ceiling area, just like we did on the framing of the subfloor. This simply adds more stability and can be made from any of the scrap wood you have lying around.
Next, we add 1/2″ pressure treated plywood as our roofing deck. You just cut the sheets to size and nail them in with your framing nails.
Here’s a quick view of that process from the underside, and how it sits with each piece underneath.
And a view from the top, as it was added.
From there, we added roofing underlayment. Make sure when you are adding this, that you start at the bottom and work your way to the high side. This way the sheets overlap and the high side sheet is always covering the lower side. This helps keep any moisture from rolling down the roof, and not puddle into it.
From here, you’ll want to add your final roofing product. In all transparency, this might be a place you want to call in a professional. As mentioned above, this is a rather large structure. It also comes down to what materials you choose to use here. There are so many tricks to the trade and little things to know about how to work with metal, that is just too much to explain in this tutorial. We feel better to leave it here as a guide, and let others do their own research or consult professionals on this part of the project.
Next on our list was to clean up any nail stranglers, places we might have misfired or a nail came through. We used our Greenworks grinder and made a quick trip around the structure cutting off any nails not fully embedded in wood.
Electrical
Now it was time for electrical and the first thing we did was make our list of outlets, and lights which helped us make our shopping list below. Yes, we wrote it on the half wall we built.
DISCLAIMER: If you have never worked with electrical wire before, perhaps consider hiring someone to do this for you or getting a buddy who does know what he is doing to help out. We in no way encourage you to attempt any electrical work if you feel even slightly untrained for it. In other words, don’t exceed your skill level. It’s definitely recommended to outsource to the pros on this one.
With that out of the way, and our shopping done, we mapped out what our circuits would look like.
Circuits are plugs or lights that will run off the same wire/breaker.
Once we had our electrical map, we began nailing in our boxes for our lights, and our plugs. Then all the drilling began. Using our Greenworks drill, we started at the terminal end of a circuit and drilled holes in all of our 2 x 4’s all the way back to where our electrical lines would connect to the main electrical box.
At this point, it’s simply about running your wire and tying everything together. Make sure you’re using the correct gauge wire for your circuits. 12/2 (yellow) wire is generally used for your plugs while 14/2 wire is generally used for most lights. In our case, we also used low voltage wire for our twinkle lights from Kichler while our porch lighting and downlights would use the 14/2 wire.
You’ll also want to make sure you have a GFCI outlet at the beginning of your plug circuit.
Once you’ve tested all your plugs and lights and know they work, you can board up the rest of the interior, and install the countertop.
We chose a red Oak butchers block for our countertop and before boarding up that side, we simply cut it to size, nailed in the back side as well as the side and supported it from underneath with some steel brackets. Then we began boarding around the butchers block to help hold it in place.
We tied up all our cords for lights and began covering everything in plastic, and used some FrogTape to hold it all in place.
Then the painting began.
Using our Wagner spray painter, we first primed everything with Sherwin Williams exterior primer.
Once the primer dried, which in the southern heat didn’t take long, we painted it with Sherwin Williams extra white.
From there the real fun began and we broke out all the Frogtape for the stripes. The striped ceiling kind of evolved over time, and we loved using more colors with Sherwin Williams:
• Blushing
• Breaktime
• Convivial Yellow
See more about our ceiling process, here!
At this point we could see the end in sight! Can’t wait to share the tiling, screening, barn door and more… all coming your way with those final touches!
Let us know if you have any questions and we’ll do our best to answer them below.
Have an inspired day!
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