Moving into an off grid fixer upper - a work in progress

[piddy3825]

Welcome to the Hunting Lodge!
Based on the lore of the island, the hunting lodge is one of the Islands oldest intact habital structures in the game.  
Built as a getaway for a rich land owner, it served it as a retreat for the rich and later as a base of operations to the eco activist group the Forest Talkers.

I was motivated to get inside as I heard the howl of a wolf pack off in the distance.  The nearby rabbit warren was in a frenzied state so I quick timed it to get inside.

 

I stepped thru the front door only to be greeted by a jumble of planks, broken shelves and dishes scattered about.

The previous occupants left stained mattressing which smelled like they came off an old whaling boat despite the fact it was freezing inside.

I started up the stairway and I looked back and could see the extent of the disarray of the what was once the great room of the house. 
My OCD kicked in and I couldn't go upstairs without at least putting some effort in cleaning up the room.

So I got to work...

Chop Chop Chop, my hatchet sang it's song of destruction.  Soon I had enough reclaimed wood to burn for a few days

The mattresses where the worst, stained with all sorts of ungodly gore of what appeared to be blood and other bodily fluids, I dulled my knife considerably
in shredding those foul smelly relics of better days.  I was surprised to find a trophy mounted to the wall after I cleared out the last stanky bed left standing.

As I finished up with the first floor, I looked back and was pleased with the progress I had made thus far.   

I'd been at it for hours now and I was tired, hungry and my tools were dull.  I made a nice hot fire in the fireplace, cooked up a can of beans and rolled out 
my bedroll for a much needed rest.  I was bone tired after all that cleaning and as I began to doze off lulled by the warmth of the fire, I realized there was
more to do...

 

 

[Sito]

It looks nice!

What did you do with the gun rack above the fireplace?

What bugs my OCD is that the inside does not match the outside. I go out and wander around the lodge and try to force my mental map of the upper floor to match up with the obvious errors displayed on the exterior portrayal of it. 

[Leeanda]

 Kudos for having the patience! It was well worth it the effort! That looks great!😃

[UpUpAway95]

Looking good so far.  Can't wait to see how it looks when you're all done and you work your usual magic with lanterns, hides, and assorted other items as props.  You are the undisputed master at homey base building.

[piddy3825]

1 hour ago, UpUpAway95 said:

Looking good so far.  Can't wait to see how it looks when you're all done and you work your usual magic with lanterns, hides, and assorted other items as props.  You are the undisputed master at homey base building.

Thank you for the kind words!  I plan on continuing to add to this story as I make the lodge in Broken Railroad my home.
I hope to live up to your expectations!

[piddy3825]

2 hours ago, Sito said:

It looks nice!

What did you do with the gun rack above the fireplace?

What bugs my OCD is that the inside does not match the outside. I go out and wander around the lodge and try to force my mental map of the upper floor to match up with the obvious errors displayed on the exterior portrayal of it. 

I left the gun rack of course.  Gun rack over the fireplace just screams "Hunting Lodge Chic" and it would have been sacrilege to have destroyed it.
When it comes to the layout, I too shake my head when trying to figure out how they designed it.  I guess that's the beauty of an interior loadable cell  vs. an open door concept like the guard room barracks in BlackRock?  like an "N" dimension space, am I right?

[piddy3825]

Having risen with the morning sun, I broke my fast and I set about sharpening my tools.  Once everything had been sharpened and honed to a fine edge, I went upstairs
in anticipation of more junk and disorder.

Arriving at the top of the stair, I stood and stared at the filth and junk littering the upstairs landing.

After a few hours of chopping, ripping and breaking down old cardboard boxes I got most of the landing spiffed up.  The musty dusty smell of the old 
tuna boat mattress faded ever so slightly after I ripped it so shreds and hauled the scraps outside to be burned later. 
I decided to save the bedframes for last.  I definitely need to get repair the hacksaw before I can tackle those frames.

Turning immediately behind me at the top of the stairs, I turned into the "bathroom?" 
I guess you could call it that because there was this big giant cast iron tub in the room and nothing else.   
Maybe the previous owners were going to put in a working bathroom but never got to plumbing in a toilet or a sink. 
Either way I decided to get started.

I made really good progress as most of the debris was small and easy to dispose of.   once I got all the crap outta the tub I could see that the plumbing 
was still intact!  That got me kinda excited.  I checked all the pails and they were in good shape.  I set them aside and took all the scrap downstairs and 
added to the growing pile of wood building up by the kitchen stove.

Returning to the task at hand I looked into first bedroom to the left of the stair way.  It was a good size room with a decent queen size bed.  I checked the
mattress and thankfully it was not from an old whaling boat and actually looked fairly new.  Although a little musty  I knew it just needed a good cleaning
maybe flip the mattress over and put on some clean blankets.

I got all the crap outta the way and reset the old trunk next to the rocking chair.  Looked to me like this would be a nice and cozy spot to enjoy a nice
cuppa herbal tea before bed.  But that would have to wait awhile, I still had work ahead.  

Checking in next room, again I found a rats nest of soiled smelly old whaling boat mattresses completely.  Utterly disgusting.  I dont know what they did 
in here, but I did find multiple rifle rounds scattered about the area.  I hope nobody needs this anymore...

For a moment I challenged my inner Luke Skywalker and using the force,
I was able to de-materialize one of the bed frames while levitating the mattress.  
It was a tremendous feat of will power, but alas, I grew weary very quickly and was unable to finish to the job.  
 

I moved to the final bedroom, the one situated to the right of the top of the stairway.  This room looked very much like the others, with a bunch of old
metal frame bunkbeds and of course on newer queen size bed and mattress.  

Having successfully repaired my hacksaw, I spent the remainder of the day breaking down the rusty creaky old bunkbed and the smelly mattress.  
I swept up the room, flipped the mattress on the bed and replaced the bedding.   When I returned to the room from hauling the scrap wood to the kitchen,
"Socks," my little furry compatriot decided that this was gonna be her room!

It's been a full day and I was happy with the progress thus far.   Having spent the entire day cleaning the upstairs, I find there is still much to be done.
But there's always tomorrow.  Time now to get some grub, let the fox out for a wee and soon it will be time for bed.  

I am not looking forward to working on those bunkbed frames...

 

 

[piddy3825]

The following day, I made my downstairs into the basement.  I always find basements to be kinda creepy.  Usually they are full of dust and old furniture, generally a place for rodents to live.  ugh...

As I got down to the bottom of the stairs, I took a quick look around.  The general assortment of junk greeted me from the base of the landing.

I worked my way to the back of the area and was met with more of the same.  Time to get to work!

Three hours later, I had managed to clean up the broken furniture and haul out the old wagon wheel.  I scrapped the bent up old metal shelving, broke down all the cardboard and hauled out the rusty old pipes.

The ladder had seen better days and was so rickety I feared being injured if I were to use it, so I scrapped it for firewood wood.   
The door was in better shape and looked as if termites or carpenter ants had been eating it lunch.  Fortunately my hatchet make quick progress and my burn pile had gotten considerably larger.

With on last final push before nightfall, I managed clean up the remaining debris, including breaking down the old rusted out animal trough.  
I salvaged the wheel barrow.  I'm not sure what I am gonna do with it but it was in too good of shape to destroy.  Maybe it will come in useful hauling stuff up to the lodge from the maintenance yard?

I got rid of the last smelly stained mattress, then prepared to spend the remainder of the evening breaking down the old bedframes.
I should have known better for it wasn't long before my hacksaw blade was tightly wedged in the hardend steel frame.  
I quit trying to extricate my saw from the impossible hold the old frame had exerted upon it and frustrated beyond measure I dropped my tools and left them lying on the floor.

Utterly exhausted, dirty and hungry I left the basement pleased with my progress for the day, but lamenting the loss of my favorite hacksaw...

Edited February 20, 2022 by piddy3825
spelling

[Catlover]

Moment of silence for your beloved hacksaw 😞

[odizzido]

On 2/18/2022 at 10:56 AM, Sito said:

It looks nice!

What did you do with the gun rack above the fireplace?

What bugs my OCD is that the inside does not match the outside. I go out and wander around the lodge and try to force my mental map of the upper floor to match up with the obvious errors displayed on the exterior portrayal of it. 

It would be neat if once they're done tweaking the maps they would just copy/paste the buildings into one map. I know they would have to do the outsides of the buildings some and maybe change the terrain some but I think it would be a significant improvement to the game.

[piddy3825]

1 hour ago, odizzido said:

It would be neat if once they're done tweaking the maps they would just copy/paste the buildings into one map. I know they would have to do the outsides of the buildings some and maybe change the terrain some but I think it would be a significant improvement to the game.

I'm not sure exactly what your asking when you say  "...just copy/paste the buildings into one map."    are you saying you'd like to see the buildings more like the guardroom barracks where you can just walk in and out?    If so, I could get behind that, being able to eliminate loading screens would be a fairly significant improvement to the game for sure!  And all the buildings would be dimensionally cohesive allowing for see thru and natural light?  Oh, hell yeah!  I bet @Sitocould get behind that as well.