Note: This is part 2 of a two-part post about Bruce & Nancy’s cordwood masterpiece(s). The first part is available at Most Beautiful Cordwood part 1 Before Bruce & Nancy built their cordwood masterpiece near Saranac, New York they built a storage shed and then a guest cottage. 
They lived in the 315 sq. ft. round guest cottage for 9 months, while they built their home. The following pictures from their most excellent home tour during the Cordwood Conference in July 2015. 
Bruce explains the construction of the guest cottage. 
Even though the guest cottage looks round, it carries a full, hidden post framework of 6″ x 6″ timbers with 12″ cordwood infill. Bruce “hid” the posts on the inside of the wall by using his latest invention “Wraparound Log Ends.” The posts are only visible from the inside. Notice the cordwood is notched and screwed to the post. Bruce wrote an article about his wraparounds for the Cordwood Conference Papers 2005.
The living roof is all most finished. The interior has beautiful bottle end motifs. This was their practice building before they built their lovely Ravenwood home. 
Bottle end beautiful! Can you see the smiling frog?
Tom stops for a moment of reflection and a smile. 
Nancy works on the new house using double-wall (the guest cottage is single wall). This exterior wall is 8″ thick with two 3 inch mortar beads and 2″ of sawdust insulation. There will be 6″ of blown-in water-based foam and then another 8″ of cordwood on the interior: producing a super-insulated wall.
The other side of the guest cottage. 
Should you wish to learn how to build a cordwood cottage, cabin or home, please visit www.cordwoodconstruction.org While you are there, click on the pictures, read the brief articles, check out the latest workshops and newsletter and if you are interested click on the Online Bookstore to see all the cordwood literature available in print and ebook format.
If you have questions that aren’t answered on the website you can email me at richardflatau@gmail.com
Readers have requested a brief bio, so here goes. “Richard & Becky Flatau built their mortgage-free cordwood home in 1979 in Merrill, Wisconsin. Since then, they have written books, conducted workshops, facilitated the 2005, 2011 and 2015 Cordwood Conferences and provided consultation for cordwood builders. Cordwood Construction: Best Practices and Cordwood Conference Papers 2015 are the newest publication available from their online cordwood bookstore. www.cordwoodconstruction.org
