 Over the last month we have been on a mission to transform our cabin's exterior and it's been quite a whirlwind. Like the entire house is bowling and it's not just like one little area. These past three years we've been transforming this cabin in the woods into our dream homestead. Many of the renovations we have tackled all by are lonesome but we need help. Friends! Friends! Friends! We have a fun project for you! This week our calls were answered as we welcome some of our bestest friends to help us assist in the transformation. Or so we thought. These first few pieces are always a little bit more tricky. I forgot to paint it and I forgot to cut it on the angle of the strappings. What is going on? So happy nice hair! Good, thank you. You look so lovely Max. This is like the look going on in Canada right now. Oh my goodness who did that? How are you? Good, good to see you. You too Maxie. I'm low. Low batteries. You're all late. I'm going to have a chayote too. What the heck is this? You think you're on holidays? Yeah, well I did. Just kidding y'all. Like climbing time warm up? The job site is moving today people. This summer our cabin has been a revolving door and it's the best feeling ever. And I mean revolving door in the best way. We've had so many visitors, friends and family from all around the world visiting. And now the cabin is very much a home and it's comfortable. We have electricity and a bathroom and running water and all of these things. It's such a great feeling to be hosting everyone. But one person in particular had no problem visiting when it was super rough. One year ago Max came to visit and Max is back again. And we're going to put it to work and we're going to get the sighting done together. We're not putting Max straight to work, don't worry everyone. We are not that mean. We've been hanging out for a couple of days. So we haven't seen you all in a couple of days. But it's been nice to catch up with our friend Max who lives all the way over in Australia. And a lot of you will know who Max is as he is Max and Aki on YouTube. They actually recently purchased a beautiful cabin in the rainforest of Australia. And it's crazy to think that last year at this time he was sitting in our hot tub building it with us saying that he wanted a cabin. And I'll wait to see the changes to the cabin next time. Yeah, we're doing cabin next. Well, maybe you'll come to my cabin. And now he has one. Anywho, if you've been along for the journey, watching us turn this cabin from abandoned to what it is now, you will love what Max is doing because he basically has asbestos in all of his walls and roof and he's already roofed the cabin and the walls and everything else. So you ready for duty? Oh yeah, just had to condition the curls. You might not recognize him with his new haircut, but I don't know. Let us know if you dig it in the comments. Supervisors are on duty. Siding goes faster with more people. We have to use Max's hands. There's no if, ands, or buts. Noice. Perfect. Now we paint. I'm not painting. That's not part of my art. Oh yes, I have someone else that doesn't love painting. Painting slows you down, wait. As soon as Jazzy got a spray gun, she started painting everything all of a sudden. She loved it. Painting's fun? When you have a spray gun. Two seconds later. I love these fine things, hey. So much better than a brush. Because I'm Ron. The stain that we're using to seal up the ends of the each board is clear stain mixed with a couple ounces of black paint. And there you go. Yeah. Okay, but so the stain just protects better than paint. Normal paint. Yeah. You look good in that hat. You're a nice hat. Joined. Joined the pack. Part of the pack. Sometimes it gets lonely out here. And I know that no matter where you are, even if it's in a city of four million people, it can feel just the same way. For me, it's important to have a listening ear, someone outside of my circle to lean on. And to help me through not just the hard times, but help me navigate my way to the good ones. A huge thank you to the sponsor of this week's video, BetterHelp. As most of you know, Jasmine and I have been seeing our BetterHelp therapists for over two years now. And while it looks go, go, go out here, there are times where it is difficult to film and those are the dark days that we have. We are human and on our down days. And during these periods, we are very grateful for therapy. Therapy has allowed us to be better versions of ourselves, better partners, better dog moms, better friends and better to the strangers that we meet. Finding a therapist can be very difficult. BetterHelp has made this process so much easier as it's online and remote. And when you answer just a few of their questions, they can match you with your very own therapist in as little as a few days. BetterHelp's mission is to make therapy more affordable and more accessible. You can change therapists at no additional cost. If you've been thinking about therapy, this is your sign. Going through something really does get you through it. Click on the link in the description or go to betterhelp.com forward slash vanwives. That's better H-E-L-P to get 10% off your very first month of therapy. Crashing! I swear, if you two built a cabin, probably the most perfect cabin there would be out there. But we'd still be building it. One tick under 30. That's one and a half inches. That'll be the square line down to there. Big halt. We've hit our first obstacle. And that's because our deck, the porch, the window, and all of that is not 100% level. So even though our level was reading, that the shiplop was level, it's not. Because the window is straight, it's going to be a straight line. It's just on an angle, cut and down. So like as long as you have those measurements. Yeah, yeah, I see what you're saying. It should, yeah, touch wood should be right. Like Max said, it's one of the things we just hope works out. I have to say, I'm in help around. Sure is nice. We're cutting this teeny little edge and it's almost like we've had to scribe it. So let's check this out. Are we going to get it the first try? Pressure's on! I'm nervous because I feel like it's so ready to get these first go. Max! That looks so clean! Move it! Yes! As a perfectionist, I look for that stuff. The satisfaction. Satisfaction. Of that meat. Pretty stoked on that. Wow. And if you want to see more perfect cuts, head to Max and Ocky on the YouTube channel. Shameless plug of perfection. It feels so good to welcome Max back to the cabin. We can always use another helping hand and a few good laughs along the way. Oh no, all right. Crystal, that's perfect. I appreciate that. You don't need anything on the corner, you've just nailed the cuts. The cabin already looks phenomenal. It looks really good. It's really surreal to see it from this side. I think the front and the deck side are going to be the most dramatic of a change because we are always looking at those two sides and using those two sides. I actually cannot wait to come down the driveway and see it fully done. It's looking sharp. Alrighty. I'm probably going to steal this from my cabin. Looks sick. Blackwood siding. Do you ship to Australia? Max, he wants it. I don't want it for sure. At least even I reckon you don't often see people do feature walls on the outside. Oh, I'll show you their Instagram. Actually, they have some really cool things to feature walls. These like Toronto houses are starting to do this and they're looking like, I don't even like the city and I'm like, holy s***, look at this modern house. Toronto. Yeah, Toronto. They think every can that opens is very darkened. Although it's still taking some time, we are absolutely crushing this wall and it looks so good. The window is about to be wrapped up. Chef's kiss. How's it going? I'm nervous. I am. So is that siding on it there? Pretty well. There's a little bit of a gap but like a normal amount. On the edge? No. Yeah, yeah, but a total normal amount. Like. I know. Sounds like a gap still. Hey guys, maybe you want to be putting this for a second. You need the AP? Yeah. Boss is here. Stop. The problem is when I run this level on the top of it, it's going like slowly down. Keep that pace. Definitely keep it where it can't get damaged. Do all this side because we want this up to here and then we can run a piece across and see how it all marries up. And as long as it marries up, okay, you can run it. Yeah. So do you guys need me? Or have you figured it out? No. Okay, cool. Thank you. Thank you. What I was saying is I don't normally like to be the bitch but I do not want to be the perfectionist. That mumble jumble of questions out there, let's just say I'm glad I'm in here with all of you. Kind of like what your life is like. Hey bear, it is straight chilling. Nothing like the fresh basil. Lunch is ready. All bring the plates out. I don't want to make more than two trips. Bubbly's in my pouch. She's like the kangaroos and Aussie. They can't stop. Hell yeah. Don't run too fast day for your food. Oh, I'm starving. This lunch time, is it? It's dinner actually but it's late dinner, late lunch. Late lunch, early dinner. Looks incredible. I love bruschetta so much. Hope you enjoy mine. Cheers. Cheers. After a full day of work, night came rather quickly but things are getting serious. Sport mode, y'all. Evening shift. After weeks and weeks of challenges and setbacks, we are motivated more than ever to complete the exterior transformation. We can't wait to show you all. Even gap, look at that. Wow. Oh, nice. Oh, that's so good. Oh, I love it. Thank you so much for helping us today Max. Loved every minute of it. Again, we're stopped by the rain. But we were welcomed by our good friends Tyler and Todd who graciously came over to help us with our siding install. But as the rain fell, we found ourselves connecting over a delicious spread. Sharing stories and challenges as we all continued to build our dream homes while documenting it on YouTube. It was a welcome day of rest and connection. Tyler and Todd have been on a wild but rewarding journey of building a fully off the grid shipping container home in the middle of the woods and creating their homestead they always dreamed of. They supported us on our move to Nova Scotia housing us when we first arrived and continue to be some of our closest friends a forever kind of friend, you know? Days like this are far and few between. We savored the conversations and the food and we are ready for tomorrow. Well, sort of. The three musketeers. Where's the fourth musketeer? No, Todd and I are friggin pioneers. You're all lazy slobs. Lazy slob one, lazy slob two, lazy slob three. After a late night, we had a pretty slow start to the day. We mustered up the energy to let the dogs take us for a walk as they were itching to explore. The best friends are back together. Let's see your best friend, fairies. It's glowing. It's frothy over here too. Whoa, how do you do that? First try doesn't take too long. Only three. It turns out this is exactly what we needed. Nothing like a little movement and nature to prepare us for the big task ahead. I'm so excited. We're gonna side my favorite side. Look at that energy. Yay. She's the only one sharing that energy today. Feeling a little hungover from the adult babies last night, I would say. Welcome back to siding part two. And this time, what? That's what I was about to say until you caught me off. She's been working on that wall for an hour, Crystal. But first we need to rip all the decking boards a little bit. Thinner as we have now strapped our house and our siding needs to go around a half inch above the decking boards. Let's get it. Math, baby math. We really got the whole team on this one. These first two pieces are always a little bit more tricky. So can I see where that goes on? We'll just make it a quarter bigger than this piece. When we're in? Is it still big though? Finally. We got the right measurements. 3.48 pm. We're still working on getting the bottom pieces in and then we'll be working our way up. No problem. Super fast. So it's the same. What is going on? How many YouTubers does it take to do a bit of siding? What's even going on? Honestly. We got the first grand. All right, time to go home. Working with friends is fun. I thought the first pace was down. I forgot to paint it and I forgot to cut it on the angle of the strapping. So here we go. Taking the first piece off again. I might just save my celebration until you start on the second piece next time. That's probably a good idea. Who's got the saw today? So where do you get our serks off? I think it's all level. Wow, we got one piece, y'all. Literally one piece. Yeah, but anyone wants to hire us? Baby doll. Really cheap labor. However, it might take us like a year to get. Yeah, well, you're painful. But my friends are here and I'd rather hang out with them because I put them to work all day. We got one piece off and I never get to see all these people. We tried our best, you guys. When nothing's going right, you get tub. Let's go, boys. Quite for me. Deja vu. It's perfect. Unlike last year. Australian stew. Anyone ordered some stewed Australian? Even though nothing got done today, we know the setting will get done eventually. And what we don't know is when the five of us will be all together again. So we might as well enjoy it. What a better way to spend the time than making pizzas. It's a pizza party. They're going to do that. Anybody want to go herb hop? Hi, Max. No hugs. No hugs. I better be getting bloody high. Bye. Thanks for coming. Thanks for having me. Love it. It's I'm glad it's not going to be so long until the next one. See you so soon. Cannot wait. Head on over to Max and Aki's channel to see him rip apart a cabin and to see him transform it to something that was people were telling him to rip down and he's bringing it back to life. Yeah, inspired by these girls and I know a lot of you probably already do subscribe to them. But if you don't, they're the real deal. You're the real deal. You and Aki, we love Max so much. We love you. Love you too. Thanks for coming. If any of you know the three of us, we probably are all the slowest moving people in the entire world. Let's go. Let's go. We're now watching a butterfly instead of late. What'd you say? We're now watching a butterfly instead of late. Crystal said we would be ready by 10 to leave. What time is it? Anyone know? 11. What? 11. One hour late. Okay. Goodbye for the second time. Love you, pack. Ciao. We're back to just the two of us. We have been doing this sighting a little bit funky. We have four total sides to our cabin. One is done, two are half done. And well, this one has only two pieces on it. Why do we keep moving on? Well, every single time we get to a tricky part, I like to trick my brain and move on to the next part. So I go on a roll and I get happy again. And that's just what we've all been doing. So now we're left with two tricky sides, front and back. And well, you saw this disaster yesterday. Why we're moving back here? I'm tired of looking at my blueberry smurf house. You understand? Comprend? Bueno. Let's get crack-a-lackin'. Step one, remove yesterday's work. We are removing in the bottom pieces here and the decking and we're starting fresh. In our draft at the airport, honestly the main topic of conversation was what the heck happened on this side. What are we going to do to this wall? What are we going to do to this wall? Step two, remove the decking boards. We are having the best fall ever. 10 out of 10, autumn weather. It is perfect to be working in. Leaves are falling. It smells delicious. I can't even begin to explain how perfect it is. I wish I could box it up and send it to you all. And this would typically be the hottest side to be working on and it would be unbearable. It's the perfect combination. Step three, so now if we take half inch down there, we have the correct gap. And then by removing that half inch, all of our lines on each side will be meeting up perfectly right at the corners. Okay, we literally just ripped our new piece and the table saw was so focused, we forgot to film it. But guess what everyone? Crystal's at the painting station and you want to know why? Because painting is fun. Bits, we finally did the bottom first piece. Can I just tell you how much I love this weather once more? I think it should be a weather network, lady. Yeah, I could see myself doing that. I can actually see you on the weather station. Me too. Success! That literally took us seven minutes. So, y'all, baby. It's done. Have you looked at this guy, Ben? What you doing? Oh, just sending a picture to Tyler and Todd and Max saying, bottom row's done. Took us 30 minutes. Nope. I should have kept going with the track. Look at what I'm doing. Third time's a charm. Imagine it wasn't. That would just suck. You got no board still? Better two bags than two small. Anyone know any clever jokes after third time's a charm? Fourth time's a... me either. Winner, winner! The foundation of this side, meaning the very first boards that start the climb of the Ship Lap app are perfect. They take the longest. This is the longest part. And now we get to crush. Are you ready to crush? Are you ready to crush? This part gets me pumped up because we worked so hard to get to this point. Two and a half hours, baby. Two and a half hours to get that bottom layer down around the window. And now it is basically straight cuts here, here, and there. Bam! Bam! Looking good, Cavinia. This isn't looking good. This is looking amazing with Jazzy on the saw and myself on drill duty. We will have this done in no time. Who knew a September day would bring this? I mean, you're all watching this in October and just so you know, my birthday's in October. I don't expect anything, but a lot. Lots of love in the comments. It's my birthday month. Just want to let you all know. Don't wish her a happy birthday yet. She smokes. Oh, new cabin. The rooms just look perfect. The roof looks perfect. The chimney looks perfect. Hey? Hey? Retweet. Happy with that. We are so happy with how this is looking. This charred Shoshugi band is exceeding our expectations. Even the girls are excited for it to come together. Who did that side? Was that you? See? Told ya. Dinner led to a one wheel and one wheel led to yet another very special visitor.