A New Cabin

The past 26 months have been the craziest two years of my life. I spent most of my adult life flying by the seat of my pants, and being ok with it. 4 years ago we decided to do something a little different. We made plans. And boy, let me tell you, we aren’t make plans kind of people. It rarely works out. I guess I already knew that tho, lol

Anyhow, we had lots of plans that for various reasons didn’t come to fruition. One of them is building a cabin. We decided it was best for us to buy a larger prefab. We like these buildings. They are built well and can be converted easily. With our lack of resources and skills in that area, we are ok with paying some nice people to build the shell and we can finish off the insides. It’s a win/win.

We ordered the cabin in late May and with all the custom windows and doors it took 3 weeks to build. We had hoped and prayed the rain would hold off for delivery day, but the storms blew in the night before and so we had to wait a few days to move it up the hill. That was an event. Joe and the older boys helped the crew and the littles and I watched from the sidelines and took pics.

Here is a video of them positioning the cabin. https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=TPrPTLwINDA

Next we insulated. In the last cabin we used the itchy fluffy insulation. Joe found a great deal on this commercial insulation. It’s easier to put up and will be much better at insulating.

Next is putting up the walls. We used this from Home Depot. Just needed a slight sanding a stain for the look and feel we wanted for indoor use.

We decided to go with peel and stick vinyl tile squares. We used the primer to help hold them down (we did not in the last cabin) We bought these from Home Depot as well.

We took a while to decide on the layout. We decided to put the pantry, bathroom, kitchen and dining area on one end. The girls wanted a nook bedroom as did Quinten and Issac is still undecided if he wants a loft space or share a bunk with Quinten. The other boys will be in the loft above the rooms and the other loft will be for storage. The lofts are being cut back some as to open up the kitchen area a bit.

These are the bench seats for the table

I hadn’t seen the cabin since the interior walls starting going up. Joe wanted to make it a surprise. This is what I walked into. (Excuse the mess, we are still moving in and I was ok with not waiting till it was all settled 🙂

these are the finished bench seats. The table will sit here and more benches

the doors to the two rooms and our bed. The bed will have posts and curtains later, we will be putting folding doors on the rooms. But our bed doubles as a nap spot, reading spot etc.

The kitchen is going here. Counters will wrap the two walls and we will put up some shelves

full view of that end

Quintens room

Girls room, we will be building platform bunks and the unstained walls are for them to paint

Pantry and bathroom- we still need to put in the tub, sink and eventually a compost toilet.

Once the other projects are completed I will do a video tour.

A few things to note. While the cabin was well made, it’s a portable cabin and there is shifting. This made some walls uneven. Joe and Quinten had to make several adjustments in a few areas to make up for them. It was especially tricky with the wallboard and keeping lines straight.

While Joe and Quinten did most of the work, everyone from Jacob to Gabriel had their part in helping. It was a great family project and excellent experience for Quinten. The cabin looks amazing and I’m excited we are settling in. While it’s still a tiny home at 640sqft, we have the room we need as a large family living the tiny house life.

So what about the old cabin?

Well for one we learned a few tips. Pink insulation is crap, and even tho we stayed warm, we were too hurried during install and cut corners. And don’t buy cheap paneling. But this little cabin has been gutted and the walls are being upgraded just like the new one, and new flooring is going in as well. I’ll post more info on that later.