Better Hovels and Cabins

Better Hovels and Cabins..
   or a little Home Cabin Tour


The other morning I was cleaning the cabin.
And since it was clean, I decided to take a few pictures.
(Anyway, a friend of Belle's was coming into town to surprise her and I felt the least I could do was corral the dust bunnies and de-fur the furniture. That might be the first clue that Spring really is coming. Carlos has suddenly developed an inordinate amount of disposable hair.)
And since I had pictures of a clean cabin, I knew that Architectural Digest might want them.
Then I had a reality check.
OK, maybe y'all would like to see.
So today we have a house cabin tour.
Alert all the design blogs.

And come on in...

Our front door opens directly into the living/dining room.

The Indian prints on the wall are probably half the reason we own this cabin and not some other little hovel.   We've had those prints forever and I love them. There are six of them that have been on some wall or another in the Texas house for the last 20+ years.   When I walked in this cabin door I KNEW that the Indians belonged here. And I was right.
They were one of the first things to make the trip up after closing.

Isn't it nice that the dog is color coordinated? 

The fireplace was probably darling when the cabin was new with its little arch, but chimney issues (along with functionality issues) meant that the fireplace got scrapped for a pellet stove insert.
I had never heard of a pellet stove prior to cabin shopping, but let me tell you, that baby is my new best friend. At least on the cold days.
Very efficient at warming things up and pellets are very easy to buy, carry and store.   Compare that to a wood burning stove that requires logs being chopped and stacked and brought in, usually with creepy-crawlies attached.
No thank you.

To the right of the door is the dining area and kitchen.  Behind that strategically placed rug hanging on the wall is the enormous fuse box. Who plans these things?? It is the first thing you see when you walk in the door. Convenient for when the girls plug in a two and a five at the same time, but otherwise really bad planning.  (And if that sentence didn't make sense to you, click here.)

The entire front living area is a grand total of 20 feet by 13 feet. With 7 foot ceilings. Fortunately, as Bunny puts it, "we are not tall people".

The kitchen is tiny but so functional.

I love the cabinets. They are so hokey but also so perfect for a log cabin.
Originally this kitchen was blue. Actually the entire cabin was pink and blue. Baby pink and baby blue. Really.
Blue countertops and blue wallpaper with the perfect pink and blue flower wallpaper border at the ceiling. I pulled that wallpaper off first thing and we lived with unfinished walls for a year before I finally found wallpaper I could stand.
The countertops were changed right off the bat along with a new deeper sink and spray faucet.  I don't mind small but I do mind non functional.   (That wallpaper is intertwined antlers- a nod to the fact we call this place Mad Deer Cabin.)

Here's a before picture. Remind you of the 80s? Or was it the 70s?

The death-trap stairs are between the living room and the office area. They go upstairs to the two bedrooms. You won't be seeing those because the girls leave them in a constant state of Yuck.
Here is Carlos guarding the top.

And this is Carlos's view from the top.
These stairs are not only steep but also uneven. The treads measure anywhere from 7 inches to 9 inches deep.
Pretty sure these stairs would not pass code anywhere.  Good thing we are out in the country where no one cares.   Also good thing the first floor ceilings are only 7 feet high. When you fall down the stairs (everyone does) at least you don't fall far.

I had the sign custom made.

Doesn't help a bit. 

People still slip.

Here is my little office area where my computer is supposed to sit. But it doesn't.

Unfortunately it is also the laundry room.
Of course, I keep the laundry area this sparkling clean and organized ALL the time.
Because this part of the cabin is over a crawl-space, the whole room vibrates when the washing machine spins. That is why my iPad has a crack in it now. It actually vibrated off the desk.

That door on the right leads to the one and only bathroom.
And the wall with the shelves and door opening used to be the back wall of the cabin. Everything beyond that is an add-on. Thank goodness. Otherwise this place would be a bit too small.
The original foot print of this cabin back in 1975 when it was built was 20 x 30 feet.

And this is where I blog:

Don't tell the hubs…he thinks this is his fly-tieing desk. Ha! As if that will ever happen.

You can see on the left what used to be the exterior of the cabin.

Behind me is the mud-room.  I LOVE having a mud room, particularly because we have had lots of mud.

And look who is guarding the back door now.

He's a very all purpose guard dog.

Then there is the master bedroom in the back. It's a big undecorated room with an odd shape.

This little corner is where the elf works on her sewing machine. And watches TV. 

This used to be the back bedroom.  

Be amazed at the variations of pink. I was.

So was the flooring guy who replaced the carpet. 

Wow! And we bought the place anyway.

And through the back room is the door to the deck.   

When we bought the cabin there was the door, but no deck. If you happened to step out the back door you would drop about 5 feet.  Pretty sure that wouldn't have passed code either. 

Again, good thing we are out in the middle of nowhere and no one cares. 

So thanks for coming along on the cabin tour.  

In a few months I'll have the garden tour.

That would be once the garden is no longer under a foot of snow.

Can't wait.

(I also can't wait unit I get my Nikon back. It is in need of repairs and there is no place here to get that done. So the camera is in Texas and hopefully will be fixed by the end of March when we head back down there. It is next to impossible to get a clear shot with my iPad or iPhone. Blogger issues. Sigh.)