We Bought a Cabin!

I’m beyond excited to announce that my next project is… well a whole new house! We bought a cabin!

Why a Cabin, why now?

Anyone who knows me in real life has been wondering what we might do when our house is totally finished. And while I don’t think my house will ever be truly and completely “finished”, we have completed the lion’s share of the major renovation work.

I have some rooms I want to come back to and some I would like to add to, some furnishings or wallpaper that I can update here and there, but the days of tearing out walls in this house are *mostly* behind us.

This is pretty on-par for us, as we have a habit of moving on from our homes around the five-year mark (we bought this house in 2020). Itchy feet, as they say. Plus, I have always enjoyed working on my home and having a project on the go.

However, we are not ready to move on from the home we are in now. It works so well for us and has all the things we want in a home. Eventually we might want to downsize to something a little smaller, but for now, it is just right.

We tossed around the idea of moving or buying an investment house (to flip or rent out) but none of that felt all that appealing to us at this stage in life.

We also considered making a cool Air BNB and that was when we thought about a spot at the lake. We started looking and thinking about what we would like if we were renting a place for a week or two.

After looking for a bit we started to think that maybe it did not have to be an investment. Maybe we could enjoy the fruits of our labour (for once!) Maybe we could create a place that the kids would want to visit, where the friends and extended family could gather for the weekend.

We started to dream of a place we could putter away on fixing up, but our days could be a mix of DIY, dips in the lake, and cocktail hour.

Our long-term plans for the cabin are unclear at the moment. Of course, making it cute is a priority-one for me! But I’m going to take my time with it and renovate it over the next couple of years and enjoy it in the meantime. And when it’s done? Who knows! We may sell it and buy another, we may keep it forever, or we may decide that the lake life is not for us. (Although I can not imagine anyone saying that, ha!)

Whatever happens, it’s going to be a fun journey and I’ll be sure to take you along for it all!

Cabin Details

Here are the deets!

It’s an A-frame and it was built in 1993 (we think). It is a half acre on a lakeside subdivision (but not lakefront, about a 5-minute walk to the beach). It is about a half acre of land with lots of trees.

Everything in the cabin is original we think, so we will be doing a fair bit of updating. But that is exactly what we wanted, a project and a place where we could put our own stamp on things.

Darren already talked about making the deck a walk-around and we will likely tweak the exterior a bit. The word “bunkie” has also been tossed around… how fun would that be to build one?

Some of these photos I grabbed from the realtor’s website, so please bear with me on the photo quality!

The main area is all open and the ceiling is clad in pine. I love that about it!

This whole cabin came furnished and included all kinds of things like dishes, bikes, lawn furniture, you name it. It is so nice to not have to scramble to find furniture and all the little things we need to enjoy the place. I will be able to take my time and fill it and decorate it as our budget (and Facebook Marketplace finds!) allows!

The kitchen is decent for a small cabin. I suspect that I will rip out that sunshine ceiling pretty quickly, ha! I am already thinking about different ways I could move these cabinets around to make some changes. I think the banquette area is cute but I am picturing a big family- style table in the middle of this space, and making use of that wall space with some more storage.

Facing back the other way in this main room there is a spiral staircase and a loft. The staircase is hella steep, I really love it but I am a little worried about someone falling down it in the middle of the night so we we see how that goes!

The main floor has a mixture of carpet, tile and grey LVP and one of the first things I want to do is to unify the flooring with a single hard flooring type that is water resistant and easy to clean. I think that having all one flooring type would be really nice in this space!

Upstairs has been divided into three separate spaces and all of them have mattresses in them. This suits us just fine for a cabin, the more beds the better! We are here for a good time, not a long time!

There is one room with a door and the other two spaces are just open. I am not sure if we will make changes to that or not, we will wait and see how it functions for us. I love the “cabin vibes” up here, and I feel like I can create some privacy using a little creativity like curtains or screens.

See what I mean about there being lots of beds?

Back down on the main floor is the one real bedroom. That dropped ceiling will have to goooooo, I envision bringing in a wood ceiling perhaps, to bring the wood cabin vibes in here.

I don’t have a great picture of the bathroom, but it’s plenty big enough and has a tub and shower. Also, room for more storage, I think!

A lot of the cabins we looked at didn’t have a washer/dryer or a place to put one, so we were pretty happy when we opened this closet and found a washer and dryer!

Some cabins in this area are not set up for 4-seasons, and most do not have a garage. I’m happy to report that this cabin not only has both of those things but the garage is also heated. So you just might find Erin happily working away at the lake house all winter long!

I started a Pinterest board the minute we saw this place and before we even bought it. I just started pinning what I liked, and it turns out there is a pretty clear aesthetic going on there! Think lots of second-hand finds, antiques, plaids, quilts, wood. I want this cabin to look like it could have been there for years.

I hope you are excited to follow along as we tackle this next project!

You might also like:

• Updating our 90’s Home on a Budget
• Our Not-So-New Home!