While living in an unfinished dry cabin might seem like a strange and impractical idea, living this way over winter was probably one of the best decisions we’ve made for this cabin. It offered a unique opportunity to live with the space and better design the future layout.

We’ve made about four different plans for utilizing the existing floors and rooms, before settling on one. I think we have finally settled on a layout that doesn’t waste any of the space. Since this is a dry cabin, our choices weren’t limited by electrical wiring or plumbing already in place. That let us think about and test many layouts to find what worked best for us.

Design Changes

Our original plan included a master bedroom on the second floor, two bedrooms on the third floor, and a bathroom on the main floor next to the kitchen. Then we decided to make the second floor a living room because it was too big for one bedroom. That would have left the girls sharing a room though. Finally we’ve decided on having dining and kitchen in the open main floor. Our room and a pantry/battery bank will be off the entry hallway.

Where is the bathroom you ask? Outside, where its always been! Well, almost anyway. We have plans to build an attached greenhouse, so we will have bathroom and biogas septic unit out there. It’s also the best place to fit a shower big enough for Kyle. For now, we’ll keep using the outhouse and showering outside year round. Though in winter that means hauling the instant hot water heater in and out to use it. We’ve done it for 7 years, what’s another one, or two, or three!

Now that we have a final layout, we can start wiring and plumbing where the kitchen will be.

There’s something special about knowing that every inch of your living space was designed by your own two hands. I’m so excited to have the cabin be the dream home I’ve been imagining since I first laid eyes on it!