little cabins

I have been thinking about little cabins recently. Tiny little spaces to retreat to for one reason or another. A vacation...a hut on your property only you know about; one where your taste alone is rendered.

At school we played with how much space you need to live; not only for the functions, but the psychological needs as well. I have been in a few very large homes, and am always amazed at the spaces people use to watch TV, and cozy up with loved ones. You know the space, one where you feel wrapped in comfort, where the scale and proportion makes you feel just right.

The creative director of Pottery Barn once featured a room in her house she called the five to seven room on House Beautiful TV a few years back...it was a large king bed tucked tightly into a small little sun room; it was filled with down pillows. She called it the five to seven room because those were the hours her young family used the space. There was a TV on the wall directly accross from this little nest of down goodness.

The little red caboose near my Aunt Glenna's in Cape Breton...taken last summer on my first visit back in 20 years!

My Aunt Glenna's cabin in Cape Breton

I have always loved small spaces. When I was a kid, my Aunt Glenna had a cabin at Bra'Dor lakes in the middle of Cape Breton, and there was a red caboose nearby; one afternoon her neighbour gave us a tour of it. I think that perfectly decorated little summer home is one of the reasons I am an Interior Designer today.

A friend of mine from school and I have dreamed of designing little cabins on a beautiful piece of land on the west coast of Vancouver Island, so I am always doing little sketches, trying to utilize just enough space, then setting them in a forest, along a river, by the ocean or on pilings along the tide line. My thought is that these small spaces are actually desirable to others as well.

Above: sketch by Michelle Morelan, BID

Above: a vacation home on Cortez Island, BC - Coastal Living

You can rent this home...

These next few adorable cabins are from the back of Inspired House; a writers space, a lounging get-away space and a bakers escape! I like the single use of these cabins... an imagined getaway in the woods...like you are up to something oh so secret. I bet there are no phone lines!

The books pictured have some great ideas for small cabins...check them out!