A beautiful Tennessee cabin home

Many of us dream of living in a cabin. One of our faithful readers has shared photos of the Tennessee cabin that her family calls home. She describes how they renovated the small cabin to make it into the perfect home for them.

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My husband, my daughter and I share a small cabin with three dogs and four cats. Our home was built in 2004 as a vacation rental. When we purchased it in 2011, it had 585 ft² (54.3 m²), very little storage space and needed some TLC. We are passionate about living in a small home, but we’re not minimalists. We love to cook, create artwork, play games, take pictures and be outdoors. All of these hobbies involve supplies or accessories. So, for us, the challenge of living in a small home came down to finding a way to store our things neatly in our living space.

When we moved in, the cabin had a 5’ x 6’ laundry room. The door to the laundry room swung inwards and there was a window in the room, so the space didn’t reach its maximum storage potential. We chose to turn half the laundry room into a mini walk-in closet that my daughter and I share. The closet door swings out into the little hall that leads to the bathroom and bedroom.

Enclosing part of the front porch gave us an extra 50 ft² (4.6 m²) of interior space. We used the new space as a mud-room / office / kitchen addition. The remaining adjacent half of the former laundry room became a recessed space for the refrigerator and a 3’ deep, pantry-style cabinet.

The original bathtub had a large crack and the pedestal sink was broken. When the exterior wall was removed to enclose part of the front porch, we brought in a new, smaller tub. That gave us enough space to have a stacked washer and dryer in the bathroom. Luckily, there was also enough room to replace the pedestal sink with a set of cabinets. We chose stock kitchen cabinets, rather than smaller bathroom cabinets, because they offered more storage space. We installed a top-mount sink so that the drawers in the cabinets were fully functional, although one drawer did have to be modified to allow for the plumbing. We used cork for the counter.

We used several of the same cabinets in the main living space, but added to them to create open spaces and drawers. Wall-mounted adjustable shelving creates open storage for dishes, cooking accessories and art supplies. Several baskets store smaller items. Removing the laundry room door gave us wall space in the dining area that allowed us to install a bench, which provides additional storage and also hides duct work. We’ve woodburned our homemade light fixtures, mantle, mirrors, frames, and boards above the doors and windows to add character.

The cabin only has one official bedroom, but it also has a loft space. We thought about enclosing part of the back porch to make a second bedroom, but our daughter wanted to sleep in the loft. We’ve installed a window, flooring, lighting and shelving for her. She loves it and tells us so often.

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Photographs by/courtesy of the owner.

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