by Ronda Mollica
Building a retirement cabin Photos by Rocky Mountain Log Homes
fFinding the perfect location to build your vacation cabin can take you all over, especially when the only requirement is that it is “somewhere in the Rocky Mountain range.”
For Bruce and Marie Michielsen, this meant searching from northern Idaho all the way to New Mexico — some 2,000 miles in all. As a Plan B, they even traveled to Alaska, looking for their mountain retreat. “We wanted a good deal of land and an open mountain view for our cabin,” says Bruce. “Either the price was outrageous or the land was not buildable.”
In 1998 they found their slice of heaven in the Big Belt Mountains in central Montana. The sweeping property — 1,280 acres at 5,800 feet above sea level — was the first they visited in the Big Sky state. Originally an old hunting camp, the property came with a small wooden cabin and a few storage sheds built in the early 1950s.
“We had hopes of restoring the cabin, but it was in poor shape,” says Bruce. “We were able to salvage some dry wood, windows, doors, and some old furniture that we thought we could restore or repurpose.”
Bruce and Marie decided to build a new log cabin. “We had a number of log books and magazines that gave us plenty of ideas,” says Marie. “But when it came time to find a company, we really wanted one that was located within the state.”
After a visit to the log yard and mill of Rocky Mountain Log Homes in Hamilton, Montana, the Michielsens were convinced that they had found their producer. In fact they found their cabin standing in the log yard already erected. “They had a couple of cabin shells already standing and ready for sale,” says Bruce. “We picked the two-bedroom Winchester model because it had plenty of windows and was made of beautiful 10-inch round lodgepole logs with traditional Swedish cope notch corners.”
By May 1999, excavation was complete and the log shell was transported up the mountain and erected on the new foundation. When the shell was weather-tight and the roof system was in place, the Michielsens were able to spend some time in their cabin. “We didn’t have electricity yet,
The drop leaf dining table is an original piece that came from a 1950s hunting cabin that was originally on the property. The leaves were missing, so the couple sent the table back to Tennessee for restoration. The 36-inch custom pine door has a lower arch across the window and sidelites that mimic the mountainous horizon. Slate tiles at the door handle wet or snowy boots that come in from the unpredictable outdoors.
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