I'm enjoying decorating the cabin for Christmas. On one mantle I have a collection of old Santa's and the other mantle old style snowmen. We put our tree up a few days ago and it looks beautiful. We discussed real or artificial. With 2 fireplaces and the cabin can get very warm, I was afraid of having a live tree. I think the artificial looks great and I don't worry so much.
My husband is finished harvesting and we are planning to resume the finish work on the cabin. I'm anxious to get going on it again. The next project will be for my husband to build a kitchen sink cabinet and then I'll do the finish work on it. Once a kitchen sink is in we can spend more time there. Carrying dishes back and forth from cabin to home is a bit of a hassle. I'm looking forward to a wonderful holiday season in our cabin!

Cabin before it was dismantled

Cabin story continued

Continued cabin story...
We visited several other log cabins and talked to their owners for advice and ideas. Two of our favorite cabins are located in nearby Ohio towns. Chapel Hill House (bottom photo) is located in Moral, Ohio and is a cabin retreat for families that have a child with a serious illness. The owners did all of the reconstruction and added a log barn and all the hand made the cabin furnishings. It is now owned and operated by Chapel Hill House foundation.

Another favorite cabin (top photo) is located near Springfield, Ohio on Victoria-Green Plains Farm. The family owners lived in the cabin for nearly 8 years before making it a bed and breakfast. We stayed in this cabin several times and many of our own cabin design and decorating ideas came from this cabin.
Victoria-Green Plains Farm
Bed & Breakfast and Christmas Tree Farm
South Charleston, Ohio

All of the “new” wood in our cabin including the floors, ceiling, walls, and stairs are made from dead or wind-damaged timber from the adjacent woods. The walnut fireplace mantle, exterior doors, and stairs are made from a salvaged walnut tree cut down by the utility company. Salvaged barn beams were used for the stairway posts, the arch between the cabins, and kitchen fireplace mantle. My husband planed all the wood, made and installed the tongue and groove floors and ceiling, with lots of help of course. He also made the three beautiful walnut exterior doors by hand. In addition to helping design the cabin, I also did the interior decorating using family antiques and antiques that were collected over a period of time.
The cabin story is a journey still in progress. There is lots of finish work to be done inside and out, landscaping to do, and always upkeep to maintain this historic structure. We plan to spend many years enjoying our labor of love. We are in the process of ensuring that the cabin and surrounding farmland including the woods, prairie, and
wetland is forever preserved with an agriculture easement on the property. We want both of our families to be able to visit and enjoy our cabin and the preserved surroundings for years and generations to come.
My blogs will have pictures from beginning of the project until now as well as current stories. The inside is done enough that we now stay in the cabin a few days every week. We have running water and bathroom facilities. After the farm harvest, my husband will build the kitchen sink cabinet. It is fully furnished and heated by a large fireplace.

Cabin story

Our interest in old log cabins started long ago. As a young child I spent many hours playing in the log cabin on the family property . The electric company purchased the land on which the cabin was located to put in a power line and eventually tore down the cabin. Unfortunately my parents were unsuccessful in their attempt to have the Historical Society save the cabin. My husband was also fascinated with log cabins and in his travels was drawn to old log structures and their furnishings. We frequently talked about “some day” reconstructing a cabin on our farm where we live. That day became a reality during a visit with a friend when I learned about someone who was looking for someone to tear down her old family home in exchange for the log structure underneath the siding. My husband immediately contacted this person and offered to do the job. On July 23, 2003 the log cabin dream came to life when an official agreement was made.
My husband began to dismantle the log home in the fall of 2004. Excitement grew as the siding came off to reveal a beautiful log home with most logs in good condition considering the structure had served as a chicken coop for many years. Not much could be saved inside the home except for some windowsills and walnut doors (two that are now in the reconstructed cabin). When the log home was fully uncovered it appeared to us that the original front entrance may have been on the south side of the home instead of the east side. The logs were numbered as they came off and hauled away by semi to the Lill home farm. Then came the decision as to where to locate the log home. Of course we knew we wanted it near the back pond and wetland area, but the dilemma was whether to put the log cabin in the woods or out in the open. We decided to locate the cabin in an open area so that we would have a nice view of the pond and woods. We also felt that upkeep would be easier away from the woods where there would be no possibility of falling trees or moisture problems – not to mention mosquitoes.
Our original intention was to join my husband's father's old granary to the log cabin. Our plans changed however, our farm employee was contacted about tearing down another log home. It was decided then to get the second cabin and join the two log structures to make one cabin home. The cabin was positioned to overlook the pond and wetland area with a beautiful view of the woods to the west and the prairie to the east. Construction of the basement started in the spring of 2006. Reassembling the logs on the foundation began the spring of 2007. During the summer of 2008 the front porch was added, upstairs floor installed, inside window trim was painted, water well and septic tank were put in, and the ground around the cabin was graded and seeded.
To be continued...