When we first set out to find our new home in Texas, never once did the words “log cabin” escape my lips. Certainly it wasn’t on our list of desired attributes that we communicated to our Real Estate Agent. In fact, who knew that log cabins were even a thing in Texas? And certainly I never dreamed I would find myself owning a log cabin! But after living in one continuously for almost six months now, I can honestly say I wouldn’t want it any other way.

The Journey

The journey to finding our place was very drawn out. As I’ve shared in previous posts, at times I felt stuck and stagnant. When we first set out the only thing we knew was that Seattle was no longer the place for us. The congestion, the pollution and the commercialization of a once eclectic and invigorating coastal city was stifling us. Oh, and did I mention the expense of living there? We wanted a place for a small farm. A place for an orchard and bees. A place for a diversified group of animals.

We also wanted room to stretch out in the open air. A place to go for walks without having to contend with traffic. All of this added up to a place that didn’t exist in Seattle. Then there was cost to be considered – cost alone eliminated any chance of acquiring a 5 acre parcel within a reasonable distance from the city. It was time to expand our search.

Heading South

Once we realized that Seattle simply wasn’t a fit for us, we cast an eye towards other potential places. Southern Oregon, Northern California and even perhaps moving back to my husband’s childhood home of Vashon Island. But for various reasons, none of them were a fit. Roseburg, Oregon was perhaps the closest to a “yes”. The gorgeous rivers and rugged pines that opened up to golden fields was picturesque and enticing.

But something was “off” with the town. There was the obvious issue with hard drugs. But more decisively there was this feeling we couldn’t shake that there was a bad secret to this town. We never figured out what that was. But over the years, both Todd and I have learned to trust this “gut” feeling. Ultimately we gave Roseburg a “no”.

Heading to Texas

We can’t really remember what triggered our journey to Texas. But we do both remember that at first it was almost a joke. Texas? Really?. If someone asked me when I was in my 20’s where I would be in 10 years, Texas would not have made the list. Not even the top 20. Why? Probably at least in part Texas has been the butt of many jokes as I grew up. When I thought of Texas I thought of a John Wayne movie – desert vistas with sun-weathered men wearing ridiculous hats and boots with 3″ heels that looked awfully painful. And then there was the women. Big, blonde hair. Big boobs and even taller heels.

I guess my stereotypical Texas women was Dolly Parton (don’t get me wrong though, I love Dolly). But It didn’t help that on one trip to Austin I spotted a perfect example of my stereotype. A very voluptuous young women, dressed in a halter top that barely covered her chest and short shorts that more exposed than covered her cheeks. Then There was the tumbling blonde locks that stood out at least 6″ from her head and of course the 10″ heels (ok, I might be exaggerating on those). She grasped the arm of a decidedly craggy looking older man. He was sharply dressed, with a large gold watch and belt buckle the size of a grapefruit. Honey, honey, I whispered ever louder at Todd to get his attention. Don’t be obvious, but turn around!!!

Luckily that whole experience with the blonde barbie clone ended up being an exception to the norm. As I soon found out, the rest of Texas looked more or less like real people. Which turned out to be a good thing since now I live here!

The Log Cabin

So back to our log cabin. The entirety of the whole thing is only 790 square feet with the 1 bedroom and 1 bath on one side of the cabin, and the kitchen, dining room, living room all in one large open room with a big vaulted ceiling. Thank goodness for that vaulted ceiling! The interior is a traditional, rounded log walls on the perimeter with “fake” logs making up the inside walls. The kitchen sports knotty pine cabinets. And the floor? Well, the floor is of course vinyl parquet – because what cabin is complete without enhancing the decor of the wood – with more fake wood. Yes, I’m being sarcastic.

Despite the poor decor choice of the previous owner (to each his own) I love the cabin. The small footprint has forced us to focus on what we need + love. And the open floor plan means we hang out more – even if it’s in silence as we work. The kitchen isn’t particularly functional, but the open space means we have tons of options. A kitchen island is definitely in the future.

The Discovery

Recently we discovered that on the west side of the cabin, where the bedroom and bath is, the real logs only extend up to about 8′ (the ceiling height of the bed/ bath). After that they used more of that “fake” log siding found on the interior for the exterior of the remaining wall that makes up the attic space. This realization has opened up the door to the possibility of adding a loft space.

You would think we would jump on the idea of adding more square footage, but honestly we are struggling to decide if we really want to do that. I’ve come to love the ease of cleaning a small home. And Todd wonders if the extra space may tempt us to simply hide all our stuff upstairs rather than par down as we have been. That said, the idea of tree-top views is very enticing.

For now, it’s fun to dream and imagine what could be. It’ll be a while before we need to make a final decision on a loft. For now, we’ve got our hands full with a large window project and the planning for the kitchen remodel. As much as we cook, a functional kitchen is a must!

Visitors and Beer

We haven’t been able to host a lot of folks at our cabin since we moved in permanently in June. This year, as you all know, has been strange to say the very least. But we have had to have a few folks out for professional reasons. Including a line tracer for the electricity and water, a rep from our power company to look at a sunken transformer and a couple of various sales folks for our skid steer (on order) and that window project I mentioned. What has struck us is that almost all of these visitors have made some sort of comment along the lines of “wow, how did you find this place?!”.

One of them, a young man wearing a pair of traditional cowboy boots with a particularly strong twang in his voice, eagerly accepted the invite to sit on the porch and have a beer with Todd (Witkist White has been our latest favorite – no affiliation!). A quick visit turned into half the day. On his way out he commented that in all his time in Texas (his whole life it turns out) he didn’t know “This” was here. “This” being the lost pines forest we live in. It truly is a magical place.

Finding Your Space

Something about the gnarly oaks paired with the fluffy pines really does create a magical atmosphere. Even the quality of light in Paige, Texas is very different than that in Seattle. It’s softer, more golden, and casts a dreamy glow across the landscape. Funny enough, the light mimics the color caste my favorite Ray-Ban Sunglasses. These glasses – with their golden brown lenses – “corrected” the cold and stark light often created by Seattle overcast skies. Think of them like light therapy (a thing in the Pacific Northwest).

But the key to finding our space here was that we envisioned it long before we ever laid eyes on it. No – not the log cabin (obviously). But rather the land. We never really worried about what a house may look like – since we were open to both raw land or a place with a house already on it. But, we were convinced after three years of searching that our only option would be raw land. But here we are, in the perfect place for us.

Big Dreams and Hard Work

The lesson to be learned here? Never underestimate the power of dreaming. Once we came up with the dream and held that vision in our minds, the path to that dream revealed itself. What seemed like an endless hall of locked doors all of a sudden opened up. Every challenge that cropped up we could solve. Every blocker came tumbling down. Now that we finally understood what it was that we wanted, we too figured out exactly how to get it.

Mind you, I’m not saying that the seas parted or that I acquired powers like Samantha from Bewitched (no matter how much I twitched my nose, the moving truck did not pack itself). We busted our bums off to prepare our Seattle house for sale and hand-packed and moved everything ourselves. I still look back and find myself wondering how exactly we did it all. But I can now look back, reflect and take solace in the fact that we successfully closed one chapter in our life. Now, I can focus on and embrace the next chapter – this time with a strong appreciation for the power of dreams.