ever since I was little I've dreamed of
escaping to a beautiful little cabin
somewhere in the middle of a gorgeous
forest and here in the Pacific Northwest
I have now met a builder who is
constructing incredible homes that not
even my childhood self could have
dreamed of
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hey Jacob what's up Bryce good you make
a man to meet you to this cabin
it's hard to call it a cabin really
isn't it I want to actually just call it
ah it's kind of like a sculpture that
you live in I guess yeah that's what I
go for when I try to build this try to
make a sculpture that people can live in
and exist in I wanted to make a space
that people could be in and I had this
vision in my head of of what a building
would look like and ever since I was a
kid I had this little book about tiny
houses and it's called Wood butcher's
art I think and I just thought fairies
and hobbits and goblins lived there and
I wanted to do it myself and make some
in my adult life too I guess and I want
the shelter to tell a tale and and kind
of show itself as a painting almost so
when you walk up on it I want you to be
stunned by it the same way you would be
stunned by a waterfall or stunned by a
mountain when you see one I want people
to look when they first kind of lay eyes
on something I've made I want them to go
wow that's so cool that's what I want
and I guess if that's what art is then
its art so you know art that you live in
how did this project actually come to be
I met someone who lived in one of these
cabins and I completely fell in love
with the girl in the cabins and uh-huh I
started living in him and so I went from
one cabin to the next and lived for a
while in each one and then started to
think like I could build a cabin and so
I asked the property owner and I built
here that's how it came to be I guess I
just I went for it
one of the things that's really striking
to me about this Kevin is how it looks
like it's just meant to be here i won I
wanted to make it look like it was part
of the environment that's part of the
goal but not you know like sort of the
touch of a human but still kind of
honoring what what the environment is
around it and that's especially true of
what you've done with this
because the way that you eventually
covered it with all of the moss how did
you even do that is there a middle roof
under there so this is so with this
cabin in particular I wanted the framing
of the roof to be exposed because the
inside has this really cool beam system
and rafter system and I wanted you to
see the pattern that created so I
started by just you know frame the
rafters frame the boards for the
sheathing and everything is salvaged
from different places different job
sites this is like an old bowling alley
with the deck and the beams came from a
building in Tacoma Washington so back to
the roof though there's the sheathing
and then I laid weather resistant solid
insulation on top of the sheathing on
the outside then put strapping on it
then put metal roofing on it then put
chicken wire on it and then went around
and I like you know foraged for it moss
and there's you know in this forest
there's moss everywhere so just kind of
collected moss a little bit from
different trees so as not to kind of
take too much from one place and then
you just take the you take the moss and
you kind of stuff it in the chicken wire
and it just kind of grows together so
you stuff a few spots and then it kind
of weaves and grows amongst itself and
takes off this was kind of I wanted it
to be a cruciform because I really
thought that a cross like shape would
really look cool for the roof and I
think churches and cathedrals are really
amazing often a lot of energy is put
into building them and I love the angles
on churches and so this was kind of
supposed to be like a cathedral in the
middle of the rainforest that's what I
was kind of going for a
non-denominational secular Cathedral you
can worship anything you want out in
this Cathedral in the forest but that's
kind of what I was going for with the
steep roof pitches if I remember
correctly this is a twelve twelve maybe
even slightly steeper but then these
side ones are 72 degrees they're like
very very steep the other thing that
really stands out to me is the way that
you've used all of these windows the
thing that these are all reclaimed this
makes it all the more impressive you
have to be willing to let the material
guide the building as opposed to you
forcing the the materials upon the
building if that makes sense so like
this wall was framed out based on what
that window was and what those little
windows were and I like how it's
different I like how it's not cookie
cutter so what was your agreement for
building it here on this property the
agreement was I provide the labor and
provide a finished liveable space and I
get access to it for two years and I
finished it the day I left because I
mean so I never really got to enjoy a
complete I mean me being done with the
building is really different than the
building itself being finished when I
walked out of here eight years ago I was
finished but the building wasn't and
since I've left people have added all
sorts of things I think the dude has
like a jacuzzi or something like that I
mean in this little fireplace my fire
pit was nowhere near as good as that
fire pit but to have people care about
it enough that they want to put their
own touches into it that's awesome and
you think we can take a look in some
definitely let's do it
come in
you know from the outside this kind of
looks like a whimsical cabin in the
woods but stepping inside it's all of a
sudden become a home home that's the
word it's impossible as well to ignore
the location and we're right here in the
middle of the beautiful Pacific
Northwest forest and I mean I can
imagine sitting down and that sofa it
must still feel like you're connected to
the outdoors yeah I mean there's just
like veils of Moss everywhere and six
different kinds of ferns and you know
giant trees it's it's hard not to feel
in awe of the landscape when you're here
so can you tell me a little bit more
about the actual construction of this
house the design and how all of this
came to be the way that it is now I
always start with the floor with this
one I wanted to be a cruciform which is
just you know into 90 degrees you're
also limited by space so it had to be
under 200 square feet to avoid having to
pull permits so that's where I started
and then the walls grew out of there and
all the materials are salvaged so that's
where the kitchen sink came from and
that whole countertop this is our V
stove so I think I got this on
Craigslist these were all scraps you
know I've used every single little piece
what do you think really influenced the
style of how you built this cabin like
all of these really beautiful exposed
beams and all of that sort of thing I
mean a main focus for me was what the
the roof and I can take you up to the
law you can see another really like
maybe one of the most essential things
that went into my thinking about this
cabin was wanting to leave all of the
framing exposed like one thing that kind
of always has bothered me is that in
building we always cover up the skeleton
you know the skeleton has covered up on
the inside it's covered up on the
outside but the skeleton is cool you
know like ribs and everything and so
that's kind of what this affected I'm
was trying to go for was I wanted you to
see what it is that's holding you up and
what's holding us up are these two big
beams that are kind of more 'test into
each other and then these jack rafters
and valley rafters and they're
essentially like the ribs I talked about
it like it's a person but there are the
ribs of the cabin
and I really love what you've done to be
here with the roof window as well
because that's just so perfectly placed
this guy like yeah thanks well yeah you
know I knew that this is where people
would be sleeping and I knew that I
didn't know but I anticipated that
that's where you would place your head
and so I thought you know thinking like
when you wake up in the morning that's
where you're gonna give you know you
like this and you kind of took your head
over and boom there's where it is a
project like this is naturally gonna be
really hard to gauge because obviously
so much time effort labor went into it
but if we're talking just about material
cost of this project what did it
actually physically cost you to build
the original arrangement was I think I
got 2000 from him the property owner and
then I put about four thousand into it
maybe and then since then Cullen has put
the water and the electric I think he
put another 1,500 into it so all in all
maybe 75 hundred bucks for me that's
really inspiring because I think it goes
to show that if you find an amiable
landowner if you're not afraid of
putting a little bit of work and effort
into it
mm-hmm this is a really achievable dream
isn't it oh I would say the land is the
biggest thing if you can find someone
who owns property because you know
property is not easy to come by but if
you can find that property someone who's
willing to let you build anyone could do
it I didn't really know what I was doing
when I started and through doing it and
making mistakes I think I learned it and
you're actually building another one
here on this property on you yeah right
down the way through the woods well
should we go over together let's
checking all right let's
to the forest
[Music]
so this is my latest and I haven't
finished it yet so no it's not done but
I've put about 22 days into it the kind
of inspiration for it was a octagons and
then I wanted to make a pyramid roof and
when I finished it I kind of it kind of
looks like a crown kind of looks like
Max's crown and where the wild things
are so sometimes I've been taking the
call in it Max's crown and you know one
of my favorite things is to after I do
something or put a piece up to kind of
stumble back and then turn around and
look I can surprise myself by it and
you're like oh man there it is Wow
and you know when I look at my hands I
kind of feel like it's they kind of tell
the history of the whole thing because
of just what what they've done how
they've gotten hurt what they've created
and it's awesome I love building I don't
know what I like more building it or
looking at it after I built it or
looking at other people enjoy it that I
think is the best one other when I see
other people and they're enjoying a
space that I've created I feel like I've
done something pretty special seeing
what you've done here in this place is
just so inspiring to me the way that you
have crafted everything so beautifully
using these incredibly innate geometric
patterns the structures that you have
built are just completely remarkable and
we're gonna come back and visit this
place I'm not gonna say when it's
finished right but when you're further
down the track yeah and we're gonna see
what this is could become yeah we'll ask
him you're welcome to stay here any time
so please come back thank you so much
yeah take care when I travel to this
property I knew that I was coming here
to see something very special but I
wasn't quite prepared for just how taken
aback I would be by these cabins there's
something about the way that they've
been constructed and how they so
perfectly fit into this beautiful
natural surroundings that makes me think
of them not just as homes
that truly works of art if only
everything in life was crafted just so
beautifully
[Music]
you