Video’s script:
Hello! We’re Alla and Garrett and welcome to the HohnStead Glamping Cabins Resort.
This is our newest cabin called the Stargazer.
Recently we decided to knock down our beloved Shanty Cabin, which was 12 years old and the first thing we built on this property. We did so because of our incredible mountain views and we thought we could do better with this section of our property.
So as you come around the corner, you're going to notice a lot of things if you compare to the Shanty Cabin that have stayed the same. For example, this garden rock wall, the deck, and even the gooseberry plant we tried our best to incorporate into the new build.
I didn't want to work too far backward so we made some modifications after the Shanty’s tear-down. We didn't have to totally backtrack which included building up the platform to match the old Shanty platform.
After we had taken off the composite deck so this portion here used to be part of that 270° walk-around deck, we brought the structure - the Stargazer - all the way back to the corner. We retained this deck, which also included the tree, we didn't want to knock down. So we kept the tree, built a deck around it, and then we came up with a Stargazer.
Initially, much like the A-frame Cabin, it had a wing but the A-frame uses 2x3 lumber and this has 2x4 and it proved to be a little bit too heavy for some people to lift. So I came up with the idea to use a winch from Harbor Freight It was $80.
Since I've already got the solar panel, the charge controller, the 12v battery, the winch made a really easy addition and it's super easy to use and super safe.
This would have been the west-facing part of the deck that took in the Shanty Cabin and if you look here you can see some of the Shanty joists and The Shanty platform actually stuck out here. The original Shanty platform was 8x12 and it went that way and it had a view out front and the door out front. But of course, in typical DIY fashion, we saved a lot of components and one of those components was the door.
So the door is a 180-degree different approach from The Shanty before, but there was a reason because we wanted it to be an approach where you just have a single step up onto it. This creates less of an opportunity for people to fall. We like this 15-in kind of stoop and using the hanging chads from 6 and 1/2 foot composite which makes your eight foot there so it's just tidy and it keeps some of the dirt out in here.
We opted for a queen-sized bed where the A-frame Cabin and the Blind Cabins both have singles that you enter down the center. We intentionally built a low profile bed so that way as you came up, it wouldn't eat up so much space so tall people can easily walk past it.
It is about 12 to 14 by 12 to 14, I can't remember which direction, but a HohnStead feature that we always use is the live edge because my dad's got a sawmill. We got plenty of standing dead timber on the property and it's just funky and cool it's a lot different than the store-bought lumber.
Coleman cook stove for your coffee and tea and two gallons of drinking water in the kitchenette.
An old window from The Shanty has some scratched screens where a bear actually tried to get into The Shanty. So it's kind of a fun story for new guests staying in the Stargazer.
A nice, tidy install of the solar components here. Xantrex charge controller which is actually approaching 20 years. So if this ever goes, I'll take that and I'll just replace it with another one cuz it's been fantastic design-wise.
It was important for us to differentiate the Stargazer from the A-frame and from the Blind Cabins, so we built a 100% wing wall, save for the top portion that has the solar panel on top and sheet metal. But on the other side, we put polycarbonate and that's why we call it the Stargazer so that you can see the stars at night.
Another one of the design components that we thought was kind of clever — with the orientation of the land is when you approach from the behind of the cabin coming in, we have the sheet metal that goes up 8 ft and it didn't require any cuts so it does provide privacy. The polycarbonate is cut in sections of four and polycarbonate comes in eights, so we just cut it in half, and in doing so, this eliminated any waste we might have from that part of the build.
On the back side of the door wall, there are towels, different books, and information about the area.
The door, as seen previously, is the goalie stick (from my hockey hobby) that's cut down. I thought it was kind of cool kind of a cool look.
But I guess the defining feature of the Stargazer that separates it from the A-frame and the Blind, again going back to that heavy door wall, we had to engineer something lighter, safer, and easier. They have winches that are remote-activated this is one of them.
In terms of color choices, I personally wanted the Stargazer Cabin to stand out in photos. I also did not want to use a color that none of our other cabins or the Commons Area has, so we decided to go with red. Red is bright and vibrant when it comes to standing out among the green forest.
So we actually went to Home Depot, looking for color, and they have this wonderful section called “Oops Paint.” It's paint that other people decided not to purchase. So on that fateful day, we had a red oops paint, and the other colors just kind of organically evolved.
We also had white we had gray from other projects, and looking on Pinterest (the way I always do), those colors always look great together. I also liked the idea that Stargazer would be clean and bright and that's where white and gray came in.
When it was all said and done, I didn't really like how everything looked very geometric and linear, so I just freehanded some curvy kind of vines and cute little flowers.
Most importantly, we wanted to have a color scheme that people coming on vacation, don't always have in their homes. When we travel, we want to see places that are unique and extraordinary so we wanted to give them a funky little getaway in the forest, where they would enjoy stargazing and unplugging from real life.
Through a lot of DIY projects, we have learned a lot of different skills and one of the other skills that I have incorporated in this build was making some homemade curtains. I had this really cute cherry material from South Korea, so I decided to create some DIY curtains for the Stargazer.
We wanted a low-profile bed, to allow for extra space to walk around the bed. So instead of buying, we just decided to make our own. We had some extra lumber from The Shanty: the studs, and the 2x6s in the walls while not 8 ft we couldn't use them in a lot of projects, but something like this was super simple. We used OSB on the top and OSB on the bottom and we classed It up by using some cabinet board all the way around. So we're really only out a single sheet of cabinet board which is the expensive part and then a couple of sheets of OSB. We added some supplemental mood light under the bed.
The item that took the most consideration when developing the Stargazer was the rigging system and how it would work with the wing wall. A couple of things we hit snags on was drilling holes with the augur on the tractor. We're in super rocky soil and we already had an existing garden bed around it. We couldn't go over the rock wall with dissecting it and pulling all that stuff out and then you also run the risk of actually hitting your deck with the augur.
Another thing we didn't want is the Aframe with the rope pulley system, which is great for the A-frame, the rigging is out of the way, and the poles are out of the way, but here we would have a pull on the side of the deck and then again back to that garden thing.
We're dealing with a longer cabin, which gets us into custom lumber territory, well past 12 ft so 14, 16 ft. So you have to have a pretty hefty header for that. We also thought about a center pull, which was kind of tough to get the rigging right with the lengths of the ropes and the pulley and just being heavy in general.
Then I thought, you know we're always pulling up logs with the winch and such and those are really powerful. We had the 12v all the infrastructure with the solar panel and the battery, so let's try a winch.
I really like the way that the supports kind of tie back into the building, giving it another kind of triangle look. I use the studs on the inside to brace it up here and here and then brace it up against the building again.
We put the header on top that provided a little bit extra length so we didn't get too blocked there. When the wall is up it gets us about 6'2 - 6'3 so most people can walk underneath of it and it’s still pointing down enough so if you were to leave it up, the rain would fall off the end.
I think what would be a little bit better, though you'd be sacrificing a little bit of safety, is shortening the beam and going in between the braces. I think it'd be a cleaner aesthetic, but we do gain some height by having the header on top and then having the iron and the lag bolts is also safer. So, a minor consideration but I think it looks pretty cool.
Thank you for watching our video we hope to host you right here in Bonner, Montana at The HohnStead Glamping Cabins Resort.
