My Trophy Amish Cabin
I've wanted a small cabin for years and spotted a display model for Trophy Amish Cabins on US12, east of Quincy, MI in the summer of 2009. It was exactly what I wanted. I saved my money and placed my order in May of 2010 for delivery the week of July 19. It came on July 23.
First I had some prep work to get done. Aunt JimmieLou was having a new drive
installed and I walked over and asked her excavator if he could do my cabin pad
since he was already next door. Well yes he could, and, did! Maddy says it passes inspection.
It needed to sit on 6" of crushed rock. That's a 7 cubic yard pile that Mabel is checking out.
Fortunately I was able to hire nephew Justin to move it the 700+ feet.
They called at 9 a.m. and said it would be here around noon. The way Brickyard Rd.
goes, we can see it coming from 1/2 a mile away. We're watching for it!
It's coming - it's coming!
In place in Mabel's Glade
A closer view
The cabin - 10 x 20' with a 5' screened in porch
Inside, looking to the front. That's the sleeping loft above. White pine trimed in red cedar.
The sleeping loft with a nice window that opens
The outhouse and no, it isn't going over a hole in the ground - I'll be using a method
a women's vintage trailer group told me about
Inside the outhouse - I need to do some work in here
Day Two - staining the floor and added lights and some other stuff
I bought this 1961 9 point Michigan Whitetail deer mount on Ebay.
Poor guy has been sitting in my attic waiting for my cabin for five years!
Close-up of the oil lamps - love them, they hang on the wall or can sit on a table.
I bought 4 of them, 2 for the "living room", 1 for the "dining room" and 1 for the kitchen.
Always nice to know the temp and couldn't resist this.
There's a herd of over 80 deer on the family properties.
Dining Room - I also have 3 antique kitchen chairs I picked up
while in theAdirondacks to go here.
Living room - and look, I have company!
My vent-free propane heater. Really cute and has very realistic gas logs too!
Perfect, an Amish-built swing for an Amish-built cabin
Perfect - an LL Bean moose door mat (thanks for trading CC!)
The first of the "kitchen" cabinets
I've decided since yesterday that this will be for looks only so I won't be
installing propane lines for anything in this cabin. I have a Mr. Buddy heater
that should be perfect adequate for this space.
Now you see the stuff I've been collecting for the past ten years!
A closer view
I love these realistic stuffed animals and collected the ones that are actually found here
Antique bear paw snow shoes - seemed fitting
The antlers are actually fake and a magazine rack. I have a whole stack of
vintage hunting mags (40s-60s) to go in it. Those are vintage crow calls in front of it.
You'll see in a few days why I have vintage crow calls!
Antique radio - doesn't work. I'm pulling the guts out and will put some battery
speakers and an mp3 player inside of it.
Vintage wool hunting coat with 1952 Michigan deer license on it. That's
also a vintage paint by numbers painting - love it!
Fake "bear" throw and a badger. There's a badger that lives in the field
west of the house.
Dining room - I bought three of the cute chairs when I was in the Adirondacks.
The chairs will get new cushions and matching curtains out of a light
blue and antique ivory mattress ticking fabric. The tiles and the fish
I bought from an artist on the Leelanau Peninsula. There's a turkey, birch trees
and loons. This cabin sits under the flight path of a pair of loons who feed in Wall Lake.
Welcome sign and arrow pointing to the lake (bogwalk to lake) added
Their nice railing removed and my 5 crow decoys added instead.
I call this, the bedroom, the "crow's nest", a play on the mispronounciation of my last name
(it is kroes, rhymes with shoes).
My new, so very comfy, bed and my cute remote control lantern.
Outhouse - new motion detecting LED battery porch light, a solar squirrel light,
and a bear.
Interior is done too. I made their bench 2" deeper to allow me to hinge the lid.
The 5 gallon bucket with pull tie garbage bag and disposable diaper is in place beneath it.
That's my custom made porcupine toilet seat and my plush porky, a throw back to
the original family cabin's (up North) outhouse where the first person in in the morning
generally had to scare out a porcupine.
And, my pine cone paper holder - purchased way up North in Paradise, MI.
Battery-operated motion detecting LED porch light - there's two
one on the outhouse and one on the porch.
Battery-operated motion detecting spotlight - works great inside the outhouse!
The girls are heading "down east" to spend the night in the cabin!
Porch swing is installed
New bookcase
Mabel is in "her" chair - did someone say "double cheeseburger"?
Maddy's new bedroom. The modified loft railing slides into place
and turns the underside of the chair into a crate. She LOVES it!
Cabin crocs!
Morning coffee at the cabin.
That is a great new Coleman stove. Also comes with griddle and grill plates
and, you can order a crockpot plate for it too! Four units in one!
The new cabin mugs I had custom made using vintage park & Smokey the Bear images
The three chairs have been reupholstered and the table legs cut down by 3 1/2"
That's Mabel's new very rare and unique Ovenette - an enamelware Stanley
My clothes post - bought as decor surplus from a store in Traverse City.
Dad turned the pegs for me out of red cedar the cabin folks gave me. The
raccoon tree hugger came from Kalkaska, MI.
Close up of the raccoon tree hugger. We love him.
The cabin water supply - a vintage Danish Army surplus water can.
It took me about 3 years to find the dipper - I wanted one just like the one
we had at the family cabin - I finally found it at an antique store in Volant, PA.
Our camp fire pit
Christening the camp fire pit - Mabel's 7th birthday hot dog roast.
8 dogs, 6 people and 5 pounds of hot dogs. No one went away hungry!
New outhouse decor - carved raccoons
Firepit with addition of Plow & Hearth benches stained to match the cabin
Took this picture in January of 2012 as it was still snowing
In spring of 2012 I added paver stones around the firepit and made the circle larger