All language subtitles for The.Cabin.Chronicles.S03E03.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH[eztv.re]

[theme music]

[wood chopping]

JANET SMITH: I think of Maine
culture as really outdoorsy.

Regardless of the
season, there's

still a lot to do outside.

The state motto is "The
way life should be."

I think, it just so
accurately describes

every time I'm up here.

I always feel, like, this really
is the way life should be.

SEAN SMITH: This is Janice's
favorite place in the world.

[side conversations]

JANET SMITH: We live full
time in North Carolina.

Our life there is--

Adventurous.

We have this cabin
in Maine, and we come

here at least once a month.

We started the search
the summer of 2020.

I came for the first time and
just walked around and loved

how protected it was, how I was
so close to my family in town

and still felt like we
had kind of our own world.

I brought my hammock
over, and I hung

the hammock up right near the
rock, and that just, like,

confirmed it.

100%, this is where
we need to build.

I think, the design
started truly,

back when I was in
elementary school.

When I was bored in class,
I would take graph paper

and just do, like,
architectural designs.

The thing about mine was that
it was always very small spaces,

and it was always
very centered on cozy.

SEAN SMITH: As an observer,
watching the design

and build process, I
know that Janice wanted

a rustic, bare bones design.

JANET SMITH: I
found Pete Long, who

is a designer of the
original Ravenhouse Cabin,

and it's just, like, the
original is an off-grid, very

rustic, very small space.

Our interior designer
worked with us

on taking Pete's designs,
which are luckily

more on the rustic side, and
then integrating a more modern,

simplistic design on the inside
so that it wasn't too busy

and was really
thoughtfully put together.

We were pretty intentional
on putting the cabin

back on the land a little bit.

It's kind of tucked
away behind some trees.

The shape is really rectangular,
and I love that Pete decided

to really make that peak a
centerpiece of the design

by putting six
small windows in it

above this really
large picture window.

I think, it's those windows
up top that give it that feel

of having a personality.

SEAN SMITH: The
first thing to hit

you when you walk through the
door is the smell of the wood.

It never gets old, and I
hope it never goes away.

JANET SMITH: In a lot
of well-designed spaces,

you see really white kitchens.

White is beautiful.

I just don't feel, like,
it's always as inviting,

and to me, the designer
came up with the color,

but the second I saw it,
I was like, absolutely.

And I feel, like,
it feels a bit more.

Like, it blends
into all the trees

that you're seeing
through the windows.

And I think the star of the
living room, there's two.

The first one is,
obviously, the wood stove,

and when we're sitting
in the living room,

it's most often because you
get so much warmth and heat

from the stove right
here, but the second one

is the rocking chair.

And this was actually
the first thing

that we sourced for the
cabin, and everything else

was designed around it.

SEAN SMITH: Yeah, we fight over
who gets to sit in that rocker.

I will spend days with
my feet up, reading

a book in that rocking chair--
JANET SMITH: That's good.

SEAN SMITH: --just
feeding the fire.

The barn door is one of my
favorite pieces of the cabin.

It's a massive pecan slab
that we had custom made,

and it's a very imposing
feature, but it's gorgeous.

And it's standing against
this dark, blue wall,

and its color just,
pops right out at you.

JANET SMITH: When you
leave the main space

and you go through
the pecan slab door,

you enter the bedroom.

On the right, you have
this giant picture window,

I call it, because
literally, no matter

the season, when you're
looking out that window,

it looks like a framed
piece of artwork.

And then, to the left,
there's a large bed.

And another one of my favorite
windows right above that bed

is this long
horizontal window that

looks right out at the rock.

And so when the sun hits it
at a certain time of day,

it's almost this illusion,
where I feel like I'm

in the mountains
somewhere, and I'm

just looking at this rock face.

SEAN SMITH: As soon
as you walk in,

you are confronted
with this staircase

that wraps around to the left.

And part of Pete's design
was to have, what he called,

the cliff and the cave.

When you step in, you really
see the light, airy loft

and then the bedroom downstairs
is nice and dark and sedated.

It's this wonderful
juxtaposition

between light and dark.

JANET SMITH: In the loft,
there's this triangle wall

that, as soon as I
saw it, I thought,

that is the perfect
spot for a bookshelf.

And so, we had planned
that very early on in the

build because when I go to a
cabin, I want to disconnect,

and books are a really good way
to pull you away from devices

and let you just kind of escape.

SEAN SMITH: Outside
the cabin the biggest,

best feature is the rock
that the house is named for--

Cozy Rock-- and it is this
16-foot high ledge that

goes straight up,
covered in moss,

and then it spills down
to where we put the fire

pit out back for gathering.

JANET SMITH: When we
first named the cabin

and we named it Cozy
Rock, one of my friends

said to me, like, I don't
think that's a good name

because rocks aren't very cozy.

And I was, like,
well, we're going

to make this the coziest
rock you've ever seen.

The hot tub in the winter,
when you're sitting there,

it's oriented so that the two
seats are facing the rock,

and that is the best
place in the world, when

a rock is covered with snow.

SEAN SMITH: Yeah,
it's nice at night.

Turn on the cafe
lights, and you're

just out there with the
mist and your thoughts.

JANET SMITH: What I love
about Mainers and Maine

culture is that it does get
really cold in the winter

and that doesn't stop anyone.

SEAN SMITH: Our
relationship, very much,

evolved with the cabin.

JANET SMITH: We
weren't even engaged

when we started
building the cabin,

and we only got engaged
right before we finished it.

We had no idea, when we were
making all these choices,

that it would then one day be
basically, our wedding venue.

It was outside on
top of the rock.

We used the big
trees that we cut

down from clearing the land.

We turned those into stumps
that everyone sat on.

SEAN SMITH: It was
a very fitting place

to get married because this
was literally, the foundation

of our relationship.

JANET SMITH: It was all
just here in the woods

on top of the rock.