All language subtitles for The.Cabin.Chronicles.S02E01.Blackwood.Cabin.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-NTb

When I
opened the door to the cabin,

the first thing I
noticed is the smell.

It just smells like the forest.

It's really kind of
earthy and fragrant,

and I don't know if it
will always be there,

but it has a faint smell
of campfire from the fires

we always have in the fireplace,
and the wool blankets,

and just the wood.

Just the smell feels like, oh,
we're at the cabin, you know?

It's just, take a deep breath.

Our cabin is located about an
hour north of where we live

in Portland, and
it's in Southwest

Washington on Green Mountain.

It's a
wonderful area of the country.

It's cool here a
lot of the year,

and it's just kind of a nice
place for a black cabin.

My grandparents had log cabins,
and then my parents both

had a log cabin as
I was growing up,

and it was actually on the same
location where they grew up.

His family cabin was such
a big part of their family

culture and identity.

And so immediately when we
got married 23 years ago,

we just had that as a dream.

The cabin, we went back and
forth on it for so many years,

because it's a big
investment, and sometimes you

don't know where you're gonna be
with your family and your work.

And so we kind of stalled
on it for a while,

and it was back-burnered.

And then, our kids
starter to get older,

and we were thinking,
yeah, this window, maybe,

has passed for us
to invest in this.

And then I got unexpectedly
pregnant with our third son.

That was a big surprise, and
that kind of shifted everything

and put the cabin dream
back on the table,

because we were like, wow, we're
gonna be parenting for longer

than we thought.

That's what
made us feel, like, hey,

maybe we should
build a log cabin.

There was a lot

of uncertainty at that time.

I was 38, and the idea of going
back to parenting a small child

was a big deal for us.

And having the
cabin just kind of

felt like, this is gonna be OK.

Like, it's gonna be a beautiful
experience for our family.

And it just made it easier
to head through that

and the unknown, because
that dream felt familiar,

and it was connected
to something old

that we had had in
our relationship.

Log cabins are just
so iconic, and there's

something so nostalgic about the
actual logs chinked together.

And since Mike grew up with
that, we kind of always

just pictured, oh, if we have
a cabin, it's gonna be log.

As far as the
design, we had always

talked about just something
symmetrical, and almost like

what a child would draw.

You know, when we talked
about our log cabin,

it was like door in the
middle, windows on the sides,

chimney in the middle, the end.

We just thought,
yeah, we need to be

brave and paint these walls.

There's a pattern
in design where

you kind of wanna move from
dark to light or light to dark.

And so when you walk through
the door, everything's bright.

The ceilings soar, and
the light comes in,

and it just feels
really beautiful.

The first thing
you see is the fireplace.

And it's a Rumford
firebox, so it's

a different design than normal.

It's built to have radiant
heat off of the walls.

The fireplace
is the heart of the cabin,

and to see it right
when you enter is just--

it's actually kind of
an emotional experience,

like, to have those flames.

They're different every time.

They're so alive.

The boys all sleep
upstairs in the loft.

They have bunks.

It's open.

We kind of designed it
that way on purpose.

We wanted to have this sort
of open, communal feeling.

So
up from the loft,

we have a little tiny space
up there that could be either

a sleeping loft, or we
have a small leather

couch up there for them, too.

And it's just kind of
the child cave idea.

It's like their own
little secret space.

And the kids love that.

The main floor
of the cabin is like a circuit.

You can just-- you can
go around the whole loop.

It's all connected.

But the spaces
also feel distinct.

And then, we just have one
bedroom on the main level

that Michael and I share.

One of the limitations of
building a smaller log cabin

is, obviously, space.

And so we had to really
think carefully about how

to make the traffic flow.

And in the kitchen, we have kind
of a corridor where you walk,

and that's also where
you'd have barstools.

So we are kind of
looking for an option,

like, how can we have seating
here that isn't clanking around

and isn't being pushed
out into the way?

And then, we came across
those old cafeteria stools

in an antique shop.

And so we ordered those,
and we had those installed.

And then they just sit
there and get their waffles,

and then they can tuck
them right back in.

They're not in the way
when we're trying to walk

through that hall space.

Voila!

Thanks!

Oh, do
you need a little bit more?

So when we decided
to build the cabin,

we knew it was gonna be small,
and we knew we'd want family

and friends to come here.

So we were like contemplating,
like, how would we

have friends and family here?

So we decided to do
a detached garage

and then do a little
apartment above.

real quick, and I've
gotta get another [inaudible]...

We try to make our time at the
cabin different from our time

at home.

I think most parents can
identify with there's

a real attraction to screens.

We struggle to
balance that at home,

and I think the
cabin kind of makes

that more automatic for us.

It kind of does the
parenting for us.

Walking is a big part
of our family culture,

and we have a viewpoint that
we love to take the boys to.

That's been a really
exciting surprise

of having time and space
to just kind of be and then

let things come up with them.

And it's-- yeah,
it's really special.

We're both really rooted people.

We like to just sink
our roots in and stay.

We don't do very well
just jumping from house

to house and place to place.

We just want to
invest in each other.

We want to invest in our kids.

We want to invest in our home.

Uh-oh!

You got any more?

Yeah.

So that was also

why the cabin fit into
our, kind of, family makeup

and our relationship
makeup, because it

just feels solid and rooted.

Our kids have
really grown to love the cabin,

and they already think
about-- we'll hear them once

in a while say things
about, like, yeah,

and maybe later, I can
bring my family here.

And you know, so they're kind
of envisioning, you know,

having these special
times in the future.

It will
be a family heirloom.