Every Westerner wants a “vacation home”! Perhaps it is the nearness to
pioneer days that makes us so alive to mountain forests and ocean sands.
_Sunset’s Cabin Plan Book_ is primarily for those who are still in the
“talking stage.” However, there is much valuable information in its
pages for those who already are enjoying the pleasures of a “second
home,” where they spend week-ends and vacation days, living comfortably
though simply at any time of the year, while enjoying our Western
heritage of the great outdoors.
The planning of a mountain cabin or beach cottage deserves just as
careful and thoughtful consideration as the planning of a real home,
though the actual construction is likely to be on a fairly simple scale.
The size of the cabin, whether it is built of logs, stone or finished
lumber, depends upon what you intend to use it for—a week-end cottage
for yourself and your family, a hunting lodge, a vacation home, or a
little place where you can go off and examine the state of your soul in
the quiet of the woods. You should consider the number in the family and
the number of guests likely to be included, for “week-end cabin” should
not be a synonym for active discomfort. Crowding may be jolly for a few
hours or possibly for one night, but seldom longer than that.
The collection of cabin plans in this book is representative of what we
believe to be the best in Western vacation-home designing. The floor
plans embody features that may be shifted from one to another, since
these are not necessarily working plans, but suggestions around which
you and your architect or contractor-builder can create a cabin to fill
your own needs. The same holds true of the cabin sketches themselves.
You need not sheathe your cabin in bevel siding just because it’s that
way in the picture. The same plan can be used for a shingle house or one
of board and batten.
No attempt has been made to set down detailed instructions for building
any particular cabin, since no two are exactly alike, but we have tried
to present the information needed by an amateur who wants to build his
own place or oversee the work of a crew of country laborers. In addition
to the cabin plans and visualizations there are numerous pages of cabin
lore gathered from many sources as well as from the practical
experiences of the Sunset Staff.
Cost estimates have been omitted purposely, as there are so many factors
affecting the price of materials, labor, and transportation in various
localities. Figures based on one locality would not hold good in
another. The distance from sources of supply is also an influence,
because materials hauled only a few miles would cost far less than if
they were shipped a hundred miles and then transported by truck to the
cabin site. Really, the only satisfactory answer to the cost problem is
to take your plans to a builder in the neighborhood of your locality and
get his figures. Or if you plan to do some of the work yourself with
local labor, your lumberman may be able to help you with cost estimates.
If you want an individual and specialized design, the services of an
architect should be seriously considered.
We hope the ideas in this _Cabin Plan Book_ not only be inspiring but
also so practical and usable.
_Note: Working drawings of the cabin plans are not available. This is in
keeping with the publisher’s policy to furnish ideas but not an
architectural service._