MY LOG CABIN RENOVATION IS COMPLETE

I am so very excited to tell you, at long last, that my log cabin renovation is complete!

And not only that, I have listed it as a vacation rental property on Vacation Rental By Owner (VRBO.com/804397) so it is available to rent. Click here to see the rental listing. I got the listing published last week, just as our California mountains were blanketed with several feet of snow. As a result of this snow storm, which I showed you in my last post, within hours of the listing going live I had it rented for most weekends during the ski season. I was simply blown away by the wonderful response the cabin received, and I’m so thrilled that people validated my renovation efforts by choosing to rent it for their upcoming winter holidays.

The cabin has actually been ready since before the holidays, and thanks to some wonderful and very loyal blog followers, I rented it over Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years to people like you who have been watching and wondering when it would be ready to rent. They contacted me by email to rent it way before I had a chance to list it on VRBO. What an honor that my very first guests were my wonderful blog followers.

View from the back porch

I decided to name my new/old log cabin Stone Hill Cottage because as you can see from the photos, our 1 acre forested property is covered in wonderful giant boulders. Not stones really, but it sounds good, right?  The boulders are one of the things I love most about the property. Somehow they make me feel really lucky to own such magnificent pieces of nature. In fact, the first time I went to the cabin to meet my realtor, and I got my first glimpse of it through the trees and big boulders, I couldn’t believe my eyes!

At that moment, without even seeing the inside of the cabin, I knew I was going to buy it. Once I went inside I called my husband and told him I was going to make an offer on it before he even saw it. I did and the rest is history! And speaking of history, our cabin has an interesting one. You see, this type of old log cabin comes on the market very rarely, as they are often kept in families for generations. We are only the 3rd owners of our cabin, built in 1932. The couple that built it had it in their family for over 80 years. Then we bought it from a couple that had it for only 2 years. We feel very privileged to own Stone Hill Cottage and to be able to share it with others as well.

The cabin is located in a very tranquil and peaceful area of Big Bear Lake called Fawnskin. Fawnskin was one of the first areas to be developed in the Southern California mountain range. People agree that the prettiest part of  Big Bear Lake is on the way to our Fawnskin cabin. I took a drive up there the other day to get the cabin ready for my latest renters. The air was cold and crisp, the skies were clear blue, and the trees were dripping in white.

To get to Fawnskin from my Lake Arrowhead home I have to drive along an area called The Arctic Circle. Here there are giant mountains on one side of the road…

while the other side drops into a valley where the city sits, often covered by a blanket of clouds this time of year. I simply love living above the clouds. It may be dark and cloudy down the hill when it’s beautiful and sunny up here.

I’m always delighted when I reach Big Bear Lake. Right now you’d hardly know there was a lake here at all, as the frozen surface of Big Bear Lake is covered in snow. See those homes in the distance? They are lake fronts! And our cabin is located on that forested hillside you see in the photo below.

The cabin sits at an elevation of just over 6,800 feet.

Fawnskin is a tiny little village with a country store, a canoe shop, an antique shop and a really good little restaurant called North Shore Cafe. But the larger City of Big Bear Lake, the 2 ski resorts and lots of civilization is only a short 10 minutes away. And there’s lots less traffic on our side of the lake so it makes getting to places in town much easier and faster. All in all it’s just a perfect place to get away, but not too far away.

So, now that I’ve shown you the village of Fawnskin and the outside of Stone Hill Cottage, are you anxious to see what I’ve done to the inside of the cabin? If you’ll recall, I showed you the Bathroom renovation here…

and I showed you the charming bunk room here.

So I thought going forward I’d show you the rest of the renovation room by room including my inspiration photos, plus the before and after photos. So, please stay tuned and in my next renovation post I’ll be bringing you the beautiful, brand new kitchen from start to finish.

So there you have it: MY LOG CABIN RENOVATION IS COMPLETE

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All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Unless otherwise credited, all photos are the original property of Celia Becker @ www.AfterOrangeCounty.com and may not be reproduced without specific permission.