by Sue Moak

Our little cabin is in the Hill Country area of Texas. We have 50 acres, so we live large outside but cozy inside! It has one main room that is 20 x 20, an 8 x 8 bathroom, a front porch and an 8 x 12 screened porch on the back. One half of the main room is the kitchen. The island is from IKEA but we widened the top and tiled it to make an eating area. We made the kitchen shelves from lumber left over from the cabin construction.

The opposite side of the main room is used for both seating and sleeping. We have a queen size bed on one end and a trundle daybed on the other end. When we have guests, we slide the chairs back and fill the floor with air mattresses! The fireplace is made from limestone, which is plentiful in our area. The mantel is a solid piece of mesquite wood. This is a native Texas wood and has a beautiful red color to it. It is held up by two cedar posts that came from our property.

Our bathroom has a reproduction metal ceiling with a star design. The walls are 4 x 8 “beaded” board that we painted. A tiled shower is in the corner. Storage shelves and the hot water heater are hidden by a curtain I made and installed on a galvanized plumbing pipe.

A local builder constructed the cabin shell for us. We did as much of the work as we could and hired local contractors for what we felt we could not do. It cost approximately $45,000 when we built it in 2005.

Our area is very dry so we installed a rainwater harvesting system to help water the garden. We purchased the cistern in San Marcos and did the installation ourselves. We got a lot of information on how to do this from a book called “Rainwater Collection for the Mechanically Challenged.”

You can find more photos and postings at rockinrsranch.blogspot.com. Sometimes I write about adventures and observations on our place and sometimes I write about my family or things that interest me.