{"id":92618,"date":"2025-07-25T23:32:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T23:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/92618\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T23:32:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T23:32:13","slug":"all-it-took-was-3000-and-a-bit-of-imagination-to-bring-this-see-through-vermont-cabin-to-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/92618\/","title":{"rendered":"All It Took Was $3,000 and a Bit of Imagination to Bring This See-Through Vermont Cabin to Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 100-square-foot, open-air cabin on Tanglebloom Flower Farm<\/a> in Vermont didn\u2019t begin its life as a potential short-term rental property. “We built the cabin for ourselves,” explains Melissa Hessney Masters. Before she and her husband Mike settled in what would become their farm, they spent a summer traveling the U.S. and booking overnight stays in as many unique spaces as they could\u2014tree houses<\/a>, cabins<\/a>, anything out of the ordinary. They quickly agreed that they wanted to construct something equally unique and charming on their own property.<\/p>\n

“We built the cabin as a celebration,” Masters says. “We\u2019re rooted, we\u2019re in place, we\u2019re not living out of a truck, this is where we\u2019re going to be.”<\/p>\n

They found a clearing in the woods on their property that would be suitable for their future construction. Then they had to decide what to design. “We learned about the Fern House,<\/a>” Masters explains, “which an architect named Robert Swinburne had built.” The charming, compact structure seemed like the perfect project to tackle, and Swinburne was selling architectural plans to build Fern House<\/a>\u2014so the couple made the purchase.<\/p>\n

“Then Mike realized that he didn\u2019t know how to read architectural plans,” Masters says. “So we had to start from scratch.”<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The cabin\u2019s clear roof allows for plenty of natural light and unparalleled views of nature.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Going off-plan allowed both Masters to incorporate their own elements into the cabin. They added a porch<\/a> and made space for a bed that could remain on the floor of the cabin instead of being raised and lowered from the ceiling as Swinburne had done. “It was just for us,” Masters explains. “It was a one-minute walk away from the main house and farm property, but it felt like such a world away. We would go out there and joke how you would never know about all the work that was waiting for us, all the hustle-and-bustle of life, all of the demands. There was no cellphone reception. There was no Wi-Fi. It was bliss.”<\/p>\n

\"Bringing<\/a><\/p>\n

Bringing the outside in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Michael already had experience on building crews, so he knew how to put the components of a cabin together. Melissa had design experience, so she knew how the cabin could be utilized. “I love the challenge of a small space<\/a>. To me it\u2019s invigorating and easier to work with than something large. How do we make it cozy, with everything you need and nothing that you don\u2019t?”<\/p>\n

The most important element of the design, according to Melissa, was to maintain the blurred boundary between indoors and outdoors. “A lot of guests describe it as being in a fairy tale,” she says.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The composting toilet is situated in an outhouse on the property.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A few years after building the Tanglebloom cabin, Melissa and Mike decided it might be time to start opening it up to other guests. “We\u2019d just had a baby,” she says, “and our lives were very full.” They weren\u2019t using the cabin very often anymore, and their friends suggested putting it on Airbnb.<\/p>\n

“I didn\u2019t think anyone would ever pay us to stay here,” she says, “but I thought, why not?” They advertised the cabin rental at $50 per night\u2014and at that time they hadn\u2019t built the outhouse or the shower facility, so guests had to come into their home to use the bathroom. However, the Tanglebloom cabin quickly became an extremely popular Airbnb. “It booked up so much that we had to close the calendar.”<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The wood-fired hot tub from Goodland is another place for guests to relax.<\/p>\n

They paid attention to what people asked to borrow from their home\u2014a cast-iron skillet, for example\u2014and began providing those creature comforts as part of the rental. They purchased high-quality linens, built kitchen and bathroom facilities, and began to treat the Airbnb as something they could offer as a one-of-a-kind experience.<\/p>\n

“When we first built the cabin for ourselves, I think we spent $3,000 on materials,” Melissa explains. “It went up very quickly! The hardest part was getting the concrete footings in the ground, but it all came together in a couple of weekends and a couple evenings after work. Since then, with the improvements and the additions, the shower, the kitchen, the outhouse, the hot tub, and accounting for the increase in the cost of lumber, it\u2019s probably $15,000 invested.”<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a><\/p>\n

An outdoor shower is always a treat, and this one is no exception.<\/p>\n

While much of the Tanglebloom cabin appears to embrace indoor\/outdoor living, it is possible to make the cabin more private. There are curtains, for example, that can be pulled to enclose the living space. Melissa and her husband also work with guests to ensure they live in harmony with the local wildlife. “We tell everybody, no food inside,” she says. “Really what we\u2019re worried about is mice, squirrels, chipmunks trying to get in there<\/a>.” They practice Leave No Trace, bagging and storing trash so that it doesn\u2019t leave a scent and advising guests to leave strong-smelling toiletries in their car when not in use.<\/p>\n

“A bear has walked right past, a couple times,” Melissa explains, “and people just marvel at it from bed. Turkeys go by every fall. Sometimes there\u2019ll be a fox, you\u2019ll see the eyes. Most wildlife, they just want food, so as long as you\u2019re taking that element away, they\u2019re not interested.”<\/p>\n

While this kind of cabin might not be for everyone, people who want to build their own tiny residences<\/a>\u2014whether they keep them for themselves or put them on Airbnb\u2014may want to take Melissa\u2019s advice: “First of all, go for it! Secondly, think through the location. I\u2019m so glad that we did that, in terms of thinking about where the prevailing winds are coming from so that the rain isn\u2019t blowing in.”<\/p>\n

\"Instead<\/a><\/p>\n

Instead of placing the bed on a platform that raises and lowers, Melissa and Mike placed it on the floor of the cabin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also worth thinking about what might happen to the cabin in the future, whether you\u2019re adding curtains for privacy or building a shower facility so guests don\u2019t have to bathe in your home. Melissa and Mike, for example, recently improved the roof of their cabin to keep the interior more comfortable during unusual weather. “We added these sides [to the roof] to prevent splashing, because we get these erratic storms now that we didn\u2019t get ten years ago.”<\/p>\n

Starting with a simple design allows you to be flexible not only during the initial build, but also as you learn more about what you want and what you may need. “The structure and the design, that\u2019s all very important, but think about the experience that you are creating,” Melissa advises\u2014and that applies whether you\u2019re building a cabin for yourself or whether you\u2019re hoping to build the next top vacation rental.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Related Reading:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 100-square-foot, open-air cabin on Tanglebloom Flower Farm in Vermont didn\u2019t begin its life as a potential short-term…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":92619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[648,1032,1033,171,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-92618","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-design","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114916487772887822","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}