Houzz Tours
Houzz Tour: Resourcefulness Shows in a Rugged Montana Cabin
Reclaimed materials and a simple plan help a carpenter build his own inviting, energy-efficient home
“We are living in the land of resourcefulness out here," says builder Dave Radatti of Northern Montana's Mindful Designs. Northern Montanans are resourceful when it comes to reclaiming, reusing, building their own homes, staying warm and even besting the home mortgage system. When tricky loan requirements threatened to complicate the purchase of 10 acres in the Whitefish Mountain Range foothills, Radatti and his friends, including carpenter Bryan Grace, who would eventually move into the cabin on it, found a way. The bank had considered the 450-square-foot cabin a little too cozy (that is, not valuable enough) for a mortgage. So, with the owners' permission, the friends spent a winter value-designing the cabin.
While Radatti wanted to tread as lightly on the land as possible and keep the square footage to a minimum, he was very aware that appraisers would want to see three bedrooms and two and a half baths. The friends carefully incorporated these two goals to design a cabin that suited Grace's lifestyle and would be simple and inexpensive for him to build himself.
The result is an assemblage of three lean-to-type structures that comprise an inviting rustic, energy-efficient home. The appraisers agreed, and the friends got their loan and subdivided the land into four lots.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Bryan Grace
Location: Whitefish, Montana
Size: 1,391 square feet; 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms
Year of redesign: 2010
Energy-efficient elements: Radiant heat flooring, R-63 roof insulation and R-21 wall insulation, energy-efficient windows and doors, an electric boiler for heat and hot water, with solar panels as an option down the road
While Radatti wanted to tread as lightly on the land as possible and keep the square footage to a minimum, he was very aware that appraisers would want to see three bedrooms and two and a half baths. The friends carefully incorporated these two goals to design a cabin that suited Grace's lifestyle and would be simple and inexpensive for him to build himself.
The result is an assemblage of three lean-to-type structures that comprise an inviting rustic, energy-efficient home. The appraisers agreed, and the friends got their loan and subdivided the land into four lots.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Bryan Grace
Location: Whitefish, Montana
Size: 1,391 square feet; 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms
Year of redesign: 2010
Energy-efficient elements: Radiant heat flooring, R-63 roof insulation and R-21 wall insulation, energy-efficient windows and doors, an electric boiler for heat and hot water, with solar panels as an option down the road
Grace's resourceful reclaiming is evident inside the master bedroom, where reclaimed oak from a distillery in Kentucky creates an accent wall.
For interior trim, Grace milled a dead spalted birch tree from a friend's yard.
The door on the left leads to a hot tub on the back deck. A woodstove helps keep the entire living room toasty.
The door on the left leads to a hot tub on the back deck. A woodstove helps keep the entire living room toasty.
From the entry the house's public areas, including the kitchen and living room, are to the right, while the more private areas, like the bedrooms and two full baths, are to the left.
A 1 1/2-inch bed of lightweight concrete conceals the tubing for radiant floor heating. Porcelain tile covers the concrete.
A 1 1/2-inch bed of lightweight concrete conceals the tubing for radiant floor heating. Porcelain tile covers the concrete.
"We didn't change a thing in the kitchen; we mostly just cleaned it up," Radatti says. Only a pony wall separates the kitchen from the rest of the living space, which opens up the entire area to natural light and makes it feel larger than it really is.
Grace kept everything clean lined and simple throughout the home, especially in the contemporary-leaning bathroom.
The original cabin, built in the 1970s, is the shingled portion on the right, which now holds the living room and kitchen. For the rest of the structure, Radatti and Grace designed an assemblage of three shed-roofed buildings.
The materials used on the exterior are an assemblage as well. Grace scouted local barns and mills for the reclaimed siding and corrugated metal, supplementing those with lumber milled from trees onsite.
Grace used a chain saw for texture and a concoction that Mindful Design has perfected over the years that brings out the wood's tannins for color.
Grace used a chain saw for texture and a concoction that Mindful Design has perfected over the years that brings out the wood's tannins for color.
The wineglass tips you off to where the hot tub is located. A contractor gifted Grace the cedar shake shingles.
Different configurations of windows, trim and corrugated metal are part of the home's fun quirks.
A small sitting porch provides views of fields and foothills. While the buddies all live close to one another, you can't see one house from the next.
"Sometimes this makes the house help the design," Radatti says. "The roof needed to be no steeper than three pitches, or the cost would have gone up, so that combined with the wall height we wanted gave us the depth."