The 16x24 Michigan Cabin

An owner built lake cabin in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, expanded from the Little House Plans Kit.

16 foot wide cabin with post and pier foundation — A snug little cabin that uses the easy to build post and pier foundation.

Here is a report from Rob LeMay:

“My wife and I bought the Little House plans from you in 2004. We finally started construction in May 2006. We’ve been building it ourselves, so it’s been slow going - but we’ve had a lot of fun!

The cabin is sitting on a lake in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

We thought you might be interested to see some progress pics.”

Note: There is not an exact set of plans for this house. Rob extensively modified The Little House plans. He has a pretty complete description of how he did his build in the photo essay below.

interior of 16 foot wide owner built cabin — The interior of the kitchen and the “L” shaped stair to the loft. The back door you see here opens out to the porch project addition shown further down.

The owner enjoys the fruits of his labor in front of the corner woodstove.

Update: March 2007

Rob sent in some additional photos of the interior treatment and especially the upstairs loft.

16 foot wide cabin loft area — Here you can see the stairs coming up on the right and the small loft bedroom behind the door.

loft area of 16 foot cabin — Another shot from the open loft area.

looking from below up into the open area of the loft — Looking up from below into the open area of the loft.

16 foot wide owner built backwoods cabin — Looking from below back up to the loft bedroom which is towards the front of the cabin.

Update: September 2008

Rob sent in update photos of the rear porch he added. Here is his email:

“Just wanted to let you know all is well in yooper land. I pick away at projects for the cabin when I feel like it and sit to admire it when I don’t feel like working.

A lot of admiring, lately.

Added on a 10x16 porch with roof this summer. We spend a lot of time on it and wonder what we did without it.

Also decided to warm up our winter visits with an 8x8 outdoor sauna. Used it twice this weekend.........awesome.”

10x16 porch addition — Putting up the last rafter. Good to have a helper.

relaxing on the finished porch — Ah, yes..

dog waiting for lunch on the porch — Do we each get a tray of these?

sauna frame — Framing up the sauna in the driveway.

The earlier phases of the project

The pictures and text below show the earlier phases of the project.

16x24 Little House cabin construction photo essay, part one

16x24 owner built cabin in Michigan construction photo essay, part two

Where to go from here

See another 16x24 build: the Velsko cabin.
See the cross section option from the studio house plans.
Browse the Owner Builder Gallery for stories of other projects.
Follow Rob’s thread in our forum for updated photos and comments.