That's right. We are closing on a legitimate Lincoln Log cabin seemingly straight out of a movie in less than 72 hours. Soon we will be living like Abraham Lincoln in a cabin located on the edge of Elizabethtown and we couldn't be more excited to embark on this new journey together. We are getting tons of questions about our new endeavor, so I am putting together short blog post to share a bit of top-secret info.
Why a Cabin?
Aleks, Kenzie and I will have been living in a rental home located near the college in Elizabethtown for three years this July. The house is super cute and fits our small family well enough although we have been planning to buy a home of our own for the past few months. We actually love very modern houses and hotels and had hoped to find a modern home in Elizabethtown. One day we were driving around looking at an endless surplus of traditional homes in the area and had pretty much lost hope on finding what we wanted. We didn't want a traditional home. After seeing one particularly disappointing traditional home (priced at $495k for three bedrooms/three baths set on an acre), we randomly came across a piece of property on Zillow showing a log cabin and a lot of land for a slightly lower asking price. We didn't want a cabin either, but the land really sold it. The property itself is absolutely breathtaking even in the winter. Followed by a date night dinner at Butchertown Grocery, we researched loans, put in an offer and the deal was sealed. Shout out to Kenny Gillenwater at Rainbow Realty and Braden Pace at South Central Bank in Elizabethtown for making the process simple despite needing a special farm mortgage.
Facts About the Cabin
The cabin is located atop a wooded hill set on 85 acres of our very own bit of the Bluegrass State. The property includes the most amazing, old wooden bridge, multiple ponds and a stretch of bank that lines the Rolling Fork River. The acreage is split: 50% wooded forest and 50% tillable farm land. We do not plan to farm the land ourselves at this time, but much of the lower portion of the property is rented out to a local farmer who grows corn and soy beans. The cabin itself has two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a loft that opens up over the kitchen and dining room. There is a massive screened in porch perfect for outdoor dining and a mud room/panty, but currently there is no living room. The cabin is small to say the least, but there is a very large barn located near the cabin which we plan to use for storage.
Cabin Plans
Everyone keeps asking if we plan to live in the cabin forever. The short answer is no. Aleks loves the mountains and I love Texas, so one day after Kenzie finishes high school, we may move to Texas or somewhere snowy with amazing ski conditions like Utah or Colorado (Colorado may not be home, but I'm a big Aspen fan: Stay tuned for Aspen blog posts coming this next week). While we had hoped to add a large family room with gigantic windows and a big deck on immediately, we were a bit surprised by the cost of the addition. The property value would not increase anywhere near the amount that the addition would cost, so we are planning to hold off for a year and see just how livable the little cabin is. We are planning for some immediate renovations including a fresh coat of white paint for the interior leaving only the cross beams exposed, new kitchen cabinets / countertops / appliances, new light fixtures throughout, updated bathrooms and the addition of closets and shelving, a soaking tub in the master bath and a deck overlooking the farm land below. We will be planting a garden and plan to purchase some chickens this summer as well. After a year, we may decide we do not need to add on to the space, we may decide to add on or we may decide to build a more modern home on another section of the property. We'll keep you posted on how it's going.
That's all for today. Wish us luck on the final walk through tomorrow. Subscribe today for monthly updates and blog posts on Elizabethtown life, cabin updates and tons of wedding planning tips if you're into that sort of thing. I am always up for lunch in Elizabethtown and would love to hear any and all remodel tips; message me on Instagram at @_giselle_smith or shoot me an email at weddings@lovelyleavesfloral.com.
I cannot wait to share more of this exciting adventure. Thank you so much for following along!
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