Lauren Bell and Joey Parent were persistent. When they first considered buying land in Fayette County, West Virginia, they were set on building a home from scratch in the woods somewhere between where they both grew up. They had a lot of details in mind for the kind of land they wanted, but in order to narrow down their search, they agreed on one in particular: There had to be running water. “As it turns out, finding a place where running water intersects a paved road in a rural county is not easy,” Lauren says.

They began sifting through prospects in 2017, but after years of coming up short, the couple reintroduced themselves to a man who owned a lot they had originally passed on. He told them about another option he owned nearby, which hadn’t been listed. “It had the water we wanted, a creek on the backside of a mountain,” Lauren says.

They bought it from him in 2023 for $72,000, but the sale ended up being delayed for two years due to circumstances on the part of the seller. An upside, if you can call it that, was that this gave the couple time to imagine their future there. “The land is shaped almost like a Christmas stocking, and we pictured our eventual home on the heel, facing a rock wall and the deep pool of the creek,” Lauren says. “But we knew building it would likely take another 10 years financially.”

$8,787 Structural	$919 Decking	$2,038 Wall Finishes
$3,489 Exterior Painting	$1,856 Flooring	$1,957 Roofing
$330 Hardware	$643 Electrical	$635 Portable Power Station
$630 Plumbing	$1,590 HVAC Equipment	$915 Kitchen & Bath Fixtures
$1,252 Lighting	$3,484 Cabinetry	$854 Countertops
$210 Appliances	$3,293 Windows & Glazing	$2,004 Door
$189 Tilework	$2,751 Furnishings & Decor	$1,100 Site Work
$600 Foundation
Grand Total: $39,526

Lauren is an interior designer at Hint Spaces (alongside partner Alyssa Wilkinson) while Joey is an outdoor educator for Virginia Commonwealth University. They share a love for the outdoors, which has been a part of their relationship for many years. Joey visited these woods as a kid, kayaking every year with his family for West Virginia’s Gauley Season, the annual fall ritual of whitewater rafting down the Gauley River. More recently, he and Lauren have made their own tradition of it as an escape from their primary residence in Richmond.

When they finally claimed the land for themselves at the start of summer 2025, they spent days camping near the water with friends—leaving their cars at the road and making the quick hike down in order to feel truly immersed in nature.

While they saved up to build a home there, which the plan to make their primary residence, they turned their attention to creating a smaller accommodation. “By the fall, I was designing a cabin,” Lauren says. Lauren and Joey have since built a 180-square-foot hideaway on the “calf” of their so-called stocking—sturdier than a tent, and more permanent, with one main space comprising the bedroom, living area, and kitchen, plus an enclosed composting toilet next to the porch. “The idea was to build a cabin that we could use intermittently, and then once we have the main house, to turn it into a studio or guest space,” Lauren says.

To be sustainable, and to not have to worry about electrical issues when back in Richmond, the couple made the cabin off-grid (but wired it to be hooked up to electrical in the future). “The whole cabin runs off a battery that we can plug in when we’re there and unplug when we leave,” Lauren says. They have a manual pump that runs water they collect from the creek.

They cleared the site and put the foundation in place during Thanksgiving weekend, and finished the framing over Christmas. “The framing material was driven in, but the road is an old logging road and became very soft,” Joey says. “After that, everything else had to be carried in by hand.” They each spent hours carrying supplies down to the site—from lumber and glass windows to countertops and lighting—then Joey would take the lead carefully constructing Lauren’s designs.

Joey has building experience, but this was the couple’s first ground-up project. They were determined to figure it out together, and besides a few weekends when friends and family participated, plus a half-day of site work by a laborer, Lauren and Joey did the bulk of the build themselves. “I feel so much more ownership in this cabin knowing that we built it by hand, rather than if we hired someone to do it,” Joey says. Their most expensive purchase, cabinetry from a local builder for the kitchen and bed, came to about $3,500.

All of the wood is locally-sourced cherry, which is showcased in the interior with a seamless finish from floor to ceiling. Most of the textiles and furnishings are either vintage or handmade, and Lauren and Joey stuck to their goal of a cozy-yet-minimalist feel for ease and sustainability. The grand total came out to just under $40,000.

In the year since they completed the cabin, they’ve watched birds fly overhead as snow blanketed the ground, swam in the creek during warm evenings, and invited friends to pile in during rafting season. Maybe they’re not in their dream home just yet, but in the meantime, life is good. “When we can just sit in our cabin with our dogs, doing crafts after going on a hike, it feels really magical,” Lauren says. “It’s just us, on this land that we love.”

More Budget Breakdown stories:

With $55K, They DIYed the Perfect Forest Cabin in West Virginia

Their $464K Cabin Can Produce Way More Energy Than It Consumes

Project Details:

Interior Design: Hint Spaces

Cabinetry Design: Craig Mattoon