Melissa and Kevin Coleman drove nine hours from their home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to tour an early-1970s A-frame kit house for sale on the craggy north shore of Lake Superior—and they called in a purchase offer on their way back to the city. “It was love at first sight,” Melissa says. “The inside is wrapped in cedar, and the smell was intoxicating.”

Before: Exterior

The Colemans’ offer was accepted, and they set about transforming the cabin into a family escape where they could spend uninterrupted time with their daughters Hallie, age eight, and Linden, age one, for years to come. “I work online, running a website,” says Melissa, a blogger at The Faux Martha. “I wanted an offline place to go—a place where the trees have bigger reach than any Instagram post.”

After: Exterior

Perched on a slope among towering evergreens and poplars, the cabin features an A-frame roof at the front and rear facades, and a midsection that’s more chalet-style in its construction. “There’s a meandering gravel path down to the lake, but everything else is wild,” Melissa says. “Mushrooms grow, and animals saunter in these woods.”

Before: Kitchen

After: Kitchen

As compelling as the landscape and architecture are, the cabin required an update. “The roof, decks, and siding were rotting,” Melissa says. “There were plumbing issues, and the windows needed replacing.”

Before they chose new siding, flooring, and cabinetry colors, the Colemans named the cabin the Minne Stuga. “We wanted to pay homage to the setting that makes it so beautiful—Minnesota—so we pulled out ‘Minne,’ which is also the Dakota word for ‘sky-blue water,’” Melissa explains. “‘Stuga’ is the Swedish word for a cabin or cottage.”

Before: Living Room

After: Living Room

When it came time to choose who would renovate the Minne Stuga, the Colemans called on Anton Moody of Taiga Design + Build. “Our realtor introduced us to Anton, and we had a chance to tour one of his new builds,” Melissa says. “It was beautiful and meticulous.”

Moody and his team spent just under a year renovating the 2,000-square-foot cabin, which is has three bedrooms and three bathrooms. “Anton and the team gingerly took it apart, replaced the broken parts and guts, and then put it back together,” Melissa says.

Before: Loft Living Area

After: Loft Living Area

Moody swapped the original cedar-shake roof with synthetic shakes by Brava Roof Tiles and replaced the rotting exterior siding to with Kebony, a sustainable Monterey pinewood treated with a bio-based liquid that lends durability. “It will silver beautifully, and it can withstand the extreme weather—cold winters and hot summers—that we have this far north,” Melissa says.

Moody also installed new windows and doors by Marvin throughout the cabin. “We matched the original windows, but we supersized them to bring the outdoors inside as much as possible,” Melissa says. A Marvin Skycove—a box-like, cantilevered glass alcove with a built-in bench—juts out from one of the exterior walls, and gives the feeling of floating in the landscape while reading or relaxing.

Before: Dining Area

After: Dining Area

On the main level, the builders ripped out linoleum and bright orange and green carpet, replacing it with Kaswell end-grain wood flooring stained the color of espresso. “Wood flooring with wood paneling seemed like too much,” Melissa says. “End-grain flooring was the perfect solution, as it has the warmth of wood and a tile-like aesthetic.” The upstairs bedrooms were refinished with FLOR tweed carpet tiles.

In the kitchen, mint-green cabinetry and brass hardware contrasts with matte-black Richlite counters and black and white Marmoleum floor tiles laid in a checkerboard pattern. “The matte-black finish of the counters will reflect etches that tell tales of time,” Melissa says. “I wanted the kitchen to feel special while tying into the rest of the cabin. The design lures people in to make a long-winded recipe or coffee the slow way—it’s magic in here.”

Before: Bedroom

After: Bedroom

A cast-iron Franklin Stove and an olive-green upholstered sofa from Room & Board provide texture and coziness in the living room. “Green happens to be my favorite color,” Melissa says. “I just kept selecting green for each room. I wanted to pull in colors from right outside the windows.”

The family escaped to the Minne Stuga this past Christmas, making lifelong memories together. “It was just the four of us under a pile of snow,” Melissa says. “Kevin spent an afternoon building a long sledding hill for our oldest daughter. We stayed off our phones, played board games, watched Christmas movies, started long fires, walked on the frozen lake, and squeezed into nooks to read—there are nooks in every corner of this cabin that remind you to unwind. If you forget, a nook in the next room reminds you again.”

The Colemans now rent out the cabin between their stays. “We were thinking that if we needed a place to escape under the big tall trees, maybe others would, too,” says Melissa.

More Before & After stories:

A Country Home Blossoms in the Ruins of an Old Stone Barn

9 “Before & After” Cabin Renovations That Will Make You Look Twice

Project Credits:

Construction: Anton Moody, Taiga Design + Build / @taigadesignbuild

Structural Engineer: Mortarless Systems Engineering

Interior Design: Melissa Coleman, The Faux Martha / @thefauxmartha

Cabinetry Design: Semihandmade / @semihandmade