When Kelsey Gibbs and Matt Silverman first met at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, they hit it off over their shared love for the outdoors. After graduating, the couple moved downstate to Portland, where they worked in various jobs before deciding to spend some time abroad. In 2015, Matt and Kelsey headed to Scotland, where they worked at a bed-and-breakfast to gain experience in the hospitality industry.

“While we were gone, we hatched this plan to come back to Maine and find a piece of property where we could establish a farm and event venue,” Matt says. “A place where we could connect people to each other and the land through hospitality and farming.”

The couple returned to the United States in 2016, determined to combine their love of nature and community in an event venue and organic farm where they could host dinners, workshops, weddings, and art classes. Eventually, they found a 95-acre property in Nobleboro, Maine, outfitted with a barn from the 1850s, a 1920s farmhouse, and a pond.

The land checked all of Matt and Kelsey’s boxes—but it would need a fair amount of work. Once they closed on the acreage, they dubbed it Wanderwood and started rehabbing the barn into a large event space and the farmhouse into a rentable five-bedroom retreat. (Matt and Kelsey live in a small, original Sears cottage near the farmhouse.) “We’ve just been chipping away and honing ever since,” Matt says.

By 2024, Matt and Kelsey wanted to offer a lower-cost option for staying on-property that catered to couples or solo travelers with a sense of adventure. Armed with a $50,000 budget, the couple reached out to their friend Joanna Shaw, an architect and principal at Winkelman Architecture, to talk about possible designs.

“Originally, we had planned a bunch of little cabins dotted in the woods,” Kelsey says, “but after the pandemic hit, building costs rose a lot. We needed a place for more people to stay, and we needed to get the ball rolling, so we sat down with Shaw and our builder, Michael Alderson, and did a bunch of sketches of what these buildings could be.”

“We were brainstorming very broadly,” adds Shaw, “whether these would be tent platforms in the woods or beautifully curated cabins with all the amenities. I think it was Matt who said, ‘What about a lean-to?’ It’s more elevated than a tent platform, and it has this cozy embrace, yet it’s very open to nature.”

That openness was important to Kelsey and Matt. They planned to position the lean-tos—which are similar in style to shelters found along hiking trails in the region—at the edge of a wooded patch, facing the farm, and they wanted to frame that view. Once they had the final drawings (design fees came in at $2,420) and were ready to build, the couple enlisted Michael Alderson Restorations as the contractor. The company had previously worked on Wanderwood’s barn refurbishment so they were familiar with the property and its owners, a fact Matt says improved communication and saved time—and likely, money.

$1,350 Earthwork	$5,516 Frame Construction Materials	$8,119 Frame Construction Labor
$4,895 Roofing Materials	$1,321 Eastern White Cedar Deck Material	$9,260 Construction Materials
$35,195 Construction Labor	$275 Permitting	$2,420 Design Fee
$813 Mosquito Curtains	$40 Canvas Curtains	$2,717 Rain Curtains
$835 Furniture Timber	$1,280 Furniture Construction Labor	$931 Mattresses
$211 Lighting	$1,804 Linens	$45 Brooms
$56 Doormats & Hooks	$20 Dustpans
Grand Total: $77,103

Still, construction costs ate up most of the project’s allotted budget, at $43,312, with materials taking second place at $22,341 (Matt says they splurged on metal roofs for their durability). Each lean-to measures 12 feet wide and slightly longer in length, making them spacious enough for two custom wood double beds that easily combine into a king-size sleeper. Framed in hemlock, with pine siding and white cedar porches, the structures are durable, use local materials, and blend well with their surroundings. Inside, two wood nightstands provide a perch for wireless lamps, and a built-in shelf along the back adds storage. Just above the shelf is a row of screened-in windows; just pull a string above the bed, and a wooden flap at the back of the structure releases, ushering in air and light.

“In the morning, the sun creates this dappled light through the trees,” Shaw says. “It comes through that window as well, so you wake up with the sun coming in from both sides. It’s really lovely.”

Since there are no doors, Kelsey and Matt installed a three-layer net-and-curtain system to keep mosquitoes at bay and provide privacy for guests. The materials cost $3,570, including a durable sailcloth sourced from a sailmaker that keeps the rain out. Additional costs outside the structure (including bedding, furniture construction, mattresses, hooks, permitting, and hardware) added $12,138 to the project, bringing the final total to $77,103. Matt and Kelsey did some of the labor themselves (installing curtains and window hardware and building the nightstands), which he estimates would have been an additional $1,680. As for amenities, guests can walk a short distance to the restrooms in the barn, and there is an outdoor shower located nearby.

The lean-tos launched on Airbnb over the summer and proved to be popular bookings. “We’ve had a lot of musicians come through,” Kelsey says. “And a lot of really fun, interesting people that we feel so lucky to just be able to chat with and get to know a little. It’s rewarding to see people that are willing to go a little outside their comfort zone.”

More Budget Breakdown stories:

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They Built a Newfoundland Home for Retirement. Until Then, You Can Book a Stay

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Winkelman Architecture / @winkarchitrecture

Builder: Michael Alderson Restorations

Project site: Wanderwood

Correction on 12/9/25: Budget chart and grand total updated to reflect that the project’s design fee was $2,420, not $1,431.

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