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All Photos/exterior/building type : cabin

Exterior Cabin Design Photos and Ideas

The homeowner, Raúl Castellazzi, is a young tech professional who wanted a simple place to crash during his frequent trips from Santiago to the sea.
The roof is made from locally milled hemlock board shingles that were left natural to allow them to weather, turning from bright tan to silvery gray over time. Four foot long boards in widths of 4, 6 and 8 inches were laid with a deep overhang to give the roof a textured look.
The home’s stained pine exterior blends in with the tree trunks, while its inner liner gives a sense of the warmth that awaits within. The couple found a piece of lichen on-site and had the home’s columns color matched to it.
Michael Cooper and Ailsa Wong spent weekends camping out on their Catskills property before calling on longtime friend Tom Gluck to design a low-impact home that floats above the forest floor.
When open, the rolling screen doors of the front facade create a generous, sheltered terrace or outdoor room that's shaded, ventilated, and protected from both sun and rain.
Solar photovoltaic panels on the cabin's shed-style roof produce hot water and electricity for the cabin, named Sol Shed in honor of its main energy source.
“We didn’t want anything flashy. Just something that belonged here,” Andrew says. The cabin’s gabled form is preserved and reclad in black Colorbond steel blends into the surrounding bushland.
The cabin’s gabled form was reclad in black Colorbond steel. A new parents’ retreat extends off the deck to accommodate the growing family.
“We demoed the kitchen, installed new bathroom vanities, and sanded and finished the kitchen counters,” says homeowner Malcolm Taylor—and that was just the start.
The vertical, three-level cabin is compact in footprint, but maximizes every square foot.
“Initially, we proposed fewer glass panes to control sunlight and energy loss,” says architect Daniel Iragüen. “But in the end, we made the house almost completely transparent.”
The house is partially off-grid, with all water collected on site and all sewage treated and disposed of on site.
Arriving at the cabin is now a joyous ritual. “Every time we push the gates back and see the view it’s this sense of ‘we’ve arrived’,” Matt says.
The cabin hovers over the site on stilts, giving it a floating effect.
Seattle firm Wittman Estes designed this 1,300-square-foot cabin, which floats above a meadow on Whidbey Island.
Seattle firm Wittman Estes designed this compact cabin floating above a meadow on Whidbey Island.
After renting in San Francisco for a decade, DIY couple Molly Fiffer and Jeff Waldman bought 10 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where the pair and their friends built a cabin compound complete with sheds, tree decks, a pavilion, a wood-fired hot tub, an outhouse, and an outdoor shower. The cabin is made from locally sourced, rough-sawn redwood, which the couple stained with nontoxic Eco Wood Treatment to give the panels an aged appearance and a dark patina.
Jeff Waldman and Molly Fiffer built this 200-square-foot cabin on the site of their 10-acre property in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Their previous cabin, which they also built by hand, was destroyed in a forest fire in 2020.
To pick a site for the buildings, Matt used his drone to scan the site and then Daybreak created a 3D model to test out options for placement.
A worm filter system to treat all black water, producing fertilizer to regenerate the soil.
A worm filter system treats all of the home’s black water, producing fertilizer to regenerate the soil.
After a forest fire destroyed their cabin in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Jeff Waldman and Molly Fiffer built a new retreat with salvaged, charred timber and a community of friends.
Floor-to-ceiling glazing and a linear skylight help welcome the landscape within the cabin’s small footprint.
The exterior’s concrete walls pick up on the tones of the rocks that emerge from the surrounding hillside.
After - exterior and new cedar fence
The Far Meadow A-frame by designer Heinz Legler, located about an hour’s drive from Yosemite, California, as featured in <i>Boutique Homes: Handpicked Vacation Rentals</i> (Avedition, 2017).
A covered boardwalk connects the mudroom and guest bedroom structure (left) to the gathering pavilion with the living room, kitchen, and dining area (right). The boardwalk in the foreground leads to the primary bedroom cabin.
After staying in a tree house listed on Airbnb, Remo Kommnick and Emi Moore wanted their own getaway in the woods. "It was amazing being up in the trees,
A family chose MyCabin to construct prefab structures in their home country of Latvia. The prefab structures have space for work, sleep, and relaxation.
Working with salvaged and donated materials (and without ferry service), the Stinn Family assembled this dreamy getaway piece by piece.
This 530-square-foot prefab in East Sussex, England, was designed by Michael Kendrick Architects for a family who wanted to build a woodland retreat/rental on their property. Immersing the lodge into the forest reflects the family’s intent to, as the architects explain, “enhance the ecological biodiversity of the area, protect wildlife, and enable guests … to understand and appreciate the fauna, flora, and unique history and nature of the area, while supporting and promoting the local economy.”
In the midst of the pandemic, a family leverages industry connections and modular construction to quickly rebuild a cliffside getaway on a fire-ravaged site in the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve.
The first Kabina cabin cost about $13,023, and it’s currently set up as a retreat in the Northern Beaches area of Sydney.
Facundo is working on an update to the cabin that mirrors the doors at the back window to allow for cross-ventilation.
Although plywood was a cheap and practical choice, it gives the cabin a warm and inviting feel.
The two-tone corrugated metal cladding helps the sheds blend into the landscape, along with windows custom-colored by the manufacturer to match.
Taking inspiration from the fairy tale of Snow White and the seven dwarves, South Korean campground Haru consists of a "castle
The couple’s three children were involved in the renovation process and particularly enjoyed the demolition process.
Zach Batteer and Carlyle Scott designed Field Cabin, a 288-square foot accommodation at Serana, their communal retreat in Paige, Texas. Wrapped in Yakisugi-treated pine, the cabin took 40 days and almost $46K to build.
The Barn Gallery faces southwest to a secluded waterfront bluff, and is surrounded by 4 acres of woodland and a private meadow. Collection and filtration of rain water, and a focus on natural landscaping are integral parts of the Barn Gallery sustainable design philosophy. The rain garden (foreground) functions as a natural filtration system for stormwater runoff headed to the channel below, and is one of the most talked-about features.
The couple enjoy growing veggies in an on-site greenhouse, and tending to their flock of chickens.
Pablo designed his family’s home to disrupt as little of the landscape as possible.
A Nova Scotia couple learn that although triangular homes may look simple, they can be devilishly complex.
The home features a combination of interior and exterior living spaces that afford privacy to the occupants. “There are social spaces for everyone to be together, but also spots outside the building where people can have a private coffee—and that’s so important,” says architect Line Solgaard.
The home is perched lightly on the site and the landscape has been integrated into the architecture through a sympathetic form and materiality, and the expansive windows. “We long for this untouched nature,” says architect Line Solgaard of the site. “It brings us calmness and maybe even helps us be more in touch with ourselves.”
At night, full-height glazing makes the cabin glows from within.
The cabin's roof is made from the strongest gauge corrugated metal that Carsten could find. "Trees fall over in large windstorms,
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