What have I been doing for the past two years instead of writing here? My husband and I have been building a dream. With our four children out on their own, the old homestead became uncomfortably quiet, and we did what we usually do when things get quiet…we got a little crazy!

Fifteen acres and a 4-bedroom, 2.5 bath colonial was not what we needed anymore. So we subdivided the land we loved in half and decided to build something smaller. I wanted to go underground, bury a couple of boxcars and live like a hobbit. We also considered a modular–slap it together and get it over with. But after knocking around several ideas, we found ourselves standing inside the same model log home we’d visited in our early twenties. We’d always dreamed of owning a log home, and if we were going to do this one more time (our fourth home, third build), we needed to build our dream home. After an hour-long chat with the designer on site, we grabbed a few floor plans to look at and went home to figure things out.

My husband and I are do-it-yourselfers by necessity and know much more than the average couple. It has been a wild and crazy two year project, but we did it! And now, I’m going to share what we learned with everyone interested in building their own log cabin out of sweat, blood and dreams.

There’s no sunshine today, but here’s a photo of our new home as we wait for the family to come fill it with laughter on a rainy Mother’s Day afternoon.

It needs another coat of stain, gutters and some more grass seed, but those are minor details. I will share with you how the whole thing came together from choosing the perfect spot in these woods to finding light fixtures and a claw-foot tub online.

All you dreamers out there need to watch how a crazy couple in their late fifties build a dream cabin with help from the right people, trust in each other, and the decision to set out on a journey with no turning back. After all, what are dreams if not blueprints for tomorrow.