AC's mountain cabin thread has again spurred some thought for me on future plans. I have a very outsized house for one person (a little under 4500sqft) and a very undersized property for my desires (~10ac). I'm still a few years away from being able to do anything about that, but want to continue that line of thought for planning purposes (and personal daydreaming entertainment).

If you were building a weekend get-away place, what is the smallest footprint that you'd go with? For me it would be a primary residence, but I think I want to build it more on the concept of a weekend retreat because that is probably who I'd market to if/when I sell it in the future (it's actually also what I WANT for a residence). Enough garage/shop space to store a few toys (tractor/accessories, ATV, etc.), and enough house space for a few friends (or maybe 2 families?) for a long weekend.

I have some general concepts in mind but I know many of you either have a place like this, or have visited similar places so thought I'd toss it out there on a boring Friday so we have something to talk about other than biting dogs.

1500sf, 2/2 with about 3000 sf of patio and depending on the view, a sliding glass wall.

Stuck in this predicament at the moment. We have a old mobile home that either needs to be done away with or remodeled. It's a 3/2 but only around 700-800 sq ft. It's fine for my family but if my brothers and their kids, or any other part of the family, joins then we're busting at the seams.

I don't think we need a lot more room, but a bunk room with a bathroom to put all of the kids in would be nice.

My dream place?

It'd be on about 500 acres in the Texas hill country. I'd probably have 3 bedroom suites, then 2 bunk rooms with 2 bunks each, bunk rooms would share a bathroom. Living/gathering/den room, formal dining room, well appointed kitchen with bar seating for informal meals, and a media/theatre room. House would have an attached three car garage off to the side. Half circle drive with an overhang out front.

Shop would have enough room for a tractor, a four person ranger, a 2 person rzr, a couple 4 wheelers. Then a separate shop space for metal works & tinkering.

My buddy just bought my ideal weekend getaway on a lake about 6 months ago.

The cabin is maybe 1200 sq/ft with 2 identically sized bedrooms and bathrooms on each end. Each bathroom has a shower that runs the width of one side of the bathroom that could easily fit 4 people (that'll be the life), and no tub. The bedrooms are typical master bedroom sized with a king bed in each. The kitchen, dining and living room are one giant room in the middle with furniture used to separate the space, all with a 2 story ceiling height. There is a loft that overlooks all of this which is over the massive garage. The loft itself could easily hold a couple of queen beds and also a couch to use for a theater. Speaking of the garage, it runs the entire length of the house and is the back of the house. It's 4 stalls with ceilings tall enough to easily fit a lift, with one of the bays built for a motorhome. I think 3 doors are 10ft doors and 1 is 12 or 15ft. They are not your typical garage doors. They're quite a bit heavier. It's completely finished and easily fits his 20 ft boat with enough room to drive a golf cart between it and the wall. It's a huge finished garage. Going from the garage into the house are 2 huge French doors. There are also matching French doors (with glass) going from the living/dining/kitchen to the front porch that runs the length of the house and is about 12 ft wide. At one end of the porch is an outdoor kitchen, and the other end is a giant fireplace with a TV. It's an excellent bachelor pad.

Weekend get-away place?

For me, I'd go heavier on land costs and put less into the house on the property. I'd want to keep it within an hour of here, so land costs would be pretty high ($4-6k an acre for "larger" places). We'll say 80 acres at $4k since it's possible around here and thats a realistic option. I'd want mostly wooded, but would be happy with 50-75% wooded. Most places around here are for cattle, so more open then wooded. As far as water, a good duck hunting/fishing tank would be ideal (4-8 acres) and a creek would be a plus. Preferably no mesquites and utilities on or very close to property. Hilly terrain is a plus. Preferably only a house or two close by on neighboring properties, but that can be tough these days.

As far as the cabin/house, I'd think 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath would be ideal. Small to average size kitchen with average size living room. Large porch (either front or back) with 30'x30' pole barn to store crap. Cabin would be in the 1,000 sf range with cedar or barnwood interior walls and probably cedar on the outside. Wood fireplace, possibly a hot tub, lots of trees around cabin and wood floors. Open floor plan and probably pier and beam. Would hope to keep it at or under $100k, excluding pole barn.

That's the ideal, realistic place.

Oh, I'd high fence it after a few years of not seeing any good deer A) because I'd like some exotics and B) because I could piss off most of this board with picture of my pets with the fence in the background and provide good reading material.

Barndominium.

20'x30' with ~1,600 sq ft living space.

Not a dream place but somewhat realistic for the Finn family is:

- something between 50-150 acres preferably in East Texas (say Polk, Tyler, Jasper counties)
- if it doesn't already have a fairly substantial lake on it (say 10-25 acres) then it has the ability to build one or expand a smaller one which would be habitat managed to support duck hunting and fishing
- the farther off main roads the better, even if it has to be accessed via easements through other parcels, as long as that access is good I'm good
- I'd prefer bottomland with some oxbows rather than high & dry property
- build a couple small frame cabins

Something like this would be great but not 100% ideal: 80 acres in Polk county

For me, and what I'm scheming and working on - a decent little bay house is what I would love to have as a weekend/getaway place. I'll probably never own enough land to make it worthwhile due to cost, but a bay house would give me access to a lot of area with much smaller costs.

I don't need, or really want, much - 800-1200 SF, big porch (would prefer a full wrap around, with at least the bay side having a good cover incorporated into the roof of the cabin). Would prefer 2 bed, 2 bath. Kitchen doesn't need to be anything huge or fancy, and the living area needs to be big enough for normal couch and a couple of recliners. Bedrooms need to be big enough to put a queen or king bed and have room to walk around, plus a chest of drawers and a closet. Parking would be down below, as would storage for non essentials. Want a minimum size area to maintain so that I don't spend the entire weekend doing yardwork or anything of that nature.

Biggest catch is that I want it on the water, on the bay. Canal would be OK, but would prefer walking out onto the bay itself.

We stayed here last year for a few days (Palo Duro Canyon). This was perfect for the weekend getaway. (2/2)

https://www.dovesrestcabins.com/our-cabins/comanche/

Wes '87

1200-1500 sq ft (no bigger than 2500), high ceilings (for mounts). 3 bedrooms (2 with beds one with bunks). Big indoor kitchen (lots of counter space), nice outdoor kitchen, big porch front and back, huge garage/carports (enough for tractor, RV, Kayak/Canoe, duck boat, fishing boat, trailer, UTV, riding lawn mower, 2 vehicles, storage and a work area). All on one level......we aren't getting any younger.

NM. Lame M.F. Barnes joke is lame.

The older I get the more I realize that other than a small beach house there just isn't going to be a place I can afford that is also close by to fit my needs.

I'm starting to think about looking for a small parcel (10 acres or less) that backs up to a national forest or wilderness somewhere beautiful like Colorado or northern New Mexico. Close enough for a easy two day drive assuming I'll be able spend larger chunks of time there as I get older. Nothing fancy, just a base camp to to utilities the public land for hunting, fishing, and hiking.

I'll be honest I waver back and forth between trying to save up for a decent sized place here close (160-240 acres), or use the same $$ and buy a bigger place somewhere more distant with more desirable critters (mule deer/pheasant/chickens). Originally I thought western Kansas, but the reality is the WIHA access is so good I'd only use that place maybe a half dozen days a year.

The reality I'm looking at now (due to change in 10 minutes) is rather than spend $500K on 200 acres locally I'd be better off with an 80 acre "home" place complete with barndominium, or some similar small house, and then multiple 2-40 acre parcels.

...but there is always that part of me that wants to create a pheasant/quail honey hole out west. ...and there are a few people on the OB that know EXACTLY what I'm talking about because they hunted a few of those with me this year. Save that for a couple of special hunts a year with Youth groups, veterans, and a handful of hunts with friends.

But LA06, I completely understand what you're talking about. In fact, if you find the right small place like that you can end up with some pretty solid land-locked public ground that is impossible to reach without trespassing through your property. ...the bad news is, not being there enough to monitor it people WILL start trespassing through your property (and potentially robbing you while they are there).

Sean98 said:

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I'll be honest I waver back and forth between trying to save up for a decent sized place here close (160-240 acres), or use the same $$ and buy a bigger place somewhere more distant with more desirable critters (mule deer/pheasant/chickens). Originally I thought western Kansas, but the reality is the WIHA access is so good I'd only use that place maybe a half dozen days a year.

The reality I'm looking at now (due to change in 10 minutes) is rather than spend $500K on 200 acres locally I'd be better off with an 80 acre "home" place complete with barndominium, or some similar small house, and then multiple 2-40 acre parcels.

...but there is always that part of me that wants to create a pheasant/quail honey hole out west. ...and there are a few people on the OB that know EXACTLY what I'm talking about because they hunted a few of those with me this year. Save that for a couple of special hunts a year with Youth groups, veterans, and a handful of hunts with friends.

But LA06, I completely understand what you're talking about. In fact, if you find the right small place like that you can end up with some pretty solid land-locked public ground that is impossible to reach without trespassing through your property. ...the bad news is, not being there enough to monitor it people WILL start trespassing through your property (and potentially robbing you while they are there).

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This is a real concern with remote property. My Dad and I started to go in on a cabin in Red River, NM....until we talked to some of the locals. They said cabins outside town were routinely ransacked, looted and often gutted of everything including cabinets. We heard the same stories when we spent a summer in Silverton, CO. People would come up from NM or Durango and steal anything they could get their hands on. Usually, drugs were involved. We are retired and RVers. We are looking for property in the San Juans where we can just set our RV for a couple or three months each summer. If it has electricity/water, that is a plus, but we routinely boondock all over CO and WY.

My brother and I contemplating the same thing on our piece of land at the coast. Not because of thieves but just to keep us from being tied to one spot.

AggieGunslinger said:

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My brother and I contemplating the same thing on our piece of land at the coast. Not because of thieves but just to keep us from being tied to one spot.

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We like the flexibility. We boondock on USFS or BLM land but in some areas that is getting hard to find. You can buy mining claims around Silverton and build on them or just use them to park your RV. As soon as some of the snow melts, we are going up to look at some sites. This summer we are meeting one of our kid's family in WY to visit Yellowstone and the Tetons. Then back to Silverton to meet another kid's family for trail riding and the 4th of July. We considered buying a cabin near Silverton, but that would tie us down too much.

I would be real happy with a luxury travel trailer and pad sites in CO, WY, UT, TX anf FL.

Something exactly like the house third coast is selling.
My dad has the 200 acre property with 2/1 barndominium and additional barn/shop already.

We recently inherited 125 acres in Tiveydale, between Fredericksburg and Kerrville. We'd like to build something like another poster mentioned. 1500sf, 2 baths, 3 bedrooms, back wall to be a solid window. Place has some decent views.

I have always wanted a "Dog Trot" house. 2 separate structures @ 800 Sq Ft each. Joined by a common roof. 15' covered breeze way in between the 2 structures. One side used for 3 bedrooms/bathroom. The other side is den & kitchen. Wrap around porch that is 12' deep.

About 7 years ago, my dad finally built a house on our family place in Madison Co. TX. It is a 2200 sq ft 2/2.5 with one large screened in porch and fire place wrapping around to a large, deep west-facing porch. The "master" has its own private, west facing porch.
There is a separate bunk house with one bunk room that sleeps 10 and a separate bedroom with
a queen. It has its own porch as well. Nice when multiple couple get up there and all want some space.
It's all very simple, but well built. not too fancy, just functional-concrete or tile floors, mud room, cheap fixtures, laminate counters, etc.
The only regret is not having a small, third bedroom in the main house. With only two bedrooms there, you have to open the bunkhouse when more than two couples or lots of kids come up. More to clean, cool/heat, etc. Also, if more than three sets of couples come up, someone has to sleep on an aerobed in the main house or share bunk room with kids (which sucks for them).

2200 sq ft but only 2 bedrooms? Whats all the square footage dedicated to?

Large living, dining and kitchen area (open). Large mud room, utility room, storage closet area. Parents work from up here some times, so the master has a small desk/sitting area.
Also, it's really 2.5 bedrooms-"guest" room has another small room off of it where babies/grand babies can sleep in a crib or twin aerobed.
Again, the regret is making the master so big instead of making bedroom .5 an actual third bedroom.
Either way, it's awesome and not that big of a deal.

Interesting. I've always considered the opposite. More rooms and smaller "social areas." Just on the basis that we spend most of the time outside.