Keeping it cozy an expanded cabin adds space but not bulk
G
eorge and Debbie Grable loved the cozy, intimate feel of the cabin they bought on the Methow River eight years ago. When they decided to enlarge the cabin and turn it into their retirement home, retaining that comfortable ambiance was one of their main goals. “We knew we wanted to maintain some of the character of the place. It’s cozy. We liked the timbers, we like the fact that it has a wood floor, and we wanted to keep a fireplace,” said George Grable, who works as a radiologist in Liberty Lake. The cabin, built in the 1980s, perches above the Methow River on property near the Methow Valley United Methodist Church between Twisp and Winthrop. The original house had one bedroom downstairs, an open loft upstairs, and two small bathrooms. A freestanding fireplace in the middle of the cabin separated the living and dining areas. The Grables wanted to add two more bedrooms and two bathrooms so that they could easily accommodate their three grown children
Photo courtesy of Palmer Halvorson
The home’s interior retains its cabin-like atmosphere. and their grandchildren for visits. So they sat down with local designer Howard Cherrington, who operates Integrated Design Concepts, to explain what they hoped to accomplish through a remodel. “The house had some great character, in that it was partially built with recycled
timbers. And its location on the river was dynamic,” Cherrington said. But the interior of the cabin was dark, “and there was not much in the way of visual connection to the river,” Cherrington said. “Although cozy, it was kind of dark, especially in winter,” Grable said. Bringing in more natural
light and taking advantage of the riverfront location and view would be key features of the remodel, along with adding two more bedrooms and a bathroom.
Some complications
The remodel presented some complications because the house is surrounded by trees and there was not a lot
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By Ann McCreary of room on site to expand. “And they didn’t want it to look like a huge house,” Cherrington said. Cherrington’s remodel design called for raising the roofline to put in gabled dormers for two bedrooms and a full bathroom created in the former open loft space. Raising the roof also enabled clear-story windows to be installed to bring more light into the upper and lower floors of the house. The freestanding fireplace was moved from the center of the living area. Cherrington bumped out the wall on the riverfront side of the house and installed a Fireplace Extraordinaire, a model that heats like a furnace and is a primary source of heat for the house. The fireplace is a centerpiece of the great room and is framed by expansive windows overlooking the river. The Grables also installed a solar panel next to the house and radiators that utilize solar power to provide an additional heat source. A small galley-style kitchen was upgraded and expanded, a larger bathroom was created next the master bedroom, and a laundry room was added downstairs. The remodeling work was done by Jeff Brown of AJ Construction. The remodeled home includes 900 square feet of new living space. A new deck on the river side of the house and an expanded porch upstairs take advantage of the river view. The interior of the house retains the cabin atmosphere, with the dark wood and white chinking of the timber walls still a dominant feature of the living space. “We were careful to retain their exposure to the