Before & After: A Decrepit 1970s A-Frame in Minnesota Is Reborn as a Cozy Family Escape

Taiga Design + Build introduces Kebony siding and Scandinavian vibes to a charming but dilapidated cabin on Lake Superior.

Feb 9, 2022 - 01:00

Before & After: A Decrepit 1970s A-Frame in Minnesota Is Reborn as a Cozy Family Escape

Taiga Design + Build introduces Kebony siding and Scandinavian vibes to a charming but dilapidated cabin on Lake Superior.

The builders created new, more expansive decks for the cabin and employed larger windows from Marvin.

Melissa and Kevin Coleman drove nine hours from their home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to tour an early-1970s A-frame kit house for sale on the craggy north shore of Lake Superior—and they called in a purchase offer on their way back to the city. "It was love at first sight," Melissa says. "The inside is wrapped in cedar, and the smell was intoxicating."

Before: Exterior

The early-1970s cabin in Grand Marais, Minnesota, that Melissa and Kevin Coleman purchased for their family was marked by a partial A-frame roof and cladding that needed to be replaced.

The cabin, a kit home with a chalet-style midsection, displayed small windows.

The Colemans’ offer was accepted, and they set about transforming the cabin into a family escape where they could spend uninterrupted time with their daughters Hallie, age eight, and Linden, age one, for years to come. "I work online, running a website," says Melissa, a blogger at The Faux Martha. "I wanted an offline place to go—a place where the trees have bigger reach than any Instagram post."