The Lawless Log Cabin Turns One!

If you've been following us the past year, you know in 2022 we bought our first Airbnb property in Brunswick, Maine.

The Lawless Log Cabin (LLC) has been through a wild transformation since we bought it and to celebrate LLC's first year, we decided to take you BTS of renovations along with why we made certain decisions.

We were originally looking in New Hampshire for land. We even had put an offer and were closing on 25 acres near the white mountains. The survey we did ended up showing up that there were so many wetlands there, and we knew it would be a huge process with the town to be able to go about building on it. We got out of the deal and were still looking.

I had to go up to visit our Maine Squeeze project. It was Thanksgiving weekend, and the home was 5 hours away from where we live. So Mike and I decided to make a weekend out of it. While we were driving up there, we fell in love with the scenery. We had always gone to New Hampshire for hiking, but we love being on the water, like in Plymouth. We stopped to get coffee in Brunswick (ironically, where our cabin is now.)

When we got home, Mike saw this cabin had popped up on the market that day. I had met my clients realtor from the site visit, so I had a contact to be able to view the home. Mike ended up driving up there after work the next day to check out the cabin. We put an offer in the following day!

The reason we fell in love with the cabin wasn’t even for the home, but for the land. It sits on 5 acres of land and the street the cabin is on is fairly remote, so it’s nice and quite. (Without it being a creepy cabin in the woods! haha) The home also is right on the ocean, although we still need to create a staircase down there to access the water.

What we strived to do with our cabin renovation was to remodel the home and do it as sustainably as possible. There are a lot of ways to go about renovating, but we wanted to use products that were also more environmentally friendly.

The biggest decision was the stain for the space. We sanded 5,000 sqft between all the walls and ceilings in the cabin. Lots of traditional stains have VOCs in them, which are harmful chemicals that are released into the air when applying. We looked to Rubio for stain and Clare and paint because we knew that they have no VOC’s in their products. Kona was with us every weekend we were up there, so being mindful of what he is breathing in, as well, is really imperative.

The flooring was another big decision. We went with Stuga because of the materials that they use. Their products are also Floorscore certified.

Fireclay is one of my favorite companies. They use recycled material for their tile, and they are a B corp. We used their tile for the bathroom and kitchen. Wood that we used for the bathroom, kitchen and handrails were reclaimed wood that we picked up at a local salvage yard.

For the furniture and décor, we purchased so many vintage pieces (which is my favorite!). Some of the other décor and artwork I made, too. For all of the beds and bedding, it was important to me have them be OEKO-TEX certified.

We worked tirelessly every weekend since we closed on the cabin in February until about beginning of June to make sure it captured the Lawless Design look at feel. So here it is, in all it's modern rustic glory:

LLC was fully rented out from July - November in 2022. WHAT A YEAR!

To Our Future (and returning) Guests:

Moving forward, some of the wellness and sustainability practices guests will be welcome to experience when staying at LLC are an herb garden, recycling, composting, nature trails, non toxic household and beauty products.

We took the LLC listing down in November to do work on it, hoping to give our guests a better indoor outdoor experience with what we are working on.

The cabin will be able to start to rent in May 2023 and will be continued. We will continue to rent it indefinitely from here on out.

Thank you to those who have stayed, commented on our posts, followed our journey thus far - we are so grateful for you.

We hope you keep watching because we have more jaw dropping transformations up our sleeve!