Self-Proclaimed Hillbilly Converts Crumbling Shack Into Cozy Cottage

They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Nobody proves this to be true better than self-proclaimed hillbilly Richard Aiken.

Aiken has always wanted to live in a log cabin, however the opportunity never presented itself to him. Rather than give up on his dream, he made it happen with a lot of elbow grease and help from his family.

Aiken found an old and very run-down log cabin in Missouri. The owner wanted to get it off his hands and was willing to give it away for free. However, Aiken insisted he pay the owner $100 for the property. Then he wrangled the family and got to work.

The cabin had been crumbling since the 1990’s. It could barely be called a structure and was certainly not a home:

The inside of the structure was even worse than the outside. The family was basically starting from scratch:

However, the wood was still in pretty decent condition. The family marked each individual board and whether it was redeemable:

At the very least, the location was on point and nobody could fault him for buying this lakefront property:

They built a dock:

Then the REALLY hard work began. They tore the structure down, removed all the garbage, and rebuilt it beam by beam:

Aiken had to rebuild the foundation, which now serves as a basement for food storage. He also added a roof on top of the structure:

They added a porch for a taste of rustic charm:

The fireplace was rebuilt brick by boring brick:

And stairs were shaped from a fallen tree. Talk about doing it yourself with limited resources:

They used chicken wire to fill in gaps and then used a standard insulator to prevent the home from leaking in cold air:

The end result was this astounding cabin:

The family can now enjoy visits with Aiken while they kick back and have a cozy dinner in front of a fire:

Self-Proclaimed Hillbilly Converts Crumbling Shack Into Cozy Cottage is an article from: LifeDaily