Home Town: Cabin Song

Ben and Erin restored a family heirloom cabin to create this welcoming and secluded home-base for a musician and audio producer who travels back and forth between Nashville and his original home of Johns County, just outside Laurel, MS.

Several contractors assessed the condition of the pre-renovation cabin, and turned the project down as being too problematic or costly. Ben and Erin, however, were up to the challenge — especially given the emotional and family connections the place held for their client. This stylized rustic kitchen they created, seen here after completion, offers evidence that their instincts were on target.

For this project, Ben and Erin go to special lengths to lovingly restore a cabin that was left to their client, Kevin Edlin, by his late father. "This was Kevin's dad's house, and it's a lot more than just a house," said Erin. "This is one of the last tangible memories that he has of his dad, so we had to save it." The cabin had been vacant for quite some time and, over the years, had fallen into serious disrepair.

... as horror-film aficionados know, is the title of a contemporary fright-film set in an isolated country cabin. Sentimental attachments aside, the spooky resemblance of this cabin — in its current state — to ones featured in Blair Witch style stories isn't lost on the Napiers or their client. "It could be an excellent film set for a scary movie," said Ben, "...or a home renovation show."

Kevin Edlin is originally from Jones County and the Laurel area, but he has been living for a number of years in Nashville where he's a Grammy-nominated recording producer. "Today," said Ben, "we're hanging out with a rock star."

"I got in the music business to make rock 'n' roll records," says Kevin, "and I've worked on rock and pop and country and everything else. But in the last couple years I've been coming back down to Laurel to work on projects with several different artists and bands, so I've been back here a lot lately."

"I get why you want to save the cabin," Erin told Kevin prior to the renovation. "I think it's special, too. But it needs a ton of work."

"What we're talking about is kind of like a writer's retreat," added Ben. "A place where he can come to work on music, spend time with family, get back to his roots and then go back to Nashville."

Not maintained or repaired in recent years, the cabin has deteriorated and suffered from exposure to the elements. There's significant wood rot and the roof above the bedroom has a gaping hole.

Prior to renovation, the home was, um, occupied. A turkey buzzard (who goes by the name of Ricky) had discovered the hole in the roof and has been comfortably roosting inside the cabin. "He's taken up residence," said Bein, "and I don't know what the rules are with buzzards. Does he have ownership, at this point? Are we going to have to evict him?"

"My dad really loved this place and he really wanted to fix it up," said Kevin. "He had all sorts of different ideas. He did what he could for it, but he got in bad health in later years and it just never got fixed up. He passed away about four years ago. So I started coming back to this place again, just to see what all was here, and that's when I started to realize the state it was really in."

"I want it to feel like it is part of the woods," Erin said of her aesthetic approach to the reno, "I think of mossy rocks and stones and that's the color palette that I'm going with for the whole cabin."

The cabin was built in 1980 by Bobby Webb, a friend of Kevin's dad, so Ben dubbed this project The Webb House. Inside it was just 1000 square feet with one bedroom, one bath and a combined kitchen/living area. Since Kevin was already the owner, there was no purchase price involved — but, for a house of this size, the renovation costs would be considerable given the overall condition. "This is the big chunk of money," Ben said of the exterior work and necessary structural improvements. "Roof repair, siding, paint, chimney work, utilities, water heater and electrical. This is going to be about $40,000 before we ever get inside."

The thoroughly made-over cabin features enlarged windows and new double doors and a metal skirt around the porch and foundation. In keeping with Erin's intention to rely on greens and natural shades to blend with the woodland setting, the doors, window trim and new porch railing are painted in a soothing shade of moss green.

The original deck has been shored up and restored, new flooring installed and weather resistant outdoor furniture added.

The main living space was bare, dark and in rough condition.

The remodeled living room includes the original peninsula, upgraded but retaining the original wood surface. The hardwood floors have also been restored and refinished, and the entire space modified to create a vaulted ceiling.

Badly scuffed floors and crumbling ceilings were issues in the pre-renovation living space. Moisture had encroached around the brick chimney contributing to significant wood rot.

The refurbished stone fireplace now features a new mantel custom created by Ben by repurposing a wood beam.

The newly enlarged windows and double doors bring much more natural light into the interior, and the space is further lightened up by the new drywall ceilings painted in fresh white.

In a nod to Kevin's career in music and audio, Erin created these clever bookends from actual vinyl LPs in a simple DIY project.

Other highlights in the renovated living room include recessed accent lighting and an exposed wood center-beam highlighting the vaulted ceiling.

One feature that Kevin wanted to retain was the peninsula bar separating the living room from the kitchen. "One of my favorite things has always been this bar," he said. "I've always loved the countertop, so I don't know if they can be saved or if they can be refinished."

Erin's original design included all new countertops, including on the peninsula, but she modified that aspect to acommodate retaining the piece's original wood surface.

Ben and Erin enlisted the skills of Mike, their floor-refinishing specialist, to sand and refinish the original rough-hewn wood countertops. The varying shades of the different varieties of wood were deliberately kept intact, and clear-coated rather than stained, to take advantage of the visual look of the differing grains and colors.

Original wood from demo was sanded and repurposed throughout the renovation, including the wood paneling in the gable of the new vaulted ceiling.

The bedroom had gaping holes in both the ceiling and floor leaving the space unsafe for habitation. (Unless you're Ricky the buzzard.)

The restored and remodeled bedroom features new sheetrock ceilings and walls, new window treatments and walls painted in muted gray-green.

Other hightlights in the bedroom include a new orientation for the entry door, addition of a new cedar-lined closet and bedroom furnishings in rustic wood finish.

The vanity and shower are modern in style, providing a minmalist, industrial touch better suited to the masculine look of the cabin interiors and natural wood.

The exterior now features all new siding, larger windows on all sides, and a corrugated metal skirt for the foundation. Erin opted for the metal exterior element because it's relatively inexpensive and also because it adds a subtly industrial flourish in an otherwise rustic setting.

They said it couldn't be done. Multiple contractors turned down the job of restoring and renovating this cabin. Just not worth the time and effort. Erin and Ben, however, were fearless in the face of the challenge. (And not afraid of Ricky, the ill-tempered and cantakerous buzzard.) The results speak for themselves ...

In addition to a thorough structural facelift, the cabin gets new landsaping including beds and low shrubs surrounding the home exterior and a firepit with adirondack chairs, painted in moss green to match the exterior trim. "This is amazing," said Kevin when he saw the finished exterior. "I love the colors. It works with the whole scene back here. It's fantastic. It feels so comfortable in here and it's just gonna be a great place to sit around and, like, grab a guitar and write a song."

With the renovation complete, Erin does some final staging in Kevin's remodeled living room just prior to the final reveal of the renovated cabin.

Meanwhile Ben partakes of a final apple before the big reveal.

Ben poses for a portrait shot next to some of his fine woodcrafting handiwork — the custom mantel made from a repurposed wood beam.