The term ‘mini’ when applied to log cabins sort of tickles my fancy. I have a ‘mini’ pony out in my yard — she is simply a reduced version of a larger horse. I have a lovely ornamental ‘mini’ doll house that my husband is building for our daughter for her birthday (don’t tell her!). It too serves as a miniature of a real house. To me a mini log cabin is a long the lines of a standard log home with much less square footage. It can be designed by reducing the overall square footage of a small log cabin plan.

One really cute mini log cabin that is near to us is a doughnut shop. It is designed with handcrafted logs. The overall size is about 24×24. To make it look even more attractive the owners purchased extra purloins for the roof system. Instead of only the ridge beam, there are a total of four purloins on each side of the ridge. Their round ends protrude out past the wall of the cabin. This feature adds so much charm to this cabin.

Another mini cabin that is just a block or two from the Bozeman Big Sky airport is a coffee shop. This one I believe is actually log sided. It has a flat cut lot with chinking. The roof lines are very appealing with four  steep gable dormers (one on each side). It truly looks like a large log doll house. A tiny log cabin kit has to be custom designed for something like this.

The trick when designing a mini log cabin is to strip away all of the ‘extras’ within the plan and focus on only what you have to have. An efficiency size kitchen with tiny appliances instead of a full kitchen is one such step. Another idea is to locate a tiny sleeping loft over the kitchen area that can be reached with a ladder. Sometimes people make a sleeping ‘cubie’ upstairs instead of a full bedroom. No matter what size the home a little bathroom is always a necessity. So use your imagination and see how tiny you can fit your small log cabin dreams into if a Mini is your desire.

Cowboy Log Homes