Jack and Rylie lost their jobs in 2020, moved out of California, and back to Jack’s home state of Minnesota. That’s when Jack got to work building an A-frame retreat cabin on family land. He completed the build in 7 days for well under $2,500.
The cabin is primarily a “glamping” set-up, with a twin-sized bed, couch, propane cooktop, and wood stove. They typically come to this spot for weekend stays, and love getting away from it all.
These plans include a detailed 30 page ebook full of step-by-step directions plus the modifiable Sketchup models of both the finished A Frame and the framing model to help guide your construction.1
The Alberta cottage is an ‘A’ frame in the “Times New Roman Style”. A frames were very popular in the 60’s and 70’s as they were a pretty simple structure that went up fast and did not take a lot of framing skills or materials. The look of an A frame became what many thought of as a cottage at that time.
One of the biggest hurdles designing them was finding a way to incorporate the stairs between the levels, as headroom was decreased on the top floor. In this plan, I have made the cottage a back to front split so that the stairs are essentially a hallway connecting the spaces. The kitchen is at the lowest level and has a large eating island. The bathroom and laundry are also on this floor. Storage would be built into the sloped exterior walls. Up a few feet is a living room with a very high ceiling and lots of rear facing windows. Above the kitchen we have the bedroom which has it’s own private exterior balcony.
While not tiny, this is a small cottage that should offer lots of storage, abundant windows and the cabin atmosphere that only an A frame can provide.
