Cabin Lessons: A Nail-by-Nail Tale: Building Our Dream Cottage from 2x4s, Blisters, and Love

by Spike Carlsen

When carpenter Spike Carlsen and his wife set out with their recently blended family of five kids to build a cabin on the north shore of Lake Superior, they quickly realized that painting, parenting, and putting up drywall all come with both frustrations and unexpected rewards. Part building guide and part memoir, Cabin Lessons tells the wryly funny, heartwarming story of their eventful journey — from buying an unforgiving plot of land on an eroding cliff to (finally) enjoying the lakeside hideaway of their dreams.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2015

About the author

Spike Carlsen has been writing about the world around us, the stuff in it and how it all works for over 25 years. He was an editor with Readers’ Digest’s, Family Handyman magazine for 15 years where he wrote hundreds of articles and oversaw the books division. He’s written for Men’s Health, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian, Make, Mother Earth News, Fine Homebuilding and a number of other magazines.
He’s the author of the award-winning A Splintered History of Wood, as well as The Backyard Homestead Book of Building Projects, Woodworking FAQ, Cabin Lessons, Building Unique & Useful Kid’s Furniture and more. He’s appeared on the NBC TODAY SHOW, Modern Marvels, HGTV, the CBS Early Show and dozens of other radio and television programs.
Prior to picking up a pen he swung a hammer for fifteen years and taught elementary school. In his free time he enjoys biking, woodworking and attempting to keep their 170 year old house from keeling over. He and his wife, Kat, live in Stillwater, Minnesota, in close proximity to their 5 kids and 8 grand kids
His most recent book, A Walk Around the Block: Squirrels, Sewers, Stoplights, and Other Stuff you see Every Day but Know Nothing About (Harper One) was released fall of 2020.

Reviews

[miteypen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a sucker for books about building or remodeling houses. I also happen to own a cabin on a lake in Canada that my grandparents built in 1953. And I have experience blending families. So this book satisfied on several levels. However, I would have to say that the building anecdotes came across better than the personal ones. Although the author fills us in on the basic information about his second marriage and blended family, he doesn't go into as much detail as I would have liked. And the "lessons" gleaned from building the cabin didn't really translate that well when used as analogies to family life. The parts about buying their land and building the cabin are more interesting, even though I couldn't relate to some of it since I know absolutely nothing about carpentry terms and the like.

Reading this book was like having a conversation with the author and the fun of it was being able to peek into his life. But my main reaction was that I am so grateful that I didn't have to build my cabin from scratch. It's certainly not an undertaking for the faint-hearted!

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe I just really enjoy building/cabin memoirs (and I do) but this book was a lot of fun. It balanced the details of the construction of the cabin well with memories and musings on life and the nature of family. This was an enjoyable book to spend an afternoon with and has left me wishing I could head out to a little cabin of my own.

[Cherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Barb for gifting this book to me. Spike’s story of building his dream cabin (along with the help of family, friends, and few contractors) is told with a humor only someone who has had space from this “adventure” could muster. It’s an honest look at how dreaming big can become reality, but not without plenty of hiccups along the way. With each challenge comes many more reasons why building a cabin from scratch, with love, was the right choice for Spike. I’m also appreciative of this book because it has completely (temporarily?) wiped out any fantasy I may have had of building one of my own. A cabin by the lake???....yes please! Built on my own???....no thanks! Totally worth the read. It’s a quick book and you may just find yourself feeling the lake water and moonlight on your skin.

[christa · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Cabin Lessons" spreads into its own unusual hybrid of multiple genres. Part how-to, part how-to-not. It's part guidebook to the North Shore, and an ode to the best gooey pastry along the way. It's part life coach, with reminders to remember to enjoy the journey. It's a story about blending into a seven-member family, while maintaining the sanctity of the memories of both groups' previous incarnations. It's part romance — the dream-chasing kind and the electric jolts of thrill at seeing one's partner pull into the driveway.
from my 8/1/15 story in the Duluth News Tribune

[Monique Buchanan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of a husband and wife who decide to purchase land and build a cabin for their large family of 5 kids. They face several challenges. The land where they want to build is on Lake Superior and very expensive and the land they can afford is difficult terrain and hard to get to. But they manage somehow.

The author, who is the husband, is a builder by trade and writes and edits for a magazine about building. So he’s quite knowledgeable and experienced when it comes to building houses.

But he makes this project a family affair and shares the bumps and dips along the way as well as the dynamics in the family. I like how he blended in family life and the relationships he has with his wife and kids into the discussion about building the cabin itself.

This is far from a “how to” on building a cabin. First off, he gives no detailed directions but does give some tips he learned the hard way or from experience.

I appreciate how he shared his thoughts on the design of the cabin and why they chose certain products over others or certain kinds of construction over others.

I loved how he shares the working relationship with his wife. Both he and his wife were married before and this is their second marriage. They both brought kids into their marriage, she had 2 and he had 3. All of them are very close in age and in their early teenage years. He shares the different styles of making decisions or doing the work and what each of them needs. Sometimes you're not just building a cabin, but forming a life.

They decide they needed a set of rules to guide the project:

1. It’s gotta be fun.
2. There’s no hurry, so let’s do it right.
3. We decide everything together and do as much as we can together.
4. Remember rule number 1.

The author writes with a lot of humor and I appreciated him trying to keep the whole experience light-hearted even with I’m sure many challenges that made life very difficult.

[Stephanie A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I learned from this is that I absolutely do not want to build my own cabin, romantic though the notion may be and as gorgeous as this one turned out. However, I had fun vicariously following along on their 2-year venture of doing so. Though much of it went over my head, I appreciated that it delivered what it promised in terms of plenty of concrete detail about the actual building process.

While I wasn't totally enthused by the blended family discussions, I can respect the idea of wanting to create a place that was all "theirs" as a new family. Best of all, I liked that they were local -- being Twin Cities natives who currently live full-time in Stillwater, this made it very easy to "step into their shoes," so to speak, and see it would be like if I personally had CEO/magazine executive money and the ambition to follow the same dream of building on the north shore.

[Eden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book didn't go quite the way I was envisioning it. I picked it up, thinking it would be a good narrative about building a cabin on a lake and the trials and tribulations of doing so. There were some of those factors involved. But this book was much more about blending families, troubled teenagers, parents who are working as hard as they can to be good parents, but also give their children independence. I got more than I expected. I do wish he had included more about their neighbors, it would have added more dimension to have that older generation interacting throughout the book, not just at the beginning and the end. I came away withe an appreciation for Spike Carlson's knowledge and patience.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, engaging read that was easy and pleasant to get through over a vacation weekend, Carlsen's account of building a cabin from scratch - and the simultaneous experience of developing and deepening the various relationships in his blended family - presented both a romantic and realistic account of the entire endeavor. Although at times I felt like an accurate sense of time was lost in the flow of the book - entire weeks or months with no significant work done are easily elided - Carlsen does manage to capture the painstaking work involved, both when things went smoothly and when they didn't. Ultimately, Cabin Lessons is a great story of the challenges and satisfactions involved in bringing a dream to reality and relishing that progress with others.

[Aleksandar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very beautifully written book, part memoir, par how-to, which is full of life and energy, and in some way that I can't quite put my finger on, it's special. Maybe the whole is simply more than the sum of its parts, but if that book were a person I would say that it is at once philosophical, erudite, funny, charming and a part of those times when the world was (reportedly) just way better and everything had more quality to it. That's exactly right - this book just feels like a high-quality tool that you get attached to, because it has history.

[Kelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who helped build a cabin, I could relate to much of this book - though ours was in the Piney Woods of East Texas. (And remains standing). This book was nicely stuffed with details, yet roomy enough for the imagination. I came to love these people and their grit.

[Tim Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book zig zagged a bit. Some sections were terrific and were five star, some seemed like two or three star filler and detoured well off the book's path, but most of it fell in the 4 star range. I will likely take a look at some of this author's other work.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cabin building on Lake Superior

Delightful memoir of author's cabin building journey. I was drawn to this book since my husband grew up on a lake north of Duluth.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book to dream on.

[Channing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read especially for someone who plans to build a house.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful and nicely written- part “how to” and part touching memoir as the author explains the process of building a cabin with his wife on the MN shore of Lake Superior

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this because it sounded intriguing, not because I recognized the author's name. And here's the awesome thing: a couple pages in, I'm like, "I know this writing. Family Handyman." There are lots of things to like about Family Handyman magazine, but my favorite aspect of the magazine has always been the writing style. It's very distinctive: conversational, witty, and able to teach loads of information while treating the reader like you're buddies fiddling around with something out in the garage. I was able to pick out the style even though there's no mention of Family Handyman in the book at all; turns out Spike Carlsen was the executive editor.

I say this mostly because the enjoyability of the book seems very dependent on the writing style. I was expecting more of a how-to book than a memoir ranging precariously towards self-help; in other hands this book could have gone down the drain very quickly. But in Carlsen's hands, it was enjoyable and extremely well-written; he never uses one word more than exactly the right number of words, and he understands how to jump around in time to piece together exactly the story he wants to tell.

TLDR: Really liked it; A Splintered History of Wood is next on my list.

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, let me say that I know practically nothing about building, carpentry, woodworking, etc. Sure I love HGTV as much as the next person but dont' actually do any of that stuff in my life currently. Just wante to start with this since this book is about building a cabin. If you are worried that this won't be interesting because you aren't into building things, have no fear! This is a great book for people who just like good memoirs. At times thoughtful, at time funny, always enjoyable. I really loved how the author really loved his blended family and especially his wife. A beautiful relationship where he shows that there are ups and downs but that the ups make it all worth it. Love how he focuses on how important it is to slow down in life. And as a native to the shores of Lake Michigan, I'm very jealous of the beauty he gets to see ever time he is at his cabin!

[Barb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Both the cabin and the author and the writing are a bit rough around the edges, but in a good way, in a worn familiar way. I love memoirs, I like books about building cabin-like structures (yup, I have a dream), and I liked the way he wrote about the passions in his life: his family, his sense of place, and his various antics with a variety of characters. The guy has fun in life. And he has plenty of love too, and it was a great read in which to witness that. I got a little sad when I saw the pages dwindling towards the end -- always a sign of a book I've connected to.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Similar to Second Chance Dog, the cabin builder's life parallels his quest to build a new life with a family cabin perched on the North Shore of Lake Superior as the place where two lives and two families come together.

[Nann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed Spike Carlsen's memoir about building a cabin on the North Shore of Lake Superior.

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

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Gift from Frank and Mary

[Skyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining and informative and, best of all, personally revealing.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read. blends renovation/building and family life anecdotes

[Karen Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read for those interested in tackling something small. Learn a little, laugh a little and the pages fly by quickly.

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cabin is to make your world smaller and life refreshing.

[Pam Proctor]

Loved the combination of construction 101, history lessons and personal disclosures about his life.