On Building A Cabin In the Woods: Of Mice and Men

When we started, we had a geodesic dome made from sandwich panels insulated with fiberglass, built shortly after the former engineer-owner visited Montreal in 1967 and saw Bucky Fuller's American Pavilion. The exterior sealant on the dome was a coat of paint. Windows and doors sloped so that water quickly worked its way in, and the little round disks that covered the bolts at the intersection of the panels fell off, making the panels a Ritz-Carleton for mice. Soon the walls had rotted to the point that I suspect it was being held together by structural mouse droppings. Once, a guest decided to use the oven to make tea bicuits (we didn't use the stove much)- soon the air was filled with the smell of burning mouse poop as mom dragged an army of kids out of it. We couldn't go back in for days, and never used that stove again.

When I planned for the dome's replacement, the battle lines were drawn: It was me or the mice. Every decision about design was going to be predicated on the question: Can mice hide in it? Can they get any food?

So there are no lower cupboards for them to get into; instead there are open shelves where I can see everything, and tight-sealing plastic rolling bins underneath for the food they might like. There are upper cabinets, but they have only canned goods and dishes in them and have not been an attractive target. They do occasionally find a place to hide on the shelf I built between the studs above the counter, but I try to keep it clean of anything that might attract the mice. Even the range top was chosen because it was a sealed unit with no place for them to get inside, and there is no oven.

I made the kitchen counters from a sheet of marine plywood with a urethane finish; this is all the rage on the web right now. I did it for the look of wood rather than the cost saving over laminate; but there are times when one has to spend money and the kitchen sink is one of them. I don't think much of dishwashers in a cottage but if you are going to wash by hand it's good sink with a built in drainboard. Back then there were only very expensive Franke sinks, matched up originally with a single hole Grohe tap; the whole thing cost a thousand bucks. Now you can get the sink for a hundred bucks at IKEA and the tap now is a Moen replacement that cost a hundred, so you don't have to spend as much to get a convenient and effective setup.

In the end: It doesn't get any cheaper than this, and the mice can run, but they can't hide.