Weekend Cabin is a popular editorial series on the outdoor site Adventure Journal where editor Steve Casimiro picks a mountainside, pasture-side, lakeside, or seaside home somewhere in the world that fit the series' whimsical criteria. "Weekend Cabin isn't necessarily about the weekend, or cabins," The site reads. "It's about the longing for a sense of place, for shelter set in a landscape?for something that speaks to refuge and distance from the everyday. Nostalgic and wistful, it's about how people create structure in ways to consider the earth and sky and their place in them. It's not concerned with ownership or real estate, but what people build to fulfill their dreams of escape. The very time-shortened notion of "weekend" reminds that it's a temporary respite." Of the deep list of incredible getaways, from one-room mountaintop huts to the RV-sized luxury "wedge" cabin we featured yesterday to converted lighthouses in Sweden, these are our three favorite mountain shelters in the series:
? A two-year renovation to this chalet in Megeze, France near St. Moritz that was built all the way back in 1870 replaced the roof and brought some serious spunk to the interior, which now oozes character. A Belgian interior designer was charged with bringing together a group of articles that would represent the owners' global travels, hence the Japanese screen prints in the bedroom, the occasional North African motif, and the hanging wooden lanterns imprinted with Chinese characters. The exposed metal framing on the fireplace, wall and door framings, and on the ventilation hood over the kitchen stove compliment the functional feel and structural appeal of the chalet's 143-year old timber framing. The standout features would likely be considered to be the floral tile mosaics in the kitchen and the bathtub that appears to be carved out of a single boulder, which one can only imagine was a pretty exhausting job. All in all, this "cabin" packs more character than most homes we get to see on Curbed Ski without being too overbearing.
? This 3,231 square foot "master house" is part of a larger 13-acre compound with three other buildings called Stone Creek Camp, which is currently on the market for $8,800,000, way down from its initial $25 mil asking price. The most obviously exciting feature about this lakefront home are the walls made of cordwood cut from the trees that were knocked down to make room for the compound, largely Douglas fir and larch. The green roof sandwiches the very human aesthetic of the cordwood walls between its more unruly long grass and the lawn below. Another spectacular architectural feature is the dining room window, which can be lowered and replaced with a steel deck when the summer heat warrants some open-air time. Two beautiful outdoor showers and a copious lake-facing deck warrant some drooling.
? Before long we're back in the French Alps in the ski town of La Clusaz, this time at a pair of treehouse cabins built as a two-unit B&B called Ecotagnes that were built by a local ski instructor and helicopter pilot and his son. While we've showed some solid treehouse porn on the site before, most are high on the eclectic meter. These are true cabins that are simply elevated in the forest with narrow catwalks going to and from like something out of that old computer game, Myst. Available for about $230/night in the winter and $200 in the summer, each comes with a single bedroom, wood stove, and front deck, although guests are also treated to breakfast, afternoon tea, and dinner.
· Weekend Cabin [Adventure Journal]