I featured Jon Giswold’s cabin back in 2010 and he recently sent me some pictures of how his cabin looks today and I thought that you might enjoy seeing them.
Jon’s cabin is built by an Amish company called Cabins to Go and he had this 12 x 20 cabin constructed for around $18,000. You can view the previous post Jon’s Cabin in Wisconsin to learn more about it and see interior photos.
Thanks Jon for the update.
Lovely cabin. Funny, though, I thought the Amish didn’t use new-fangled things such as electricity, so how come this company has a website? There must be different levels of Amishness I gues. 🙂
Amish craftsmanship is world-renowned. Sometimes companies will contract with a community to produce items that the company can the retail in whatever way it chooses. The Amish are very careful about Spiritual practice but they are also savvy business people!
I’m guessing that is the situation here.
“Jon added electrical, plumbing and furnishings which are not included in that quote.”
“I had septic installed and a well dug and all that goes with that. Electric had to be established and phone service”
Suggests to me that these things were added later.
My understanding is that the principle is that the Amish are not dependent on the outside world. If they can produce their own power its ok. That doesnt mean they force their beliefs on others either. Like most spiritual/religious practices there are acceptable ways to accommodate people with different belief systems and cultural pratices.
btw, when one speaks of a group, in this case, “Amish” not sure why members of that faith group are all “good craftsmen” etc. As with any random assortment of humans, all are differing in various capacities. In this case there is a shared faith and I would guess that does not make all of the individuals similar in all other respects. The apparent respect for the trait of craftsmanship on this blog does not make the generalization ok anymore than people with a certain skin color all have a particular trait.
Not everything has to be equated to racism. To say that the Amish are good craftsmen doesn’t have to mean that Every single Amish person is a good craftsman but if something is Amish made it is most likely well made because part of their faith is to do everything “with all of their heart” same with the Shakers. It’s part of their philosophy. Just like Germans are known for excellent engineering, It doesn’t mean every German is an engineer does it?
It would be a good thing if all Americans were known for Good Craftsmanship. I know I am.
When I delt with an Amish log builder back in 1999, they had a “salesperson” who represented them with a telephone number. I suppose it is the same with the website. Now 12 years later, at least in my area in Wisconsin, Amish have cell phones (yeah, really)or phone “booths” centrally located to serve several families each.
Electricity–hire an electrician.
That is one gorgeous home on a nice piece of property.
Thanks for sharing your pictures and congrats!
love it 🙂 wish I had some land so I can do that myself.
Great little cabin, really looks like it belongs there too, like it had been there for 50 years.
I went to the first post for the interior shots and noticed a 1/2 flight of stairs over the water heater. Does this lead to the loft, if so, how does it get there, a transition to a ladder? Also is the bath enclosed or open to the main room? For under $20k this is very nice, we could easily spend a summer in such a place.
I’m in the planning stage of building my own home in WI. not quite a tiny home but 960 sq’ 2 bedroom one bath with attached garage with a 4 season room off the kitchen on my 22 acre slice of heaven
Beautiful! Like the layout and the new deck you added.
I am certainly glad that I got to have my appreciation of an update on a tiny house in Wisconsin interrupted by the rambling digressions of a couple of posters on the merits and probabilities of Amish craftsmanship. I am not sure I could have fully enjoyed the beauty of this little cabin without the searing logic of your discussion. I hope you both share the url of your personal blogs on social and cultural observations so that I might post my personal ruminations regarding which hairball remedies work best for my cats. I am certain you will find those to be as illuminating and relevant to your topics as your posts were here. I feel like a better person for you having shared.
Thank you.
Love the front deck. It’s so nice to have a flat, non-muddy spot for tables and chairs or yoga mats or whatever. Between that and the screened porch you’re good for whatever the weather and bugs throw at you. Functional outdoor spaces are very important for comfy tiny house living.
Would love to get Jon’s email to ask him a few questions.