Real Estate

Check out this amazing glass-fronted cabin built for only $500

Most of us have, at some point or another, fantasized about quitting our jobs to build a house in the country. But unlike most of us, artists Nick Olson and Lilah Horowitz actually did it. And as you can probably tell from these photos of their gorgeous cabin, it was the right decision.

Olson, a photographer, and Horowitz, a designer, came up with the idea for the cabin one evening when they were walking in the woods on Olson’s family’s property in West Virginia. As the sun set, the quality of the light made them wish for a living space that sunlight could penetrate at all hours. They decided that the best way to find such a place would be to build it themselves. Soon thereafter, they quit their jobs, and started scavenging for windows to build their new cabin’s entirely translucent front wall.

Olson and Horowitz kept the project cheap by using mostly discarded materials. They ate cheap meals of rice and beans and spent their days salvaging wood and other materials from an abandoned barn on the property. Afterwards, they hit nearby yard sales for furniture. Overall, the project took about half a year to build and cost an estimated $500.

There is no power or plumbing in the structure, but there are other perks that more than make up for it. “The house is an experience at night,” Olson told Yahoo Real Estate. “The fireflies start at the ground and merge to the stars up above. It’s really like you’re sleeping under the stars.”