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11.30.11

Jack Hanna’s Cozy Log Cabin in Montana

Jack Hanna's log cabin in Montana

This charming, 760-square-foot log cabin belongs to famous animal expert and zookeeper Jack Hanna.

It was named Elk Cabin because it sits on an old elk farm in Montana, just outside Bigfork, but since he shares this secluded retreat with his wife Suzi, they call it their “Honeymoon Suite.”

The cabin is small and simple, with only a living room, kitchen, bed loft and bath.

They didn’t use any drywall in the cabin. Most of it was built with 8″ x 12″ white pine logs from Idaho.

They wanted the cabin to look old and authentic but to have all of the comforts of home, too.

Hanna’s friend and homebuilder Randy Baker says, “We hid the TV, refrigerator, dishwasher and all the electrical work behind custom panels designed to match the cabinetry.”

Learn more about Jack Hanna and what he’s up to on his website.
See the cabin photos by Heidi Long and read the article by Jessica Bizik at Log Cabin Living.

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Comments

  1. Ann says

    11.30.11 at 9:14 am

    The best thing I’m sure about this house is how it smells.

  2. Mia's Pearls says

    11.30.11 at 9:17 am

    Very cozy! My favorites are the bathroom and porch. 🙂

  3. LeAnn says

    11.30.11 at 9:59 am

    Don’t think I better show this to my husband. It is his dream to move to the mountains in Montana ever since he took a motorcycle trip there. He might just put a for sale sign in the front yard if he sees this…lol.

  4. Sheila says

    11.30.11 at 10:14 am

    Well, isn’t that the perfect little log cabin in the woods?! Darling and well-dressed for photos. Love the lighting in the bathroom!

  5. Sheila says

    11.30.11 at 10:15 am

    Ooh! Not bathroom. I meant the light outside in the last photo. 🙂

  6. Dean says

    11.30.11 at 10:38 am

    There’s my dream! 🙂 LOVE it!

  7. Miss Emily says

    11.30.11 at 11:23 am

    That’s a love nest! I love it. So romantic!

  8. Ami @ parsnipsandpears says

    11.30.11 at 1:35 pm

    I would like to crawl into that bath tub. right. now.

  9. Molly @thewaffler says

    11.30.11 at 2:12 pm

    We rented a cabin in the Sierras last summer and had a great time…though that lovely bathtub would have been a nice bonus!

  10. Kim says

    11.30.11 at 2:13 pm

    The same thing happened to me.

  11. Kim says

    11.30.11 at 2:29 pm

    What a perfect cabin in the woods. Just think about what this place looks like when it’s snows. I bet it’s beautiful. If I had a cabin and scenery like this, I would spend lots of time here.

    My dream is to have a cabin in McCall Idaho and if I did, this would be the kind of cabin I would build.

  12. classic • casual • home says

    11.30.11 at 2:39 pm

    This is soooo lovely. I would LOVE to have a little cabin like this in Mammoth, CA

  13. iloucat says

    11.30.11 at 3:24 pm

    J’aime beaucoup .C’est tre chaleureux.Cela donne envie de traverser l’atlantique et de venir s’installer dans cette maison

  14. Jane says

    11.30.11 at 3:30 pm

    It’s just adorable. Love the slate sink. It would be a nice place to snuggle in for the winter.

  15. Nita says

    11.30.11 at 4:16 pm

    Maintenance could be dusting the tops of every one of those horizontal bars on the walls!!! I love this cabin but a bit too dark for me.

  16. Wendy says

    11.30.11 at 4:31 pm

    I love that house. I’d better, because it looks an awful lot like my house, which is an old stone and log cabin with a creek running through the property and under the house. I do love this house and it’s picture perfect setting, but the irony is that my life-long dream has been to live in a rambling old Victorian. Gotta admit it’s a wonderful place to raise a family. County your blessings and move on, eh?

  17. Juju at Tales of Whimsy... says

    11.30.11 at 6:58 pm

    What a fantastic place! I’m ready to move in!

  18. Rachel says

    11.30.11 at 7:39 pm

    oh my gosh!!!! i love this!!! i think this just made the list for my dream cabin! oh man i can’t stop looking at that first picture.

  19. Joyce Michelin says

    11.30.11 at 8:31 pm

    Does anyone know about one they might own on/in the side of a mountain somewhere? It seems to me I saw a show done on it once, and it was stunning, but can’t find any whisper of it anywhere. I’m sure it was Hanna’s – or thought it was. I’m beginning to wonder if I dreamed the whole thing.

    • Jaclyn Rubly says

      12.3.11 at 4:31 am

      Jack Hanna lives in Flathead Lake near my dad and I’s old house. His big house on the lake is far more stunning than this one and what’s cool for me to know is that this house is around the big house as well. As a kid I would walk past this house always wondering who lived there b/c it was sooooo perfect!

      I knew he was my neighbor at the time, I just didn’t know he owned 2 houses on the street I lived on.

  20. Su says

    11.30.11 at 11:58 pm

    wow! love how simple everything is inside…just like the industrial revolution never happened!
    I’m smitten by their ‘honeymoon’ love…

  21. Lisa Corbett says

    12.2.11 at 8:07 pm

    Jack Hannah is right behind Jane Goodall on my ” I want to be this person!!” list. Now that I see Jack’s house…he might have trumped sweet Jane! I’m an Idahoan and have stayed in my share of cabins but this one looks like it doesn’t have loose chinking and might be air tight. I would be completely content to live in a place like that. wow.

  22. Jaclyn Rubly says

    12.3.11 at 4:22 am

    I actually lived down the street from this house in Bigfork, Montana! I lived on the same street of this house. I saw this house back when I was 11 in 1998. And YES, it’s just as pretty in person. He also has a house lake down the road from this one as well. 🙂

    I was LUCKY to be this guys neighbor!

  23. Jaclyn Rubly says

    12.3.11 at 4:25 am

    I meant to say, he has another house down the road from this cabin that’s like 4 stories and on Flathead Lake.

  24. Carolyn says

    12.3.11 at 11:37 am

    We have a bit bigger cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains of NC (2 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths) with similar square hand-hewn logs and dovetail corners and front porch (we have a laurel railing from shrubs on the property cleared for the house). We absolutely love it and hope to retire there ere long. As for maintenance, you do have to re-seal the logs every 5 – 7 years and check the caulking, but you’d have the same thing if you had a wood sided house that you’d have to paint (actually less, no scraping old paint off). With a smallish cabin, it’s not that big of a deal, but I can imagine some of those huge lodge style homes would be a maintenance nightmare. There’s nothing like the warmth and solidity the logs and beams give, and the pine smell is wonderful (ours hasn’t worn off in nearly 8 years). I love the kitchen sink and bathtub shown here. Definitely going in my design file. Thanks for including a log cabin.

  25. SW says

    12.3.11 at 4:05 pm

    Wow! He has great taste.

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