After years of dreaming about owning a cabin, we bought property on Shallow Lake, near Grand Rapids, in the summer of 2010. The spot happened to be next door to my wife's sister's cabin. Perfect! However, the cabin was an 80-foot trailer. We soon realized that given the size of our extended family and how often we enjoy getting together, the trailer wouldn't cut it for our long-term plans.

After more than a year of enjoying the lake, we started planning for a proper cabin. We worked with our architect-nephew. We enlisted Jeff Kemmer from Ely to a build a timber frame cabin based on our nephew's plans. We liked that Jeff uses reclaimed ­Douglas fir timbers.

The timber itself has a story to tell. Our timbers came from the original Boeing factory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, paper mills and even the state hospital where "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" was filmed. We gathered red and white pine, poplar trees, and red oak trees that had blown down in a storm, all trees from the area. The logs were cut into rough boards, air-dried and planed. They became trim, floor boards, a mantle, an oak table, and basement paneling.

After 3 ½ years, we are still building with the help of many of our extended family and friends. Today we have a place that can sleep more than 20 and is full of family and friends year-round. For a family that already loved to spend time together, it was fitting that we have a home away from home for swimming, bonfires, and intense games of cards, beanbags and darts. To have it designed and built by family members makes it very special. The cabin will be in our family for generations.

Paul Durkee, St. Paul