Room of the Day: Timber-Frame Cabin Inspires Couple’s Creative Pursuits

These creative homeowners live double lives. They split their time between homes in fast-paced New York City and the tranquil Berkshires in Massachusetts. She’s an artist, and he’s a writer, and they had a cabin built on their rural property near the main house, where they can get inspired by the bucolic views of the mountains and the sheep-dotted hills outside their windows. Respecting the history and beauty of the landscape, the couple chose Brad Morse of Uncarved Block to create a one-room timber-frame cabin with a loft, using a traditional mortise and tenon construction technique.

Photos by Brian Fish, Will Beemer and Valerie Allard

Room at a Glance
What happens here: Artist Valerie Allard and author and business professor Mark Lipton escape New York City to work on creative projects.
Location: Middlefield, Massachusetts
Size: 16 by 20 feet; 320 square feet (30 square meters)

The cabin was built in a spot on the property that enjoys views of the Berkshire mountains — in particular, Mount Gobble. The property is surrounded by conservation land, and a neighboring farmer uses it for his sheep.


The house is nestled into a hill atop a floating, or Alaskan, slab. The outbuilding beyond the cabin is an existing maple sugar shack.

The door has since been painted a slate gray color. Along with the vertical shiplap siding’s brown stain and the placement at the edge of the woods, it helps the cabin fit into the landscape.


The simple vernacular architecture was inspired by nearby buildings, like the sugar shack and a barn on the property. The roof is composed of antique metal shingles that match those of the existing sheep barn, and the elliptical windows are also antique. The siding is vertical pine stained brown.

Morse is passionate about timber framing, which makes up the structure of the cabin. “Timber framing died out in the 1800s when stick framing came along, but was rediscovered in the 1970s,” he says. The builder apprenticed at The Heartwood School for the Homebuilding Crafts in Washington, Massachusetts, years ago and now teaches there. He used this project as an in-the-field teaching opportunity, cutting and raising the timber frame with his students. You can see them in action and learn more about timber-frame joints in this video.


Morse uses locally sourced materials whenever he can. The Eastern white pine timber came from within 30 miles of the cabin, and he milled the black locust floorboards onsite using a portable sawmill, from trees that needed to be removed during construction. They were then sent to a kiln to be properly dried and molded into tongue and groove flooring. The paneling on the walls is pickled pine.

Inside, the couple’s passion for collecting antiques is clear. They furnished their creative studio with useful antiques, including drafting tables, chairs and flat files. The walls are insulated with a wrap and strap system (foam insulation panels between the siding and the paneling). There is a woodstove in the corner that keeps the building plenty toasty in the winter.


Expansive windows make the most of the views of the farmland, hills, mountains and woods all around. Just steps from the main house, the cabin also has the potential to serve as a guesthouse when the house is overflowing. A loft that can be used for sleeping occupies about a quarter of the space overhead (left), with a ladder for access. Staying here may involve trips back to the main house to use the facilities, but the location is well worth it.

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