For the Lundbergs to build their dream, the mountain had to make way.

“When we were putting in the septic system, there was a rock that Randy Watts, (who assisted on the build) hit that was as big as the excavator,” Stan Lundberg remembers from the three week excavation process, adding, “we couldn’t take it out of the hole so then he had to dig another hole off to the side of it that was large enough to be able to actually push the rock into it.”

Lundberg and his family had been looking for land to put a cabin on for more than 10 years, he said. When they first started looking in the Bighorn and Beartooth mountains what they found “was just extremely expensive, most of the time because it had a cabin on it.”

Finally they found a lot in the Crandall area that had been on the market for two months and was about three quarters of an acre. There were no utilities on the land and a boggy area, which Lundberg thinks scared off potential buyers. However, they were able to source electricity through their new neighbors and install other utilities — after the boulders were removed of course. Some of the boulders were even put to good use — Watts arranged some into a fire pit, some into a fence of sorts and covered others with dirt. 

When it came time to build a cabin they just had a 960-square-foot one shipped to them from Artisan Log Homes in two truck loads, assembly required.

In two days the company put up the frame and interior panels, he said — the rest is up to the buyer to finish or contract out. 

“Once they delivered it I was shocked at how big it actually was because we never got to look at it,  we just saw the pictures,” Lundberg said.

The model they ordered has a 430-square-foot loft with dormers, which gave them the ability to add another two bedrooms and a bath. 

Lundberg and the rest of his family have undertaken much of the build which began in September 2022. With work usually happening on Saturday and Sunday, really it’s been about six months of work, he said. 

They’ve spent many weekends hard at work installing tongue and groove, working on epoxy countertops, sinks and installing sheet metal in the bathrooms themselves.

“The neat part right now, it is a family affair, because my family does come, and we all work together on it,” Lundberg said. “And I had my daughter come and she would cut the tongue groove, I’d give her the measurements and then she’d cut it,” he said. 

Thanks to their hard work, the cabin is coming together with the aesthetic touches chosen by Lundberg’s wife Amie.

“The kit was only the shell so everything inside was my wife’s style, she’s one that chose the color schemes and said, ‘Hey, yeah let’s do that with this.’”

The cabin’s colors play a lot with contrast, with both inside and outside alternating between grays and blacks and light and dark wood tones.

When it came to amenities like farm sinks the Lundbergs have kept it basic, they just “wanted something that we can do with the kids and be able to have something here, but it has a lot of character in it, with the big logs that kind of go through it.”

The entryway is dark with tongue and groove contrasted by light logs. In the middle of the entryway are lights framed with deer antlers. 

“What we really like too, is in the great room, we did a dark … ceiling, and then with the dark brown walls and with the light colored wood, that really makes it as a neat color scheme in there that really makes it look striking,” Lundberg said. 

Throughout the house are smaller details sourced by Amie, such as the rocks around their propane fireplace, and tiny metal animals placed around the bathroom mirror.

Lundberg remembers looking at the top log, 23 feet up, thinking about how he was going to finish the build. 

He’d watch YouTube videos for things like installing tongue and groove and insulation. 

“YouTube is my friend on this one, and it’s kind of a necessity I guess, I just had to go, ‘OK, well I’ve never done this before,’” Lundberg said.

The whole project has been a point of pride for Lundberg, he said, as he’s learned more he’s become “very particular on a lot of things in there and I try to make it so it looks professional.”

He’s gone from sleeping in a camper on the weekends to being able to stay inside the cabin.

There are still a few things left to do and he hopes to finish the outside soon, while also accommodating elk season — both kids have drawn tags, he said.

If they meet their goal they’ll be in by Christmas where there’s a picture perfect place to put the tree.