For some cabin owners, building is the art of the possible

By Karin Mark

Some wood and a dream. They're the makings of the archetypical cabin building experience, from the days before rules and regulations overtook inspiration and individuality.

Tired of today's culture of micromanagement, some people choose to build their hideaways in places just out of sight of the inspectors, just beyond the reach of regulatory officials. Provincial building codes apply here as well, but so, too, does poetic licence.

And sometimes, when nobody's looking, a little magic can happen.

In Pascal Simon's case, the freedom to create led to a cabin he calls La Pitchounette (‘little girl' in French). Simon's flair for the artistic is reflected in every piece of wood and glass in this 20 by 18 foot cabin on Savary Island, at the north end of B.C.'s Georgia Strait. Islanders pay taxes to the Powell River Regional District and comply with health regulations, but few other rules apply.

Now retired from the construction trades, Simon took two years to build La Pitchounette, although some of that time was spent beachcombing. Part of what attracted Simon to Savary in 1983 was the never-ending supply of wood that washes up on its sandy beaches.

"When I first build, I don't know how I'm going to finish it. I finish it according to what I find," said Simon, who moved to Canada from France in 1967. "I know the size, but all the intricate details, they come to me as I work."

The exterior is lined with beach logs - some 200, Simon estimates. He milled and cut all the lumber for the cabin himself. But where he saved on wood, he splurged on imagination. Simon's creative touch is everywhere. The rail on the sleeping loft is a twisting, polished limb of wood. The flooring is tree slices, grouted together like tile. Carved fleur-de-lis and other designs adorn everything from cupboard doors to window trim. Red and yellow cedar strips form a sunrise above the kitchen and dining area. Windows and lamps feature his own stained glass work.

The free-flowing creative process that produced La Pitchounette would never have happened in a more controlled setting, he said.

"The absence of regulations and inspections here suit me well. I can create without having to report to anyone. I build according to the regulations, but I don't have to report it," said Simon, who is applying the same artistic touch to his latest cabin project, the Mousehole. "I don't want to build boxes. I think we build too many boxes in the world. If we have time, we should build something attractive."

Simon is not alone in his search for solitude. When Thomas Dobson retired from the air force a decade ago, he wanted a break from rules and the freedom to relive the cottage country days of old, when family-built cabins were the norm.