Take a Tour of This Eco-Friendly Glass Cabin in the Woods

Simplify
by Simplify

Emily and Mauricio used to have ordinary jobs. They quit their jobs to follow their passions and start the company, “Hinter.” Through their company, Emily and Mauricio oversaw the building of Hinter House, a glass cabin in the woods. The house is sustainable, environmentally friendly, warm, cozy, and well-lit.


The most interesting thing about Hinter House is the shutters. 60% of the 1,000-square-foot glass cabin in the woods is covered by windows. The windows have movable shutters that let you change where the light hits, open the house into nature or close the house off.


When the windows are unshuttered, the living space looks like it’s merged with nature. In the summer, when the weather is warm, a third of the living room opens (there are screens to keep insects out) and the breezy ambiance makes it feel as if you are living in a tent; you can feel, smell, and hear the forest.

View of the woods through big windows

The living room and kitchen are in one large room. On one side of the room is a cozy couch, and playful, geometric chairs. Mauricio explains that he added a pseudo-exercise ball-shaped chair to make the space more playful. All the furniture, storage, and appliances are built into the glass cabin. The modern glass cabin was built by local artisans and carpenters.


In the middle of the living space is a freestanding fireplace, which acts as a backup heating source to the floor heating, for the cold Quebec winters. The fireplace rotates, so residents can direct the heat in whichever direction they prefer.


The kitchen was built with sustainability and convenience in mind. It consists of a mini-island, with a mini-garden, four chairs under the island (which becomes the kitchen table), and a wall of cabinets and storage. The appliances are built into the cabinets.


In contrast to much of the open, light, earthy-colored living area, the kitchen, and the hallway are designed with darker wood. There are also hidden LED lights throughout the house, integrated in the ceiling, to create a cozy, warm ambiance.


The house has two bedrooms. The guest room is slightly smaller than the master bedroom, but both rooms are very similar. They both have built-in beds, with drawers underneath, a storage cabinet wall, with a hidden TV, and a pocket door that hides in the wall.

The laundry room and mechanical room are also hidden behind “secret” integrated doors. The bathroom is decorated in light, earthy tones to give it a sense of open space. The one furniture piece in the bathroom, the vanity, also has space for hanging toilet paper.


The glass cabin in the woods uses sustainable cedar. Near the modern glass cabin, a short walk away is a small sauna in the forest, for relaxing in nature.


Glass cabin in the woods

Hinter is a company dedicated to sustainability. They plant ten trees for every booking of the glass cabin and only use sustainable kitchen and cleaning products.


They hope to expand and build more modern glass cabins in the woods in the future. Would you live in a glass cabin like this? Let us know in the comments.


For more alternative living stories, discover what she did when her tiny house on wheels crashed or how they built a tiny A-frame cabin.


To see more videos, check out the Exploring Alternatives YouTube channel.

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