Feathering the Nest

A Michigan couple celebrates the snowy magic of the season with their four children and a flock of chickens in a cozy log cabin in the woods.

- KELLY RYAN KEGANS

Some people enjoy Yellowstone for the Dutton family drama. For others, there's another rugged yet refined character stirring up interest: the Dutton family home. Count Grace Start as part of the latter group.

Even so, when she and her husband, Ted, bought their own log house a few years ago, they had no intention of bringing the “rich ranch” style of the series' Montana digs to their humble Holland, Michigan, property. Instead, the hands-on couple, who traded their suburban house for a wooded retreat, created their own version of a refined log home—built to suit (and grow with) their family of six.

This is the couple's third home makeover, meaning they are now seasoned pros at breathing new life into old spaces. Ted, a contractor, renovated the 1985 cabin himself, knocking out portions of log walls to create wider window openings, installing new cabinetry, and sanding down the pine floors. Painting the cabin interior's existing orange hue-lacquered logs white was also a welcome plot twist.