Livin' Lodge

I would love to give this cabin a 5-star review, but our recent stay just doesn't justify a perfect score. I have to say that this cabin has an ideal view of the Great Smoky Mountains, and the cabin itself is quite impressive. The kitchen is amazing, and as a male I need to point out that the master bathroom even has a urinal installed! However, a few disappointments my wife and I experienced just left us feeling very underwhelmed for a cabin named "Livin It Up". Our first day my wife cut her lip on one of the glasses that was in the cupboard, which had two large chips out of the rim that I didn't notice when I poured her drink. I found two other glasses that had chips and cracks as well. Later that evening we ran a load of dishes in the dishwasher and it leaked all over the floor. It took 3 days for a repair technician to arrive, and he blamed the problem on our use of Cascade pods. The machine documentation recommends Cascade, but the guy told us to use the Finish branded tablets (only two were provided) instead. My wife and I felt horrible and agreed to do as he said. We tried the machine again that evening, as instructed, and the machine still leaked so we just stopped using it. The worst thing about this cabin is the water. We expected it to be well water, but the water at Livin It Up smells just like sewage most of the time! We gagged just trying to brush our teeth the first morning. So we made the 36 minute round trip drive to the grocery store to buy bottled water. We had to suffer through daily showers, as the smell was overwhelming. The cabin also had several burned out bulbs, both inside and out. We had to call maintenance to get the gas grill and gas fire pit to work, as the igniter is broken on both, and the fire pit was out of propane. The maintenance guy provided a single butane torch lighter to manually light both devices, and it ran out of butane after 2 days. So we couldn’t use the grill or fire pit for most of our one week stay. :-(

Barefoot Mountain Resorts take the guesswork out. There are clear signs up the road and once you get inside the house, there are instructions and labels everywhere. We absolutely loved this cabin. It's extremely luxurious with high-end and high-quality electronics, appliances, and kitchenware. The housekeeper initially set up the house in a welcoming and cozy manner. It's inviting and we spent most of our time inside the cabin enjoying the kitchen, fireplace, jacuzzi, hot tub, arcade game machine, TV in the room, and the outdoor space. We were able to witness the most beautiful sunset, sunrise, and the smokiness of the smokies. An experience like no other. My husband and I are not the easiest to please, yet we were very happy. It would have been nice to have a 2-set of blankets & robes and a safe. Also, the fireplace was transitioned into natural wood, and because it was raining during our stay, the wood was wet and it was very difficult to start a fire.