Christine Stucker and James Veal joke about their cabin being a former “mouse hotel,” and they’re not referring to its diminutive size. Uninhabited for at least a decade, the 700-square-foot structure—sitting at a corner of their property in Easton, CT—previously hosted a large population of mice who had chewed through the floors, walls, and carpeting. “It smelled so bad in there I had to wear a mask,” Christine recalls. “The real estate agent assumed we were going to tear it down.”