How To Create A Cozy Cabin On A Budget

You don't have to spend a fortune to decorate your log home or cabin. So what are some ways to create a cozy cabin without breaking the bank? Small, simple things make a big difference!

When we first bought our beautiful dream log home in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, we had big dreams of filling it with log furniture, rustic wall hangings, etc. We quickly realized that after buying our home, the magazine cover dreams were not going to happen any time soon. It is good that we are not the type that have to have everything perfectly fashioned and decorated in a certain theme. In fact, most everything we own is either 2nd hand or was gifted to us. We wouldn't have it any other way. Our living room is more of a Native American and Western theme, our kitchen and guest bedrooms a pinecone theme, and our bathrooms have a Bear theme ... I love it all. It all comes down to this ... decorate your home however it makes you happy! 

We had several unexpected expenses when we bought our home such as:

• A new refrigerator (the old one died just after we moved in)
• A new hot water heater (We found the "new" hot water heater was actually almost 30 years old and had almost rusted completely through. It's a miracle it didn't.)
• New flooring (Lets just say that after trying to clean the old carpet that was in the home, it was impossible. It had to go.)
• And then ... Surprise! We needed a new roof. Thunderstorms proved that there were several leaks and no roofer (we went through 3) could find the problem. The wall in our living room was looking like a waterfall during a heavy rain. Sounds lovely, only it wasn't. Especially when the floor people were here trying to install the new flooring, but couldn't finish until we had the roof repair done. We opted for a metal roof. No more leaks.

Yes, life happens. But you know what? We STILL love our home! And it was improvements that we are thankful we could make. This is our "forever home", so we know we're good for a long while.

Needless to say, we couldn't afford the "wants" of decorating inside when we had "needs" to be taken care of. So how did we begin decorating our beautiful log home? We started small. It's the simple things in life after all! So here are a few suggestions of things we did to decorate.

KITCHEN: I love pinecones, so I bought pinecone curtain valances for all my kitchen windows and doors. I placed a couple of pretty server dishes above my kitchen cabinets and a beautifully painted ceramic rooster cookie jar above my stove top cabinet that I found at a resale shop and cute rustic canisters on my countertop. I use braided jute trivets to decorate and protect my kitchen and table from heated hot pots and dishes, and a pinecone table runner for my kitchen. I have braided rug slices in front of my sink and stove. All are inexpensive! (I use the braided jute products that we carry in our store, Ozark Cabin Décor LLC, because they are all natural and easy to clean with soap and water.) I also bought an iron star paper towel holder. I love inexpensive items that have a quality look and feel. 

FAN PULLS: Something as simple as rustic resin fan pulls really make a difference in rooms that you have ceiling fans in! Again, I love pinecones, so our fan pulls are either pinecones or wood pulls.

LIVING ROOM: I have wanted a "Tree of Life" metal wall hanging and a large Barn Star for the large area where our living room is vaulted. Everything I was finding online was incredibly expensive, but I found an antique shop that had huge Barn Stars for $20. We put one over our stone fireplace. The old tea kettle on the Buck Stove was a perfect find in a thrift shop too. During the winter, the steam from it keeps moisture in the air.

We also have a braided jute log carrier that my husband loves. He calls it his "splinter preventer". It makes carrying firewood so easy and we hang it up near the fireplace or next to our back door. My husband calls it the "splinter preventer". We love it. It's decorative, yet functional. We also found a Home Décor store in a mall and I was surprised to find a very large, round Tree of Life for less than $50. I truly think the Lord gives us the simple desires of our hearts! 

Our Tree of Life we found for cheap. And notice my Autumn leaves. I love gathering and dating them every Fall.

BATHS: I had a neutral beige shower curtain for our hall bath, but it looked so plain. Boring in fact. Know what I found to dress it up? Shower Curtain Hooks. I found a set that had black bears and green leaves. I alternated them and it's amazing how much that dressed up our bath. The old wallpaper and ceiling border is dated, but since the border was of a cabin and forest scene, it has actually kind of grown on me. That's great, because a bath remodel won't be any time in the near future. For the master bath, I found a metal wall art of a bear and cedar trees to go over our tub and put down a couple of slice jute rugs to put in front of our sinks, tub, and shower. It doesn't hurt jute to get wet since jute actually grows in water. It's soft underfoot as well.

Inexpensive shower curtain hooks will totally dress your bath up!

BEDROOMS: Shop clearances and sales. I found an amazing reversible comforter with pinecones on it for our guest bedroom. I love reversible anything, because it's like having two sets. Most of our cabin bedding quilts and comforters are reversible. We sell rustic log furniture by Fireside Lodge Furniture (made in the USA), and they have DIY (Do It Yourself) outdoor furniture as well as cedar log beds that are so very affordable! We bought a bed for our 25th anniversary and just recently received it. The DIY furniture is called "Voyager" furniture and we'll be staining it the color of our log home and putting it together ourselves soon. We saved hundreds of dollars by ordering it this way do to it being less expensive to ship (3 FedEx boxes) vs. having a fully finished and assembled bed shipped. Check out our Voyager Cedar Beds!

OUTDOORS: Do you love planters for flowers? There are many items that make beautiful planters. Old boots, an old wheel barrow, watering can, wood crates. I'm not a green thumb, so I shopped a resale shop and found an old milk can for my front porch. I also found someone in our area from FB that had an old, authentic wagon wheel, so it's out in front of our shop. You can find a ton of rustic things very reasonably priced to incorporate decorating your cabin. (See Thrift Stores below.)

  Use some of God's nature, like pinecones, to decorate with! It's free!

NATURE: Have you ever heard the saying, "The Best Things In Life Are Free!"? God has given us the beauty of nature. A basket full of pinecones is beautiful on a countertop, coffee table, or by the fireplace. I happen to make pinecone fire starters (I've spoiled my husband to them in the wintertime), so I always have a basket on the hearth. A hand full of wildflowers are beautiful for the table. No vase? Use a Mason jar! Do you have some jute string? Wrap it around the top of a mason jar a few times then tie a bow and fill it with whatever you'd like ... candy, candles, cotton balls, bath salts are great fillers. Mason jars are big sellers online or in your local store.

THRIFT STORES: I love shopping resale shops! People call it "Junkin'" when you bargain shop, but we call it finding treasures. You can find some beautiful things for a fraction of the cost of buying them new. In fact, the older the item, the more charm and patina it has. I have a lot of items in our home that I scored a great deal on. For me, it's not about running up debt to impress others. It's about finding beautiful, affordable things that help make a house feel like "home". Things that you personally like. Decorating your home should be about how YOU feel. I love for ours to feel warm and cozy. It's not about the "stuff". We can't take it with us when we leave this world, but we can make our home feel like a cozy retreat while we're here. Like I said, it's the simple things in life.

As much as we enjoy coming across rustic finds, sometimes we just want to splurge a little on ourselves or our family and friends. To make things more affordable, PayPal and Shop Pay has recently come out with a "Pay in 4" interest free installment payments option which is great. If you find the perfect canister set for your kitchen or that perfect quilt for your bed, pay it out in installments instead of all at once! Visit our store at www.ozarkcabindecor.com to see if there is something that might fit your décor needs. Then take advantage of the "Pay in 4" payment option!

I hope you've gotten a couple of ideas from this! 

May God bless you and yours,

Laurie Ann