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karen10125

Color Ideas for Log Cabin

Karen10125
9 years ago

We just purchased a log cabin in the mountains for a vacation rental. I'd like to make it country cozy, but somewhat elegant at the same time. Any ideas for a color scheme? It's light wood throughout with dark brown trim.

Comments (15)

  • tibbrix
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If it's a lot of wood, i.e.: wood floors, walls and ceilings, cabinetry, etc., I'd paint the walls a creamy white (versus a stark white) and get your cozy and elegant from the furniture, drapes and carpets.

  • nosoccermom
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Cream, soft white, beige, faux fur

    Here is a link that might be useful: cabin interiors

  • Houseofsticks
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We just moved out of our cabin. My favorite decor for it was a cross of rustic and chic, very casual. Leather furniture, kilim pillows, fuzzy soft throws. I used neutrals/naturals and added painted furniture pieces. Enjoy your new home. Mine was small so it was important to me to be neutral with pops of color. The warm gets "dark" easily, make sure you get good lighting. My stuff looked so much better once we shed light on it:)

  • lilylore
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You haven't given us a lot to go on. Are you going to be leasing it out? Does it have exposed logs on the inside or plaster walls?

    I kinda dislike the whole Yellowstone park in 1920s look, with leather, and Arts and Crafts. You really don't have to do that beige and brown with green and red accents look anymore.

    I was just looking at vacation places recently and wish I had kept the link to a place I found, with a bunch of those board and batten cabins made in the 1950s that was modestly decorated and updated with antiques by a couple in their late 20s. The walls were white through out, but they purchased nice wood antique chest of drawers, mirrors, kitchen tables and painted them in pretty colors, and sanded them back a bit. Then they found nice old prints in frames with pretty mats that weren't necessarily woodsy or hunting. The textiles were antique printed table cloths (I think they had some for curtains or pillows) and pastel quilts. Then they collected quirky old farm house objects to act as accessories, like an antique coffee tin for a vase. That was a nice way to get away from the leather chair, refinished oak and Indian blanket look that was so popular in the 1980s. And the style was young and contemporary looking without being fussy or pretentious.

  • Karen10125
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    thanks for all the ideas, and for the pics nosoccermom! I love the cream idea, I hadn't thought of that. The inside is exposed logs and beams so I it's wood wood everywhere so I won't be painting at all. I like the painted furniture idea too, i'm definitely going to do that now. Thanks again!

  • lilylore
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Karen, I think the key to decorating a log cabin is to 'break up" the expanses of wood and mortar, without trying to hide it, per say. That is, find spots where it should stand boldly from floor to ceiling, and spots were it may not be seen very much. The strong horizontal lines beg for a balance by way of vertical lines, you don't need to crowd the room with vertical, but a few key pieces to break up and accent the horizontal logs.

    To bring in more verticals, you may try:
    1 Hang curtain rods higher than the window and allow the curtains to go to the floor.
    2. keep an eye out for tall cased furniture, but not bookcases, per say (also horizontal lines), maybe a hutch with solid doors above that you can paint. A tall, and narrow bookcase with widely spaced shelves, the type that might be a pantry or linen cupboard, will have a vertical emphasized, and more so depending on the items you place into it. I recently saw a shelving unit with a collection of quilts and vintage textiles that were rolled and stacked like logs and packed into deep shelves -with just the colorful round ends showing, it was like Amish abstract art.
    3. if you are using patterned upholstery or linens, consider running the stripe or pattern in a vertical, ie, from headboard to footboard, or the opposite direction of the logs depending on where the bed or couch sits. Also, if you use patterned textiles, you might try to avoid stripes in the bedding and upholstery, and go for an all over pattern, quilt block, or patten repeat that doesn't have a strong direction.
    4. hang small matching art in a vertical line, or clusters.

    To break up the room:
    1. taking up from no 4 above, instead of spotting small wall art here and there at the same eye level, try massing it in a cluster, this will create a visual break, even though you see the logs behind.
    2. Consider a large work of art (doesn't have to be vertical, can be horizontal) and also look for wall art with very wide mats, to give the actual artwork some visual 'elbow room' from the log 'wall paper'.
    3. I think that oak and leather tends to have the same texture and color as the logs, and if you want a room that is sedate, bland or some pieces to blend in, then that's the way to go, but you should still consider textiles, even smooth linen, and the large hanging rug or weaving is a great textural accent to the logs (which beg to be softened), but it doesn't have to be a Navaho inspired blanket, there are many beautiful flat-weave rugs out there (Kilim Rugs) or even those Sari Quilts (Key words: Kantha, Gudari, Dupatta, Phulkari) for a modern and casual or boho feel.
    4. Another accent to consider is shiny objects. I think first of antique brass, because the warmth of the color complements the wood, but colorful glass vases or bottles near a widow that sparkle, will give you another layer of texture. A mirror will do the same, it doesn't have to reflect anything, just shine and look pretty.

    This post was edited by Lilylore on Sun, Nov 23, 14 at 3:19

  • gabbythecat
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We designed and built our log home; we've been living here about a year. It is our *home*; we are here full time. While building, I checked out a lot of log home/cabin books from our library system; I also got ideas from loghomeu.com. One of the best pieces of advice I read was to incorporate the outdoors into your home. Most people that own log homes like the outdoors, so it makes sense to incorporate elements of the outdoors into your house. So for colors, you bring shades of green in from the forest, maybe red if you have berries outside - that sort of thing. Log homes *tend* to be dark, but it depends on what shade your logs are and how much drywall you have inside. We opted for a cream color for the drywalled areas, mostly because this is an open floor plan, so we don't have many areas that could be painted. And - we didn't want to make the house too dark.

    Horizontal influence - are your logs chinked? Ours are not, so the horizontal look isn't very noticeable.

    In keeping with the outdoor theme, we've brought the forest into most areas of our house. Our master bathroom has bears (we have them on our property). Bear hooks for towels, a bear mural in the shower. In our other bathroom, we asked the vendor for the vanity to embed a topographical map of our neighborhood into the countertop. Kind of like decopauge....we have vintage (appearing) snowshoe sconces in our great room...and we have wooden pegs in our entry areas for our jackets. Casual and easy to use, especially when we're in and out of the house a lot. We have Christmas stockings that look like hiking boots - a relative that quilts made them for us. They don't look Christmasy and are too "right" for this house to pack away most of the year - I'm going to hang them by the front door - keep them up all year.

    Our great room - which is at the center of the house - has a large, high wall in it - drywall. We're paying a local artist to paint an outline of some mountains up there, along with Psalm 121:1-2. Those are the verses that say "I lift my eyes to the hills..." - work well with our faith and with our mountain lodge idea.

    With log homes, you can really have fun decorating them - many of the "rules" don't seem to apply. We did a lot of brainstorming to come up with ideas that work for us - that are practical, especially. Although since you are dealing with a vacation rental, perhaps your perspective will be a bit different...

    I'll be interested to see what you do with your house. Also - any other log house owners here?

  • vedazu
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My brother has a big log house on a lake. I'm not sure why they went this way, but they have a few big pieces upholstered in that wonderful old Clarence House fabric called Robin in yellow. I doubt it is still manufactured. In any case, I think they decided to just make seating groups work without worrying too much about all the logs. The logs are neutral. Your choices are, rustic, or anything else. If you like prints, you can go there.

  • kittymoonbeam
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I like greens and browns. Very restful and brings the outside views in. I love textiles on the walls and floors.

  • Karen10125
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    thanks again everyone, lots of good ideas!

  • furletcity
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I live in a log house and have utilized a lot of the ideas mentioned above. Large antique cupboards, Persian rugs,layered lighting and both leather and upholstered furniture. Browns,navy, tans and cream. I bring color in through furniture and accessories since I have a full log interior. Have fun planning your cabin!

  • finallyhome
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Furletcity that room is yummy.

  • Kiwigem
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Karen, how exciting! I'm another vote for the cream/wood/ (and I would insert grey) scheme. Rustic luxe, how I love thee.

  • nosoccermom
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Bunch of more rooms, with a more modern take IMO.

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