Cabin Decorating- Adding Age

     Ordinarily when I finally get a few quiet moments to sit down with a home decorating magazine, I'm a page by page kinda gal. Unless I spy on the cover a feature of a cabin, then I flip fast and furious straight to those pages. I adore reading romantic accounts of couples finding long forgotten cabins in various stages of crumble and neglect then lovingly restoring them to their former glory. Or who doesn't love an adventurous saga of a family who has taken a cabin apart log by log and transported it clear across the country to its new home?

    Of the oodles of cabins I have ogled at over the years, almost all of them have one thing in common that my cabin does not share- age.

   Now by no means am I complaining about the "newness" of the cabin. But it has been a mission of mine to make the cabin feel as if it has always been there tucked away in the woods. So I thought I would share a few of the ways I have been able to add a little age to the cabin and speed up the maturing process.

Using Family Heirlooms and Flea Market Finds

Whether from your own family or found at the market, older pieces add instant history. This was my grandfather's rocking chair, one of my most prized possessions. I was lucky enough to grab it when my grandmother downsized. I love sitting in it and thinking about how much my grandfather would have loved this place.

This is my grandmother's worn sewing basket which believe it or not now serves as glow stick storage (glow sticks are a kiddie must-have around the campfire.)

I realize how blessed I am to have these items handed down to me. They add not only age to the cabin but priceless family history as well.

Using Worn and Distressed Finishes

We finally installed cabinets to the kitchenette. To achieve a worn look and a pop of color, we stained them fruit punch red. The color makes me so happy!

Fake It

This rusty old chandelier now hangs over our table. It may look old but I actually bought it brand new at Home Goods. It was a steal too- would you believe only $19?

While most of us girls can agree age can be a sensitive subject, when it comes to growing old gracefully with my decor, I'm finding the aging process to be quite fun and mostly wrinkle-free.

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Between Naps on the Porch , Savvy Southern Style , At the Picket Fence , Funky Junk Interiors

Pillow Talk- Iron It On

I was searching for some fun, "campy" pillows to add to our new cabin couch. Of course, there were quite a few I liked online, however my wallet didn't. Sadly, I cannot sew, I really wish I could, so sewing my own was not an option. Then I came up with this idea to embellish some store bought pillows with iron-on transfers.

Iron on transfer sheets are available at most craft stores. I actually bought mine at a office supply store.

Then I chose my images. For mine, I went on a parks and recreation website and downloaded actual photographs of fish we would find in our area. Mr. Cabin was thrilled that I picked the right fish! I just chose "iron on" on the paper type selection menu of my printer menu.

Here is the pillow before. It was a bargain at $4.oo!

To apply the images, just follow the directions on the transfers. I was a little hesitant about the fluffiness of the pillow and being able to press down hard enough with the iron but it worked fine.

The finished product. I still might add a rustic button or something to the middle. Yes, I can sew a button.

This was so easy I am already starting to think of different ones to make.

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Cabin Bathroom

This is a nursery dresser that has been passed around my family for years. Originally, I think it was my aunt's, however somehow it made it's way to my house. We weren't really using it though and I thought it could be a great piece at the cabin if I repainted it. I was hesitant though because I thought all the little nursery paintings were just darling and I didn't want to ruin them.

Solution- beadboard. We had some left over from the cottage kitchen and we didn't have to buy too much more. Mr. Cabin was able to cover up the cute little characters just in case I ever want to restore it to its original condition.

The new and improved dresser is another combination of denim blue, red and ivory.

I think it has a very fun "campy" vibe now.

The rest of the room we filled with our growing collection of tin signs.

For curtains, I drapped two shades of blue bandanas over the curtain rod.

I'm really looking forward to adding more tin signs as time goes on and completing our "rustic fun" look.

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Summer Friends Art

For the longest time, I wasn't sure what I was going to hang on the walls in the girls' room in the cabin. I wanted something to tie in with our farm theme, but I also wanted something that would still fit once they out grew their barn beds. I searched high and low on the internet and nothing seemed quite right. Then I went to my parent's house one day. I was in their basement rifling through an old box of books trying to find something to read to the girls when I came across it, the perfect old picture book from my childhood.

It's called Summer Friends and it is the story of Suzie leaving the country at the end of the summer. She goes to all of  her summer friends- the cow, the chickens, the frog- and asks if they would like to come back to the city with her. But alas, none of her friends want to go to the city. So ingenious little Suzie decides to draw a picture of her summer friends.  "Now," she said, "I will not forget my summer friends when I go home to the city."

I remember reading this book as a child. It was actually reprinted the year I was born. You can tell I loved it because there are my scribbles on some pages and some are taped back together.

THIS was the perfect book for the room. The illustrations were just darling and perfectly fit the farms and the pond near the cabin. Plus, I adored the theme of the book that Suzie's friends would always be with her.

 However, the book was falling apart. Also some of the illustrations that I wanted to use were on the opposite side of the same page so I didn't want to just take the book apart and frame the pages.
Instead,  I decided to make my own art. I bought canvases at the local art store and painted them red, white and blue. I scanned the illustrations into the computer and printed them out. Then once the paint dried, I decoupaged the prints onto the canvas, as simple as that.

For right now, there are three prints on each side of the room. Eventually the girls will have bunk beds in this room and then I can hang all six in a series.
I love that their room has a little piece of my childhood in it now too.

Here is the promised close up photos of their window treatment...

...and one of my flea-market finds, a chair for $4,

perfectly distressed and ready to use in the corner of their room.

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Painted Buffet for Cabin

I scooped up this small buffet from my sister when she got a new dining room set. Originally, it was dark wood with gold handles. When I first brought it home, Mr. Cabin looked at me like I was nuts when I said it was going to the cabin. "Trust me I said. All it needs is a little paint." He didn't look too convinced, but I went on with my plan undaunted.
I painted it red as you can see. Then I went back and painted the dentil molding pieces white and blue. It's such a great pop of color against the log walls. Plus it fits perfectly behind the front door.
However, the reason why I am really loving it now... extra storage! Gotta love that.

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