Everyone dreams of a little cottage up in the woods. Just the thought brings to mind charm and a warm, cozy atmosphere. But once you have your little cabin you have to get down to decorating, and this can be expensive unless you get creative. Whether you are decorating the living room with a few inexpensive frames from Target or your small bathroom with affordable bathroom décor that you found online, it is smart to be thrifty.
When decorating a cabin it’s important to remember your inspiration – the outdoors. This means you can use many exterior elements to decorate and accentuate your new home. Besides, cabin decor is rustic, meaning there are treasure finds you can adapt and change a bit, thereby creating that ambiance you want.
Bring the Outdoors In
Go outside and sit under a tree, lean back and look up at the branches and the canopy of leaves. This is the environment you want to bring indoors. An interesting way of doing this is by using these outdoor elements as decorative accents. The following are a few simple tips:
1 – Cut strong long branches to use as curtain rods for your rustic curtains.
2 – Use pine cones, willow branches and dried wildflowers to create wreaths for centerpieces and mantels.
3 – Use willow furniture or rocking chairs on outdoor porches. If you’re creative enough you can even make these yourself.
Found Treasures
One of the most fun aspects of cabin decorating is integrating treasure finds into your decor. Go fleamarketing for leather furniture, or furniture you can reupholster in cow hides and leather. Look for deep arm chairs and sofas with soundly build structures that will reupholster well. Once you have the furnishings you want, choose materials that are neutral in color and take the pieces to a furniture upholstery shop.
Other treasure finds you can use in your decor are rag rugs, braided rugs, crocheted blankets, quilted blankets and strong basic wood furniture. While fabric materials need to be strong and inspected for tears and frays, wood furniture pieces don’t have to be perfect. In fact, the more scratches and the rougher the finish, the better it works with the decor. You can get this rough look by sanding off finishes, and rubbing the surface with wax.
Antiques
On your weekend trips to rummage sales and flea markets, you may also find interesting antiques or antique tools. Old padlocks, keys, wrought iron fences, doors, kitchen utensils or tools make wonderful wall accents. Faux finish an old wood door and hang it as your headboard or as a painting.
Picture Frames
Make your own picture frames with old barn wood pieces. These are fairly simple to make; just cut the old frame pieces at a 45-degree angle and glue them together in a frame-like shape. You can even decorate these further by gluing twigs, river stones, or twine to the frames to make them even more rustic looking.
In the End
Bringing a small cottage or cabin to life is not difficult at all. Really, all it takes is your sitting out under that tree looking up at the branch canopy and taking a lazy afternoon to dream of the style you want. Then you just have to let your creativity flow.
These recommendations are offered by the Twig Factory, a company that specializes in the creation of willow frames, twig furniture, willow tables, chairs and beds. Let us help bring you the creative muse, when it comes to inexpensive cabin and cottage decor.