Not everyone has the means to purchase a log cabin for
retreats, or even to rent a cabin for long stretches of time. Yet many people
crave the soothing, comfortable, and familiar feeling of a log cabin every day.
While you can’t magically transport your home to the Sierras or the lakeside at
will, you can bring some log cabin into your home to achieve an echo of a
cabin’s relaxing properties.

The key to making a regular home feel like a log cabin is to
be fairly subtle in your approach. If you start adding bear and moose
figurines, woodland-patterned rugs, and birch bark toilet seat covers
everywhere, your house will feel more like a movie set than a real dwelling.
Here are some ways to make your home capture the essence of a cabin without going
overboard into kitsch.

Add Some Wood

Any photo of the interior of a log cabin will make you
realize how prevalent wood is throughout the design. Practically all the
interior surfaces of a log cabin are wood, except for ones that also feature
stone or other natural materials. Naturally, then, a big step toward making
your home feel like a cabin is to increase the number of wooded surfaces.

Even opting for wood veneers on your floors can be a good
start toward capturing the feeling of a cabin, but you don’t need to stop
there. Adding wood wainscoting to the walls, removing plaster to expose ceiling
beams, and opting for wood cabinets can all help.. Since the floors and walls
are rarely the focal point of a room, this will feel like an added detail and not
an overwhelming woodland theme.

Choose the Right Wood

Ask most people what type of wood they think of as integral
to a log cabin, and they’ll respond with classic knotty pine. This bright
honey-colored wood works well enough in a forest surrounding, but can feel a
little too hokey in a non-cabin home. Opt for woods with a subtler and more
modern feel, like oak, and maple, which will suit your home in the city or the
suburbs while still bringing the forest inside.

Choose a Natural Color Scheme

Log cabins tend to blend into the natural surroundings, and
part of what gives them their unique appeal is that they feel like the inside
is still part of the outside. Look around the exterior of your home to see what
natural colors are in the trees, plants, leaves, and earth. These earth tones
can be a great base for your color palette.

If the outside colors don’t suit you, pick a landscape that
you love and work those colors in. The key to making this look work is to
choose subtle colors that are present in nature.