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 Rustic Decorating Hints and Tips
Forest Home Rustic Decor Nature Prints complement any home interior decorating design scheme, but make an especially perfect design accent element for:
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mountain, hunting or fishing lodge or retreat cabin home interiors,
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lake, beach or river cottage house home decorating,
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Country or Farmhouse style interior decor theme,
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Northeastern, Early American, Colonial,
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or Ranch style home decorating.
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Log Cabin Style Rustic Decor: Simple, Primitive, Functional Decor Style.
Exploring the appeal of living "back to nature" style. Log cabin interiors and decor of the past and present
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Forest Home Rustic Decor Art Prints' simple lines and sketch-style illustration technique are the perfect rustic wall decor design element, complementing the simplicity and style of a log cabin interior design theme.
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History of Log Cabins referenced from Greenfield Village |
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Click Cardinal, Moose or Bear image below for art print details.
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Log Cabins and Log Homes
The term "Log cabin" generally refers to a simple, smaller building, built to survive the local environment, somewhat temporary in structure, and less finished or less architecturally sophisticated. A "log cabin" was usually constructed with round rather than hewn, or hand-worked, logs, and it was the first generation homestead erected quickly for frontier shelter.
"Log house" historically denotes a more permanent, hewn-log dwelling, either one or two stories, of more complex design, often built as a second generation replacement. Many of the earliest 18th and early 19th century log houses were traditionally clad, sooner or later, with wood siding or stucco.
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Log cabins: a historical perspective.
How the technology of building log cabins came to America
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Accustomed to the wet weather of England, some settlers tried thatch roofs but abandoned the idea in the longer, drier American climate. The reason? Roof fires. Sod roofs as pictured here were popular on the plains, due to readily available materials, and made for a cooler home in the summer.
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Early settlers from heavily forested Northern and Central Europe brought various styles of the horizontal log cabin building concept to America in the early 1600. Settlers prior to that time built wigwams, or temporary structures of vertical logs dug into the ground.
The first log home structures were built in "New Sweden" (Delaware) by the Finnish and Swedish. The Germans and Swiss immigrants brought a different style of log construction, and so did the Welsh who settled in Pennsylvania. English and French peoples adopted the log cabin style into their own traditional architectural types.
The log cabin style of building received an unexpected rebirth and surge of popularity with the Homestead Act of 1862. The Act gave "homesteaders" rights to open land, but required that they cultivate it and build homes at least ten by twelve feet in size, with at least one glass window. Most cabins had a loft for sleeping.
The wonderful part of constructing a log cabin is the fact one man can do it with very few tools. As settlers moved westward from the New England area through the forests of what is today Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio, building materials were easily procured, and log dwellings could be, and were, built rapidly as protection from the elements and survival out in the wild.
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Log Cabin Living: A Retrospect by James Carbery of Valley Township - 1884
The cabins of the settlers were all log cabins, rudely constructed, made of logs just large enough for three or four men to handle, and daubed with mud to keep out wind, snow, and rain. The floors, where we had any, were made of puncheons split from the logs by the woodman's axe and had what was called a shake roof. Logs [used] in every part - sills, joists, roof fastened with logs, in fact, a house of native timber - no nails. The door often of shakes with wooden pins and hinges. Our fireplaces were built of rough stone large enough to hold a whole load of wood.
The cabins were 14x16, in most instances, and yet they were made to accommodate as many as three or four families, or twelve to fifteen individuals, and have room for strangers and visitors. These buildings had, often, no windows, but in the winter time we could see daylight through the roof and many is the time we have found in the morning, upon awakening, some three or four inches of snow upon the covering of the bed.
Excerpt from GUTHRIE COUNTY HISTORY - 1884, pg. 254.
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Decorating for the Log Cabin Style Look
What home interior design accent elements make you think Log Cabin Rustic Decor?
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Bear skin pelt, knotty pine log walls, exposed ceiling beams, patchwork homemade quilt, simple art print for wall decor: Very Rustic
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Animal skin pelts, mounted hunting trophies, knotty pine walls, prominent fireplaces and hearths. Patchwork quilts, Indian blankets and oil lamps.
Comfortable wood furnitureand log walls. Tools, guns or fishing rods, cooking utensils, foodstuffs, and herbs hung from twisted rod iron hooks on the walls, handmade shelves or ceiling. All the above are interior design earmarks of rustic log cabins, lodges, hunting or fishing cabins or retreats.
Other authentic log cabin interior decorating necessities are using natural materials for furniture, wall and floor covering: leather, wool, wrought iron, timber and stones.
Hearths and fireplaces, or wood stoves, are the living center of a log cabin.
When decorating a log cabin bear in mind all the walls are wood. Patterns in wood may be too busy with patterns in upholstery or drapery. Finished wood is darker than unstained wood, so rather than bringing a 'swatch' of wood to the store, try to bring the proposed decor elements to the wall.
Different color stains liven the walls and an authentic touch to dramatically lighten the walls is whitewash, which was done to yes, lighten a log cabin's interior, and, to keep insects out.
It's a good idea to live in your log home for a time to help you decide how to attune the house's decor to your tastes. Find your favorite places in the house and the best views. Magazines, websites and showrooms are great sources of idea revenue: use your imagination to make them uniquely your own.
Animal head hunting trophies and furry animal skin rugs, or conversely mounted fish and fishing equipment, always evoke the primitive, 'next to nature' outdoor look of log cabins in the forest or mountains.
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Log cabin porch, or as we would say today, deck. Tools used outside hang from the porch wall near the door for easy retrieval and use: simplicity and efficiency.
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Click and drag inside images to move. This is a Russian log home built with flair and superb craftsmanship in the Russian tradition.
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Forest Home Rustic Decor Art Prints would be perfect in this Modern Log Cabin Kitchen Decor: note the birchbark island stools, tile floor and herbs hanging from beautiful wood ceiling. Appliances are not obtrusive, and matching cabinetry completes the look. Click image for larger view.
(Article continued below)
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Our observation of Rustic Log Cabin home decor was that living in a log cabin inspires togetherness. Log cabins were designed to be heated by a massive fireplace, which also served as kitchen and conversation nook: hence one large area with the focal point on the fireplace.
The inhabitants of log cabins are outdoor oriented, so the cabin fulfills the need of sleeping shelter and protection from wild animals, and that's pretty much what's expected.
Log Homes, on the other hand, celebrate all the sophistication of advanced architectural and technical expertise in their design and layout. Rooms blossom forth from the main "Great Room" or living room, and the fireplace and hearth, once the center of activity, is more for decoration than survival.
Windows are measured by their RH specs, are much larger and more numerous than usual log cabin windows, and draped with materials meant more for decorative appeal than keeping the cold out.
While log home exterior walls still proudly display their ancestral log interiors, other wall construction materials -- drywall, paneling, wallpaper -- draw attention to architectural details and reflect light. Consider this as you place your furniture and accessories.
Log cabins might be meant to be summer or winter retreat or vacation lodges or homes and occupied only a few weeks out of the year. Log Homes are for year round living.
For either log homes or cabins, some basic common sense decorating suggestions follow:
The driving force of log cabin rustic decorating is efficiency. As you are considering motifs to decorate your log cabin, remember the K.I.S.S. principle: "Keep it Simple, Stupid".
- How do you keep it simple? Start with this thought: 'How much time will I spend Cleaning?'
Avoid clutter decorating. Yes, a butter churn and spinning wheel are indigenous to a log cabin. A log cabin of the 1800s! Resist. Don't give in to kitsch.
Live in your log cabin or house for a time, if possible, and absorb its atmosphere before deciding on colors and sizes of furniture. Wood walls lend themselves as marvelous backdrops for many colors. Sunlight and wall covering patterns change the color of the wood walls at different times of day. Even the directional placement of the cabin may suggest a color decor scheme to you.
As you see photos of rustic themed rooms that appeal to you, analyze the elements, their relation to each other and the room itself. As you learn, you will emphasize furniture pieces you currently own, eliminate furniture and get new, to coordinate with the character of your rustic home.
Light sources in a log cabin are a lighting connoisseur's opportunity -- and challenge. Keep in mind that wood walls absorb light; an opportunity to create a "cozy" environment emerges. Each room needs alternative lighting, and ambient, task and overall lighting. Oil lamps are a conservative and so appropriate addition in decorating rustic in a log cabin.
Rustic Log Cabin Decor Tip: Antique, Early American, and Colonial style pieces add interest and depth to a rustic log cabin style lodge decor motif.
A Tip on Saving on Heating a Log Cabin or Lodge: Log walls inside and out give a lodge that wonderful rustic outdoor ambiance, but may cost hundreds of dollars in heating bills in the winter.
Solve that problem by using half logs with high RH factor insulation between. Inner lodge or cabin walls may be solid logs, but you may want to intersperse plaster or drywall interior walls for variety, and for ease of hanging pictures, shelves, and other wall decor.
A much more costly suggestion is to install sub flooring water pipes, i.e., radiant heat. However it's supposed to be very effective and pays for the installation in the long run, besides being cheaper than electric radiant floor heat for larger areas.
Article Continued below.
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Modern Log Homes -- Step by Step Pictures of Timber Frame Construction |
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Typical rustic log cabin with side porches, fieldstone fireplace
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Log cabin rustic bath suite with Jaccuzi and fieldstone accent trim
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Traditional log cabin walls, all maple furniture in living room. Limestone fireplace with fireplace air circulation fans, beautiful hardwood floors, sleeping loft.
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