Cabin Chic

So when blogging the other day, I came across this beautiful post of a family farm. The blogger, Julie, went to my alma mater, Auburn University, and was also in the same department (College of Architecture, Design, and Construction) as my husband. I feel like I should know her, but unfortunately I don't. I just loved her post about her grandparents farm. It has inspired me to think about some ideas for my in-laws cabin on their farm in Brewton, AL.

My mother-in-law, Dot, and father-in-law, Terry, own a cattle farm outside of town. When they purchased the property it had an existing cabin near the pond. Until this year, there was no running water out there. They recently had a well dug and pump installed. It has yet to be plumbed to the house. The cabin is currently undergoing a make-over. My handy brother-in-law, Colby, with a little help from the rest of us replaced the exterior wood, re-decked and screened the porch, installed new electrical wiring, put cedar boards on the interior walls, re-did the ceiling, and installed a new steel roof. The cabin has come a long way, but still needs some major work before it can be inhabited.

It is basically a small one room type of dwelling. The kitchen and living space is divided by a double sided fireplace. There is not a bathroom yet, but I am assuming that is the next thing to be added. Please note that no one plans to live here full time. It is just a place we currently use as a fish camp and gathering place. The cabin is on a much smaller scale than most of the following pictures, but I figured we can still use them for inspiration.

I have really enjoyed dreaming and thinking about how to make the cabin a beautiful, comfortable, fun, and special place for our family and friends to gather for many years in the future.

I hope you enjoy my rant as I attempt to explain my ideas for the cabin from each picture. Note: I found most of these images on flicr so I can't necessarily cite them. I will try to do so if I know the source of the image.

View of Cabin

Side View

Barn

OK, bare with me. This is a pictorial tour of everything I have had in my mind for the cabin for the last few years. We'll start with the idea of taking up close and personal shots of the cows to hang on the walls. I got this from idea from a calendar with photos of puppies taken in the same manner. Originally I had planned to take them myself of the cows actually at the farm. I found these on flicr, however, and think they are so cute that we should just use them.

I think this little lady is just hysterical.

Moving on to the dining space in the cabin. There is a small space on either side of the fireplace. I am hoping to find a drop leaf table to keep folded in the down position against the left wall when facing the fireplace with 2 or maybe 3 chairs around it. The idea is to have something small and available to eat on all the time, but when we have a big crowd to have something than can be pulled into the living room and opened to accommodate a large group. A drop leaf table is perfect because it will still allow us room to walk in and out of the kitchen and into the living room. On a side note, look how great that painted china cabinet looks against the wood walls. Love, Love, Love.

Perhaps a table like this one. Does the dog come with it?

Also, I think red chairs would be precious around it. This picture is from Pottery Barn. Note the table is also drop leaf.

These are the chairs from Pottery Barn. I think all of the colors would work, but I especially like red for the cabin.

Case in point, how cute and rustic is this?

Time for the kitchen. The kitchen is located in a much smaller space than seen below. It is located behind the fireplace. I just like this picture for idea purposes (i.e. paining the cabinets red). Again, the cabin is no where near this scale.

Another rustic kitchen with red cabinets.

The scale of the kitchen is more along these lines, although it is still smaller than this. The walls are also a natural color like the picture below. Perhaps instead of red, the cabinets would be a better contrast with the walls if they were painted cream.

I think a light like this would make a great pendant for hanging over the kitchen sink.

I absolutely love dishes. I especially loved thinking about what kind of dishes and flatware to use at the cabin. I bought my brother-in-law an 8 place setting of antler flatware like this one from Ballard Designs for Christmas two years ago.

There is nothing like southern sweet tea from a mason jar. I think these jars would make perfect drinking glasses.

I have been eyeing this Spode Woodland pattern for quite some time now. It would make the perfect rustic place setting at our drop leaf table. It comes with lots of great themes (Turkeys, hunting dogs, etc.)

I am especially partial to the hunting dog series. Cole, our black lab, would be so proud of his mommy for finding such a cute plate on which he is the key feature.

The restaurant chain, Cock of the Walk, uses tin dishes like these. These would make a great casual choice for our dinnerware.

The living room is on the opposite side of the fireplace from the kitchen. I think there is room to float the sofa in the center of the room across from the fireplace with two chairs on the cabin's back wall and a bench on the front wall adjacent to the porch. I love this dark denim sofa with nail head detailing.

The fabric that covers the sofa has to be durable. After all, this cabin is used as a fish/hunting camp. We all come in pretty dirty. If we decide against using the dark denim, maybe a good alternative would be leather

On the back wall, two cowhide chairs similar to these by McCall would look great. I would prefer a darker cowhide.

These were a fantastic idea. I am so glad I found this picture. They are throw pillows made from feed sacks. I think they would especially look cute on the dark denim sofa.

Depending on if there is room or not, this rocker would make a nice addition to the living room. I am thinking about putting it close to the right side of the fireplace.

This is the kind of bench I am picturing for putting along the interior front wall. I think it would provide some much needed extra seating while still allowing traffic flow to and from the kitchen.

These end tables from Cabella's might be a nice touch on either side of the sofa or in between the cowhide chairs.

This weathered coffee table would look great in front of the sofa. Plus it would make a great place to play board games.

A small end table similar to this one would also be cute.

Behind the floated sofa is the small sleeping area. We already have a loft bed to put in this space with a full size bed underneath it. Since the cabin is essentially one room, a curtain room divider (perhaps with blackout fabric on the back side to reduce light pollution) will be the perfect solution for differentiating the living and sleeping space and also will add some much needed privacy.

Another curtain example. I like this fabric so much better. I am thinking a linen that will resemble burlap.

This is a primitive example of a curtain room divider. The cabin is actually similar in scale to this photo.

I found this lovely hardware at Pottery Barn. This fixture can be mounted on the ceiling and the curtain can be moved back and forth on this track rather than hanging a rod. I really like this idea and this fabric.

Behind the room divider will be a loft bed on the back wall similar to this one's style. The one we have was custom made by a friend and is in a more rustic finish. The bed in the photo is from Broyhill.

Judd's grandmother, Mamaw Read, was an amazing quilter. Thanks to her, there are numerous family quilts to drap on the beds--similar to the bedding below

On the interior front wall of the cabin across from the bed, behind the front door, a chest of drawers with some country decor would look nice.

A painted one like this would look especially great!

The ceiling of the cabin is plywood sheeting. It looks perfectly fine, I just liked this photo and thought the painted ceiling was a nice touch.

This is the best ceiling photo yet. The ceiling in the cabin is low. Any type of lighting will hang down too far. The best solution is pot lights like these. They really look great.

These are two random things that would be fun. A barrel cooler like this one to go on the porch.

And this fishing garland for the cabin Christmas tree.

What do you think? Any suggestions?

Complete Renovation...Check!

You may remember from some of my previous posts that my brother-in-law, Colby, has been renovating my in-laws rental property in Brewton, AL. with the intentions of moving in himself. You can view the whole renovation process here , here, and here. He completed the renovation and moved in around Easter. His girlfriend was sweet enough to send us some photos of the finished project. Thanks Brenna! See below.

Dining Room

Living Room
Bathroom
Kitchen
Kitchen 2

Guest Room

Laundry Room

My greatest inspiration--My Grandmother

For those of you who know me well, you know the important role my 84 year old Grandmother, Mary Evelyn Braden, has played in my life. She is the person with whom I aspire to emulate in my daily life. I hope to be even half of the woman that she is.

I was explaining what the search engine, Google, was to her the other day. I told her I googled something, and she wanted to know more about how it worked. (Yes, my 84 year old grandmother has a cell phone with voicemail with which she regularly carries and uses and has cable Internet service of which she also uses). Yeah, she is pretty amazing.

Anyways, I was curious today what came up on her if I Googled her name. A write up of her college graduation came up. She was 79 years old when she graduated. She and my husband graduated undergrad. together in the same year, 2003. It was amazing to follow her nine year journey towards her degree. It takes a special person to maintain such dedication, especially during that time in her life.

See the following link to view the article from Berry College Magazine. You may need to zoom to read it.
http://www.berry.edu/Magazine/Spring04/p27_GreatGrandGraduates.pdf

I undoubtedly have the most amazing grandmother. I love her dearly. She is my role model.

Electronic Window Shopping

Judd and I are feeling more settled in our new house. We have put away the boxes and housewares. The kitchen is organized. The beds are made. Now it is time for the hard part...waiting and saving to purchase the final touches. We are following the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Plan (trying to anyways...we still haven't attempted the envelope system). Because of this new found financial restraint, we will not buy anything unless we can pay cash for it. We have not used our credit card in over a year. In fact, I cut mine up about 8 months ago and I have not even missed it.

I was in the mood for some shopping today, but clearly couldn't afford it, so I decided to e-window shop. These were some of my finds for our new house.

Horchow-Legacy Home Essex Bedding for our guest room

Lee Furniture or Four Seasons or some other type of slip covered swivel/glider club chair (preferably a pair) for our living room

We are also looking for an extra long front porch swing, an outdoor rectangular shaped dining table, and two outdoor chase lounges. Any suggestions?

Memorial Day Tribute

This past Memorial Day allowed us a day off from work to enjoy the freedom our troops provide for us. It was also a day to remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for that freedom. Here at home in Alabama one can always tell when a patriotic holiday has arrived. Our streets are lined with flags, our churches, whose doors boast yellow ribbons, honor our service members and preach patriotic sermons, and our news and history television channels provide an array of tributes throughout the day.

While enjoying this holiday, I wondered if my brother, an active duty Army Reservist currently serving in Iraq, would be celebrating it too. It turns out that he and his unit, the 314th PAOC, did take time to remember their fallen comrades. Below is a picture of Bryan (front) during their Memorial Day flag ceremony. Please take a few moments today to pray for our active duty military service members.