Your cabin is your sanctuary. When your regular life gets too hectic, you can retreat to the mountains or the lake, where you can relax, breathe cleaner air, and truly enjoy the company of family and friends. During these trips to your home, you probably don’t want to lift a finger — which might mean that your vacation home suffers from the same sad, outdated décor it had when you first bought it. Let’s look at some cabin décor ideas to make things more cozy!
Your cabin should be a home away from home, as beautiful as it is comfortable to encourage full relaxation and enjoyment. To that end, here are a few ways you can tweak the décor to make your cabin feel cozy no matter when you visit.
1. Prefer a Neutral Color Palette
First on our list of cabin décor ideas centers on color. Colorful interiors may be on trend, but bright hues can easily become overstimulating, which can interfere with your attempts at resting and relaxing at your cabin.
Color theory guides designers to decorate spas in neutral tones like beiges and grays; these palettes do not demand attention, which means the mind and body can achieve a healthy state of calm. You should try to recreate such a comforting color palette in your cabin, eliminating energizing tones like reds and favoring pale blues and greens if you absolutely must have color in your interior design.
2. Utilize Natural Materials
Studies have found that exposure to nature is extremely good for the mind and body — which is why retreating to your cabin helps you recover after stressful periods at home and work. To compound the healing effect of nature, you might consider incorporating more natural elements into your cabin’s interior décor.
Artificial materials that give the appearance of natural materials won’t work; the effect they produce isn’t authentic enough to contribute to a pleasant and relaxing décor scheme. Instead, you should invest in solid wood furniture, natural textiles like wool and linen, durable metals like wrought iron, and a bevy of low-maintenance inside plants.
3. Invest in New Seating
Cabins quickly become the place to stash old, hand-me-down furniture that doesn’t fit in your home but remains in relatively good condition. Unfortunately, your cabin probably suffers from a hodgepodge of mismatched seating options, which hardly contribute to a relaxing and rewarding interior design.
If you want your cabin to look and feel relaxing, #3 on our top cabin décor ideas is to eliminate the unwanted seating and commit to a cohesive style. You might treat yourself to a particularly luxe sectional, which can be modified to fit your space perfectly and allow any guests to your cabin to lounge comfortably. After all, the idea of a vacation is to relax!
4. Opt for Rustic Fixtures
Details matter, even in cabin décor. Because you want your cabin to look and feel different from your regular living place, you should use rustic details to ensure that your vacation home generates that outdoorsy atmosphere you are probably looking for. For example, you might consider updating your overhead fixtures with windmill ceiling fans, which in addition to giving that rustic charm also help maintain a comfortable interior temperature year-round. Lighting fixtures like sconces and chandeliers can also be made from antlers — though you should try to ensure that your antler décor is responsibly sourced.
There are plenty of fixtures in your cabin that can be quickly and easily changed to improve the interior atmosphere. For example, you might change the cabinet pulls in your cabin kitchen for oiled bronze, copper, or wrought iron. You can do the same with curtain rods, towel racks, and even faucets around your cabin. Every time you visit your cabin, you might make an effort to change at least one fixture, and in no time, you will start to see the details of your interior design come together.
5. Maintain Minimalism
Often, a cabin becomes such a beloved place of retreat and relaxation because it is bereft of all the stressors one experiences at home: the stacks of unopened mail, the piles of laundry, the buzzing phone, the dust, dirt, and other debris that accumulates throughout everyday life. Therefore, you need to work to keep these elements out of your cabin. You should avoid cluttering your surfaces with unnecessary décor, and you might even consider removing technology like televisions or Wi-Fi.
The more love and care you put into your cabin, the better you will feel when you visit. With careful design, you can make your cabin an even cozier and more relaxing place to be, so you should start consciously renovating your cabin today.
