Saving an Existing Log Cabin--Exterior Walls Go Interior in this Clever Remodel

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What do you do when you love your small cabin but your family needs more space?  The Bacon family solved the problem by leaving the original Vermont log cabin intact and building rooms around it.  In the photo below, you can see the original outside walls, which are now indoors. 

The rag rug is from the 1930's.  The dining room table came from Canada and the mismatched chairs are from the 1880's

The Bacons are lovers of camp and cabin antiques.  The island in the new kitchen area is from the 19th century.  The hickory hoop chairs are from the 1930's.  The kitchen has been accessorized with a collection of tin plaid picnic boxes from the 40's and 50's.  

In the great room, older upholstered chairs have been recovered in a classic Lee Jofa floral fabric.  Leslie Bacon collects old hooked rugs and there is a large beautiful example on the floor and a smaller cabin-themed hook rug hanging above the fireplace mantle.

On the front porch, comfortable old rockers supplied with wool plaid blankets provide a cozy place to sit with a hot cup of cocoa and watch the snow fall.  Vintage accessories contribute to the charm of the porch.

Old carved Black Forest boxes are shown to advantage on an old store display rack.

The master linens are all vintage along with the braided area rug, above and below. 

Classic cabin arts from the hand-made quilt, pine cone lamp, hand-woven basket, cabin mirror.  The log walls create a charming backdrop for the Bacon's pretty collectibles.

A charming old hand-made cabin and scissors that were once part of the signage on a tailor's shop.

Although the many collectible pieces are from different eras and sources, they are kept cohesive with a color palate made of muted greens, red, yellow and blues.  In fact, it almost looks as if the same can of green milk paint has attended to the front door, the dining table base, the kitchen island and other vintage items scattered throughout the interior.  This color scheme is also repeated in the fabrics and rugs tying the rooms together.  The log walls and wood floors provide a pretty but subtle backdrop, allowing these colorful items to shine.

The couple enjoying their antique hickory game table amidst their charming collection of antique cabin furniture and accessories.  Bandit the dog supervising.

"Our architect thought I was a little nuts to keep the old cabin, and that it would have been a lot easier to start from scratch", Leslie admits.  "But I love when people use what they have around.  That's why folk art appeals to me. Something someone else might have thrown away, I'll always be happy to keep around me."

From Country Living.  

We always have a number of antique and vintage pieces in our online store.  To view our current offerings, click here.  

Want more cabin design inspiration? 

Explore two of our most-loved posts:   

Can I Paint My Log Walls? 

8 of the Most Charming Cabin Kitchens Ever

See hundreds of wallpaper and fabrics curated especially for cabins, lodges, and mountain homes.  Tahoedreaminteriors.com    

Follow along for fresh cabin ideas and new mountain home inspiration: 

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Let your mountain home reflect the beauty, comfort, and creativity you love. — Sue Pipal

Anthony Baratta does Camp Style

Here's another Americana-on-steroids ski house by Anthony Baratta.  I'm a big fan of his colorful, creative and crazy mix.  In this Sun Valley house, the emphasis, as usual, is on the exuberant, the whimsical, and the, well, fun, fun, fun!

It must be delightful to be a guest in any his design projects, but particularly the ski houses, where there are so many "camp" themes Baratta can develop and play with.  Like a musician, Baratta rifts on a theme, twisting and turning it, repeating it, changing it and repeating it again.  One of his first themes is always color...

In the great room, bright color dominates.  Baratta loves primary colors; red blue and yellow.  But that is never enough--Baratta always has to throw a few more hues into the palette as well.  More is always more with Baratta.

 Another theme is custom-made.  Baratta loves to take a motif that everyone recognizes and blow up the scale, amp up the colors and turn it into custom furnishings and finishes.  A great example of this is this Chinese checkers inspired custom area rug.  This is a perfect motif for a family cabin, since playing games has always been a big part of "camp" life.  Another motif used in this room is the star. Whether this comes from traditional American quilt motifs or whether it is a nod to the American West (ranch brands, sheriff's badges), it's hard to be sure.  It doesn't really matter, though--it looks great in the room.  I can see a lot of other motifs used here, like canoes and paddles on the coffee table, the cabin miniature on the coffee table, the Indian head on the mantle, the checkerboard lampshade, and of course those amazing full-scale totem poles that have been energetically painted in Baratta's preferred bright color scheme.  

Bird's eye view of Baratta's custom area Chinese Checkers rug.

Nothing is ordinary.

Above, Baratta has turned a simple hallway into a wild mix of fun and color. Again, he's combined lots of themes together, like the pine trees and tents custom painted on the dressers with antler handles.  The old kerosene camp lantern, a rooster door stop, a tramp art box, gasoline can lamps, and of course another custom rug that mimics old hook rugs, but again, increased in scale and impact.

Charming European painted antiques mix with more Americana and plaid, of course.  Yet again, the custom area rug, a vintage inspired image of an Idaho tourist map featuring Sun Valley.  Really, how charming is this mix?

In the entryway, a braided rug, painted European antique chest, Americana quilt and folk art.  

Traditional lodge furniture, skier fabrics and plaids.

In the sitting area, above, lot's more camp and cabin-life motifs mix with another of Baratta's favorite themes: plaids.  As in almost all of his designs, plaids play an integral roll.

Okay, let's get the party started...here come the plaids.  This is a signature Baratta look, plaids on the furniture, walls and ceilings.  Again, the carpet has quilt inspired motifs.  Or are those Parcheesi board motifs?  Frankly, I'm not sure, and it really doesn't matter.  What matters is the whimsy and delight, right?

Another rug to love, especially that Airstream!  The red deer fabric is called Robin and it is available here. 

Fish, bears, canoes and winter scenes are inset into a braided area rug. Notice the side chair beautifully upholstered in a handmade quilt.  Take a moment to look closely at all the charming winter scenes in this, yet another, fabulous area rug.  Love it!

A custom made headboard hand-crafted in sticks with a beautiful painted summer lake scene topped with a stag painted medallion.  The fabric is an old Pierre Frey snowflake fabric, now discontinued.  

And below, a sitting area in the same bedroom... big, bold stripes mix with an amazing custom area rug that uses vintage ranch style motel signs for inspiration.  Look closely and you'll see that he has framed each sign with a course or two of traditional braided rug. So clever!

Another fabulous custom area rug, vintage rattan furniture painted red and a European painted trunk.

A bunk room to love.  Camp blankets, skier area rug, snow flake ceiling and charming folk art accessories.

Another seating area.  The area rug here relates to the Chinese checker rug in the first photo, but the images have been tweaked for this room.  The plaid fabric is a Diamond and Baratta design for Lee Jofa.  It has been discontinued, too. (William Diamond, now deceased, was Anthony Baratta's design partner for many years.)

Baratta bathrooms are never overlooked.  Here door panels have been painted with winter scenes and a red and white picnic table-themed fabric has been used as wallpaper on the walls and ceilings.

If you love Baratta's wonderful, crazy mix, and want to see more, here's another ski house project he designed.  Click here, to see more, more, more plaids, folk art and quilts!

Want more cabin design inspiration? 

Explore two of our most-loved posts:   

Can I Paint My Log Walls? 

8 of the Most Charming Cabin Kitchens Ever

See hundreds of wallpaper and fabrics curated especially for cabins, lodges, and mountain homes.  Tahoedreaminteriors.com    

Follow along for fresh cabin ideas and new mountain home inspiration: 

Pinterest

Instagram

Let your mountain home reflect the beauty, comfort, and creativity you love. — Sue Pipal

Let your mountain home reflect the beauty, comfort, and creativity you love. — Sue Pipal

Let your mountain home reflect the beauty, comfort, and creativity you love.

— Sue Pipal

Camp Style--Vintage Cabin Life

Fantastic camp style!   The bentwood chair and hickory desk are by Genessee River Trading Company.  Photo Credit: Genessee River Trading Company. 

I just stumbled across this photo on pinterest.  It doesn't link back to anything, but I don't really need it to.  I immediately recognized it as a photo of a trade show booth from one of my favorite camp-style vendors, Genssee River Trading Company.

(By the way, the red bentwood chairs and desk are available in our online store, TahoeDreamInteriors.com.  These chairs come in bentwood or aluminium, in arm, side or rocker styles and in many different color choices and are $550--just fabulous if you love camp style!)

What is camp style?  Well, it's many things and there are really no hard and fast rules.  Folks who decorate in camp style pretty much feel free to pick and choose from among their favorite old cabin elements.  However, camp style is often characterized by hickory furnishings, especially antique hickory.  You also might see hand hooked rugs and old quilts.  And of course, there are the vintage cabin collectibles.  These feature all sorts of themes from camping, fishing, woodland animals, canoeing, Indian trading pieces and any other old thing that might have been seen in a cabin during the first half of the 20th century.

Although there have always been fans of camp style, it became chic in the late 90's thanks to the smart Laguna Beach store, Camps and Cottages, which helped it make its way into mainstream decorating. The store's owner, Molly Hyde English, eventually published a book, Camps and Cottages in 2001 (vintage copies are still available at Amazon.com).  At the same time, the shabby chic movement was taking place and the two worked together synergistic-ally.  

The 2001 book by Molly Hyde English, owner of the store by the same name in Laguna Beach.

Ralph Kyloe is another person who has had a big influence on this style.  Kyloe is an antique dealer, store owner and writer who lives in the Adirondack Mountains.  Although he would probably call the look he promotes "Adirondack Style", there are many overlaps with camp style.  He collects antique hickory, old canoes, willow backpacks and other camp collectibles.  Photo Credit Camps and Cottages.

Interior of Ralph Kyloe's store.

Kyloe has written many books on this subject and is truly an expert on old camp and Adirondack antiques.  Photo Credit Ralph Kyloe.

Just one of Ralph Kyloe's many books.

As the best original camp and Adirondack pieces get rarer, prices increase, of course.  Luckily, there are still plenty of manufacturers currently producing hickory furniture, such as Old Hickory and Genesee River Trading Co.  We've selected our favorite pieces for our online store, TahoeDreamInteriors.com.  If you love camp style, you can easily get the look by buying pieces from these current manufacturers.

Another way to get the look is by attending flea markets.  It may take a little digging, but if you love prowling around flea markets, there are some great finds to be had.  My favorite flea markets are Alameda and the Rose Bowl in California as well as Round Top Texas and Brimfield Massachusetts.  

Part of the fun of camp style is that you can mix in your favorite vintage items and collections.  Some vintage collectibles you might see in a camp-style cabin would include American flags, old sporting equipment such as water skis and tennis rackets, camera equipment, plaid thermoses and lunch boxes from the 40's and 50's, game boards, antique canoe paddles, vintage Pendleton blankets, Indian trading pieces, tramp art and much, much more!  You can pretty much include anything that might have been used for a cabin holiday.  Or, anything else you love can probably work, too. 

For inspiration, here are a few more photos from past Genesee River Trading Co. trade show booths:

Genesee River beds, nightstands and benches mix with vintage signs, oil paintings, oars and fishing gear.  Photo Credit:  Genessee River Trading Co.

A Genesee bed and bench with vintage textiles, china and boating paraphernalia.

Genesee bed, dresser and stool with cowboy themed collectibles. 

A Genesee chair, chest and ski bed with vintage skis, tobaggan, and ski art.

Genesee hoop chairs and side tables with shuffle board pieces, an old boat, boating paintings and life preservers.

Genesee bentwood chairs and table with woodland themed collectibles.

The Genesee truck ready to be unloaded.  Happy shopping!

How delightful are these booths?  Personally, I love flea market shopping and the thought of furnishing a cabin in camp style just seems like outrageous fun to me.  If anyone out there wants to take me to Round Top to shop with them, I'm in!

For additional postings on camp style, click here. 

Want more cabin design inspiration? 

Explore two of our most-loved posts:   

Can I Paint My Log Walls? 

8 of the Most Charming Cabin Kitchens Ever

See hundreds of wallpaper and fabrics curated especially for cabins, lodges, and mountain homes.  Tahoedreaminteriors.com    

Follow along for fresh cabin ideas and new mountain home inspiration: 

Pinterest

Instagram

Let your mountain home reflect the beauty, comfort, and creativity you love. — Sue Pipal

Lynn von Kersting--Could her campy, colorful style translate to cabins?

I've always loved her style.  Originally made popular by the wildly successful Ivy restaurant in Los Angeles, owned by Von Kersting and her husband, chef Richard Irving, Von Kersting specializes in a kooky, whimsical garden-on-the inside, pretty, pretty look.

Could it translate to Tahoe?  You tell me.  In the photos below, imagine log walls, stone fireplaces and lake views.

Inside the Ivy Restaurant, a mix of colorful Americana artwork, floral and checked cushions and toss pillows, flowers (always lots of flowers everywhere) in casual vases, floral dinnerware, Old Hickory seating, and farm pottery and antiques.  A very pretty interior and yet so casual and welcoming. 

Outside seating in the Ivy patio.  Wicker, vintage floral fabrics, strawberries and fresh flowers.  By the way, this is not just styled for a photo shoot.  This is how it always looks.  There are planting beds all around the exterior of the patio that are packed with old rose varieties, fuchsias, geraniums and lots of flowering vines.

On the Ivy patio, an old picket fence is strung with Christmas lights.  There are pretty umbrellas, crisp white fresh linens and flowers everywhere.

The Ivy is located in the design district so you get a mix of design professionals, LA locals and, of course, movie industry folks and movie stars.  It's always great people watching.  Does it seem odd to you that such an anti-glitz restaurant has been so very popular for decades in a town known for over-the-top glamour and style?

In Von Kerstig's store next door to the Ivy, Indigo Seas, you see a similar mix of color, Americana and whimsy.  Love the pond boat collection  and the wicker sun hats in the background.  

Another room in the Ivy.  I just love this charming and cheerful look.  Over the years, it has changed many times, and yet it always looks the same.  The floral fabrics are usually vintage finds.  

Another view of Indigo Seas.  Lynn does a brisk business in selling antique chairs and sofas that she has slip-covered in vintage textiles.  Years ago when I lived in LA, I used to shop in here a lot and I still own a number of pieces from Indigo Seas.  And, of course, The Ivy was always my favorite restaurant.  A great place to meet girlfriends for lunch in the garden patio on a sunny LA day, and a wonderful place for dinner with friends.  At night, the whole place glows in candle-light and twinkly lights.

What do you think about the way Von Kerstig indiscriminately mixes colors and patterns until she achieves this carefree bright and cheerful combination?  Nothing really goes together and yet, it all just goes beautifully.

A Von Kerstig interior that is a little more planned out, yet still manages to retain that exuberant feeling and color excitement. In this case, there is less emphasis on the faded, vintage textiles.  Yet there is a lot of trademark Von Kerstig intensity in the crazy pile of no-two-the-same striped pillows.

Another Indigo Seas photo.  Doesn't this just say "welcome" in the most charming way?  It's like a great big crazy party of color and pattern but it is also relaxing and cozy.  And pretty...did I mention pretty yet?

Again, can you picture these kooky fun colors and textiles at the lake?

Von Kerstig loves her collections--shells, boats, party lanterns, transfer-ware and other colorful pottery, Moroccan carpets. and anything colorful she sees out on her travels and shopping trips.  It's all a big sophisticated flea market.

The dinnerware pattern used at the Ivy displayed with 1940's and 50's tea towels and table cloths.  It's available for purchase, by the way.  In addition to fresh flowers, many vases are stuffed with fresh herbs and bundles of mint.  There are also always bowls of fresh lemons and apples.  

Could you see these flower patterns working at the lake, especially in a summer cabin?  There are a number of people here who love to create pretty flower gardens in our short gardening season where perennials thrive and return year after year.

Although Von Kirstig loves Americana.  She also uses a lot of country English shapes in her furniture.  Also, British Colonial and Raj style furnishings are often used.  

A beautiful living room in Von Kerstig's trademark style.  It gets tamed a little bit in her interiors.  After all, the store is really a place to sell stuff and is often packed to the gills.  In her interiors you see the editing of all that crazy fun.  But it's still there, of course, just to a lesser extent.

Another pretty Von Kerstig room.  Can you count the number of different fabrics in this one small seating area?  

Indigo Seas

A pretty breakfast room.

More Indigo Seas.

The Ivy

Indigo Seas

Well, what did you think?  Could you see this style in a lakefront cabin?  I could.  I also think I'd love to show up to a cabin decorated like this on summer weekends.  Would you?

For more on Kersting as a designer, see here.