I love it – because I despise cluttered counters. The counter stays tidy, and it matches the look and feel of our home. The piece doubles as a cookbook shelf, but since I rarely cook, I could probably use it for something more practical! And on the hutch where we keep all our dishes (also a ‘freebie’ – the hutch, not the dishes), I use a 5 gallon crock to store my coffee and teas, and a beautiful copper colander for a fruit bowl. In the kitchen, our water filter sits on a bedside table made by my grandfather back in the middle part of the last century. Needless to say, I can’t imagine living in a small space without them – we have a sum total of zero closets, which is a perfect recipe for clutter. I’d have loved to have found them second hand, but in searching, I’ve found that people only seem to give away baskets that just wouldn’t work for our cabin decor, or that are total junk. We pick them up when they’re on sale at our local big-box store, and we’ve got them tucked everywhere.

Instead, we found some lovely, inexpensive rectangular baskets where we store our candles, table linens, magazines, and odds and ends. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to look at ugly plastic bins and mismatched cheap baskets every day. When you live in a 650 square foot cabin, you need to be organized. Here are a few items we use around our little house that we think look great, save space, and were either family heirlooms we had in storage, or didn’t cost us a whack of dough. Now, if you don’t happen to have a magical magnet for a mother, there are other ways of finding that perfect light fixture or that plain white fabric shower curtain that will complement your cabin bathroom (which, weirdly, isn’t that easy to find – the shower curtain, not the bathroom). How she does it, I haven’t a clue, but I’m so grateful she’s got this magical talent. So when we were on the hunt for specific bits and pieces to finish up the cabin interior, all I had to say was: “Mom, if you ever see a blankety-blank in chartreuse with blobs all over it (or whatever), grab it!” And then, lo and behold, a few days or a week later it arrived on my doorstep. She has this amazing way of magically coming across the absolute perfect item right when I need it… the exact thing I’m looking for to complete a room. Basically, my mother is an expert at finding unique, quality goods at garage sales and thrift stores. I don’t spend hours scouring antique stores and Ebay (though I have been known to frequent those places for specific things – but more on that later). My Mother is a ‘Perfect Log Cabin Decor Item’ Magnet In this article, I’ll show you how we were able to mix a number of thrift store, garage sale and Craigslist finds with the new furniture and accessories to create what we think is a fun, funky, comfortable and clean (read: unfrilly) country decor. In Part I of Mixing the Old and the New – Old Log Cabin Decor, I showed you how we were able to utilize a lot of recycled items and many of the architectural features of the antique log cabin we disassembled, reassembled, added on to, and restored back around 1999/2000. Sure, there are a gazillion companies out there manufacturing beautiful furniture and accessories that would make your old log cabin interior sing, but for anyone on a budget, it’s just not practical. Joyful because there’s just something about preserving the past and the countless hours of handwork required to construct the building in the first place, and a challenge because finding furniture and decor that look great with logs (without emptying your bank account), is not easy. Decorating a log cabin, particularly an antique log cabin, is both a joy and a challenge.

Vintage log cabin decor