5 Cabin Design Ideas | Home Improvement & DIY Tips

This week’s design challenge comes from a family, in our neck of the woods, that is having a little trouble thinking outside the box. They had found themselves in a situation where they inherited a cabin that they want to rent out nightly for visitors to the area. The problem is that their cabin is literally exactly like every other cabin in their resort neighborhood. So, what they want to do is figure out a way to make their cabin stand out against the rest, to people searching online for vacation rentals. Only catch is that the outside CAN NOT be altered in any way due to community restrictions. This sounded like a great opportunity to push my design boundaries and have a little fun in the process.

Because this is a vacation rental, and not a permanent residence, there is a little more room to play with the design. The risk of “getting tired” of a design is a little less when it is not a space that you are 1. Spending a lot of time in, or 2. Seeing on a daily basis. The cabin was built in the mid 2000’s and the bones are good. But the interior is dated and kitschy, and not in a good way. The design played on the “mountain lodge” feel, mixed in with a little bit of “southwest” and “cottage”. It’s a little confused, but that could be from attempts to update the décor over the years, and never quite getting it right. The owners would like us to focus on the main living / kitchen area, as that is where the most photos will be taken and where the first impression will be made. They want WOW factor.

When I spoke to the owners, they were completely open to any possible “feels” (I say feels instead of themes. I hate themes) that I thought would work, and not feel wrong. They weren’t too big on the thought of “mountain lodge”, but I asked if they would just humor me, and let me present it in a modern way. I think they thought I was going to throw in a bunch of log furniture and call it a day. I immediately thought of what draws visitors to the area (outside of corny comedy and classic country music). The lakes, the mountains, and the hometown feel. I knew these were going to be the basis for each design I presented.

So, what the cabin looks like right now isn’t too bad and would probably get a fair amount of interest if it was the only cabin of its kind, but as I stated above, it doesn’t stand out at all. The walls are a pale-yellow cream, and that plays upon the yellowed maple floors and the yellow pine tongue and groove vaulted ceiling. The cabinets are pine, and the trim is pine. Its basically a sea of yellow. The light fixture over the dining table is black iron with moose soldered on. Just to be clear, we do not have moose in southern Missouri. The corner fireplace has oversized river rock below the mantle and shiplap above the mantle to the ceiling. Its cute, but I think it could be improved as the mantle is an orange-yellow beam. The kitchen is a small galley style that has a wall at one end. It probably is five feet wide at most, with beige laminate counters and a 12x12 tile backsplash that probably was a rust color once, but now has a pinkish hue. Below are the key elements of the five designs that I presented.

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