Composting Toilets
Tuesday, October 31st, 2006
If you’re building your log cabin out in the wilderness where sewer hookups are few and far between, you don’t need to resort to an outhouse (let’s face it: a middle-of-the-night run outside in cold weather isn’t all that pleasant). As an alternative to a traditional toilet (or an outhouse), you can go with a composting toilet.
These commodes reduce waste to a soil/fertilizer end product that goes right back into the earth where it’s used by Mother Nature. Composting toilets don’t need very much water, and if you vent the system properly, odors won’t be a problem.
If you’ve got a log home, you might want a kitchen with an old-fashioned rustic feel instead of the latest and greatest stainless steel and granite combinations. One way to make a kitchen feel rustic is to include a farmhouse sink, a sink style that was popular in generations past. Fortunately, you can get that old-fashioned feel with all the modern conveniences and design styles (no hand-pumping the water, thank you very much). 
If you want the feel of nature inside your home, it’s hard to top a grizzly bear coming out of the coffee table. This fearless hunter is complete with a fish in his mouth. Available from Black Forest Decor, the table usually costs $1,000 but was on sale for just over $750 when I visited. There’s a matching end table (the bear isn’t catching a fish on the end table but standing erect in the middle of it…I’m not sure where you put a lamp when there’s a big bear taking up a big chunk of the table space but I guess you can figure that out after you set it up) for $800. Get the whole set, and nobody will accuse you have not having that rustic back-to-nature log cabin feel (they may accuse you of other things, but we won’t go there).
Many log homes are just like traditional homes except made out of logs; they have all the same amenities and luxuries (and then some). But lots of people like to build rustic mountain cabins out in remote locations too. When you build “off the grid,” you don’t have access to power lines, so you either need to create your own power (generators are one way, but solar panels are increasingly popular) or do without. Most people have some means for power, but if you want to save on what you need to generate, you could do some of your lighting in the old fashioned way: kerosene.
Perhaps because I grew up in Washington, I tend to imagine log cabins nestled in forests full of evergreens with mountains and lakes in the background. The truth is there are log cabins and log homes in all sorts of climates, including the southwestern desert. If you want to honor your noisy gecko neighbors, you could include them on your cabinets, drawers, doors, or other parts of your log home. One way is with this brass gecko cabinet pull. It’s a heck of a lot more creative than the usual simple plastic or metal circular knob. It also signifies an interest in nature and the animal world around your home, something many log cabin owners are eager to connect with.
You’ve heard of welcome mats, of course; well, here is a “Welcome to our cabin” sign that is perfect for, well, log cabin owners. Genuine twigs from genuine trees spell out the message, and the 17.5″ x 10″ sign is accented with green wood trees and genuine pine cones (yes, today’s word of the day is “genuine”). Everything is surrounded by a braid twig trim and a frame of “mini logs.” A wire hanger on the back makes it easy to secure the sign anywhere (though I’d suggest putting it next to the door…). This looks like a good way to welcome guests or renters (if you use your log cabin as a vacation rental). 
Okay, this antler-decorated Christmas wreath strikes me as a bit odd (and, uhm, phallic), but it’s an interesting example of a way you can include a rustic touch in your Christmas decorating. Just because you live in a log home, there’s no rule that says you can’t do normal decorating (lights, tree, wreaths, etc.), but it’s just more fun if you can embrace the log style all year around, including at the holidays. Antler furniture (such as chandeliers and lanterns) is particularly popular in log homes, and I’ve seen quite a bit of it, but this is the first antler wreath I’ve seen. You can get these wreaths from Cast Horn Designs starting at $249.00. They’re made from “the finest materials, including six of our popular whitetail deer antlers.”