Log Home Ideas

One of the hard parts about building a log home can be figuring out how to light it effectively. You need some sort of ceiling illumination to brighten your living space and show off your soaring beamed ceilings, but the idea of drilling holes into that lovely wood for recessed lighting can make you cringe. Just relying on floor and table lamps probably isn’t enough, so many log home owners decide to work with track lighting.

Relatively easy to install, track lighting works well strung across high, beamed ceilings or in cozy low-ceilinged areas such as kitchens. The light heads are easy to move if you decide you want to spotlight something different later on, or you can add and remove fixtures as needed. Since track lighting is quite popular right now, it’s easy to find lots of different colors and styles of fixtures, rustic or modern.

More ideas in Inside Log Homes: The Art & Spirit of Home Planning and Decor

If you’re a log home owner and you want to extend the rustic lifestyle to the backyard, you might consider a pergola, pavilion, arbor, or other garden structure made from logs.

The sheltered seating area shown here is one of several structures available from Romancing the Woods, a company that specializes in gazebos, railings, gates, benches, bridges, pergolas, etc. in rustic styles that might have been found in 19th-century European estate gardens or that fit into the popular Adirondack Great Camp style. The company builds with eastern red cedar and other tree species indigenous to the Catskill Mountains.

http://www.romancingthewoods.com

Looking to add a table to your recreation room or bar area? Or maybe you need to add an eating place to an outdoor living space. If you like the look of wood, it doesn’t get any more woodsy than this “tree trunk” teak pub table. It has matching chairs that ought to make you feel like you’re sitting and sipping your wine in the great outdoors.

The table alone will cost you $711 from Barstools & Barstools. A chair is just over $400, or you can pick up a table-and-two-chair set for $1,521.

Barstools & Barstools

If you’ve decided to go with a rustic theme in the kitchen of your log home or log vacation get-away, then you might want to carry that through to the accessories. This wrought iron paper towel holder has a fun wilderness touch with its decorative pine cones. It’s available in an upright countertop version (shown) and a horizontal under-cabinet mounting version. Either one will cost you about $18 at Sticks & Stitches.

If you really like the pine cone theme (hey, there are worse things to sprinkle throughout the kitchen), you can match your other household accessories to this one. The company also sells wall hooks, napkin holders, bookends, key holders, curtain rods, and bathroom accessories, all with the pine cone theme.

Sticks & Stitches

If you like the idea of eco-friendly furniture, then you may want to check out one of the companies offering chairs, sofas, tables, etc. that are made from recycled or sustainably harvested products. The collection pictured here is from New West and features “recycled materials, organic ranch raised wool with dyeing and weaving done locally.” It seems like the perfect match for someone who wants to be responsible about the planet’s resources and yet wants the Old West rustic look (usually heavy on the wood and heavy on the leather).

Of course, products aren’t necessarily inexpensive because they’re recycled, and you know you’re going to pay more for anything with “organic” in the description. In this collection, the chair costs $4,155, the ottoman $1,455, the table $1,155, and the lamp $375 (don’t forget an extra $435 for the lamp shade).

New West

If you like the idea of giving some Old West flair to your log home, you can start in the bedroom with a wagon wheel headboard. This particular piece is made from bent willow by a company that specializes in making all sorts of furniture from willow trees. They have everything from porch swings, to tables, to rocking chairs, to plant stands.

This headboard may not be as authentic as an actual wagon wheel, but it does give you the Old West flavor. Throw in a few Navajo blankets, some boots with spurs on display in a corner, and one of those ubiquitous horseshoes nailed over the door and you’ll achieve Western ambience in the room.

The prices for the wagon wheel headboards run $210 for a twin, $300 for a queen/full, and $395 for a king.

Willow Works

Hanging wall-mounted items like shelves can be a bit of a pain when you’re dealing with log walls, but if you’ve got a few flat walls in your home, you might try some rustic wood shelves as a way to display items. Little shelves like these can be a fun way to keep knickknacks, small pieces of art, and valuable treasures on display but out of the way of passersby. Place them high enough and you don’t have to worry about the kids fumbling around and breaking your favorite items.

These particular shelves are made from recycled railroad ties, so if environmentally furnishings are important to you, you’ll like the fact that these are from reclaimed wood. They have been polished and waxed so they have a handsome sheen. The shelves are available from Velocity Art and Design in small, medium, and large sizes. Prices range from $36 to $96.