Turn Your Home Decor to Cozy Rustic Lodge

The wood-burning stove in the corner. The fresh scent of pines coming in through the window. The wooden walls, stacked Lincoln-log style, with knotty imperfections all over. Sound like a daydream of yours? You're not the only one who dreams of living mountain or stream side in a log cabin. If that daydream seems far away from becoming a reality, don't fret. With some thoughtful rustic decor, you can recreate the coziness of that cabin in the woods, sans mortgage payments. Want to learn the best rustic decorating ideas to turn your home or apartment into the likes of a lumberjack's abode? Read on.

Keep It Eclectic

They key to rustic interior decorating is getting into the headspace of a real cabin-dweller. And real cabin-dwellers have other things on their mind besides interior design. That means they're not concerned with their furniture matching. Which means you shouldn't be, either.

Mismatched furniture recreates that haphazard and natural feel of a cabin, where the room feels effortlessly yet perfectly thrown together. No one will guess that you scoured thrift stores and antique shops for hours to find the perfect mismatched but still matching end tables. If you can't deal with mismatched furniture, that's okay! There are other ways to make the room feel haphazard while still pleasing your finer design sensibilities.

You can mix different colors of natural wood, for instance, to make it seem like pieces were acquired separately. As long as you stick to an overall rustic theme in choosing furniture, that effortless feel will come through.

Wall Treatments

It's uncommon for rustic lodges and cabins to have painted walls, since their walls are so often made of raw wood. That's part of their charm, no? You can recreate this look through various wall treatments. The most authentic is a reclaimed wood wall. To maintain a modern rustic decor feel, limit your reclaimed wood wall to just an accent wall versus a whole room. It'll give your space the perfect dose of the cabin-in-the-woods feel without going overboard.

If you can't get your hands on reclaimed wood, pallet wood will do just fine. Stain it according to your color preference. You can mix stains for an even more rustic vibe, or paint the wood white to make it more modern. If you don't want to take on such a large DIY project, you can treat your wall with wood panel wallpaper to create the same effect. You could also bring the outdoors in with a stacked log wallpaper! Again, create an accent wall here to avoid overdoing it.

Hygge Yourself

Have you ever heard of the Danish lifestyle term, hygge? It means to prize coziness over all else, and to find happiness in the little things. It's the way Danes live their lives day in and day out. It's no wonder their cabins are what dreams are made of. Embracing hygge is to embrace the cabin lifestyle of being mentally present, enjoying nature, and seeking comfort from the outside world. Infusing this principle into your home decor will make your home feel more like a cozy cabin in a hurry.

Place fluffy throw blankets around your living room to encourage guests to cozy up. Open windows and place pine-scented candles on the sill to encourage fresh air that transports you to the forest. One of the most interesting hygge trends is a phone caddy at the front door. Encourage your guests (and yourself!) to place your phone in the caddy upon entering your home. It'll encourage real conversation that isn't interrupted by mindless Instagram-scrolling and obsessive email checking!

Bring the Outdoors Inside

Unfortunately, you can't lift your house up and plop it in the middle of the forest somewhere. If you could, your cabin daydreams would become a reality in a hurry, wouldn't they? Instead, bring the outside in. There's an awesome book by this name that features tons of cool DIY projects to bring outdoor elements into your home. Projects include natural plant hangers, pressed plant wall hangings, mushroom spore prints, and more.

If you can't get your hands on the book, keep it simple by gathering twigs from the outdoors and applying them to your home wherever possible. Glue them to a glass candle holder, or wrap little lights around a stick and hang from the ceiling to create a natural light fixture. Grab a handful of acorns and display them in a little bowl. This principle can even be as simple as incorporating more houseplants into your home decor.

Finding new ways to create a more seamless blend of indoors and outdoors is a great opportunity to get creative!

Mix Modern and Rustic Decor

When you've got cabin fever, it can be easy to go overboard. And if you live in a modern home in a city, it can feel a little jarring to come home to a house that's decked out in cabin decor without any ties to the real world outside. To avoid this imbalance, mix in some modern elements to create a combined modern rustic decor theme. It might seem like the two will clash, but done well, they'll go perfectly hand in hand. Top your antique, wooden end table with a sleek, black, modern lamp. Pair a modern couch with a live-edge rustic wooden coffee table, and throw a white sheepskin rug underneath. Prop your sleek, flat-screen television atop a reclaimed entertainment console inspired by the great outdoors.

The modern rustic combination works like peanut butter and jelly, each element complementing the other to create a classic pairing.

Table for Ten

Rustic design is all about emulating the feelings of simplicity & togetherness. What better way to do that than with a huge reclaimed wood dining table that can seat up to ten people? After you've implemented some other rustic design elements, host a dinner party! You'll be surprised by how much cozier it feels when all your guests are seated at the same table. This is a perfect opportunity to utilize that phone caddy, too!

Craft Your Dream Space

With some thoughtful interior design and some key rustic decor pieces, you can create the cabin of your dreams right in your current living space. After all, it's the feeling cabin life exudes that you're after, not the structure itself. Now that you've read up on how, you'll be sipping hot chocolate in your perfectly hygge living room in no time.

Want some more home inspiration to get those creative juices flowing? Check out our other articles for the hottest home decor tips and tricks!