The cabin: the entry

Welcome to the first stop on the cabin tour – the entry way! We all know that first impressions matter, so we cannot overlook the first room that greets you. While its first focus should be function – always – this space also sets the tone as soon as you walk through the front door.

As a reminder, this particular entryway also happens to be a central corridor and literally interacts with every other room on the main level.  Because of this, it was important to provide it’s own little moment, even if that was just a little bump-out.

We managed to fit a bench, closed storage in the form of a dresser, and a big mirror all in that little bit of real estate. The mirror, while needed to remind yourself how beautiful you are before before you head out the door, also tricks the eye into making the space feel bigger by spanning the full width of the bump out. But where do the shoes go?! Good question. In the dresser drawers! Like this IKEA piece – have you seen it? It’s a great small space shoe storage solution.

The stairs to the basement are just to the left as you walk in the front door. We’ve wrapped the stairwell walls with gridded windows to capture maximum natural light and those forest views. We’ve also added decorative stone to the foundation walls to help establish that cozy cabin feeling. The more natural materials you can feature, the more cabin-y it will feel!

Turning around to take a look at the other side of the entry, we are reminded that we are in the heart of the central corridor. The front door is quite literally right next to the shared bedroom wall. Any of the limited options that we considered for this side had to really hug the wall. Even though we’ve allowed for a wider-than-standard hallway, we still don’t want to impede into that space if at all possible.

So we opted to create a sort of interactive art installation and take up the whole wall with with a multitude of coat hooks in an offset grid pattern! I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time navigating multiple items on a single (heck, even a double!) hook. And every time I visit a vacation home, I’m always wishing there were more hooks. So we decided to go all out with the hooks! This could be accompished with several different styles; I can also imagine different colored and sized hooks playfully installed in a random pattern.

But here, we’ve kept the color scheme of the entry way comprised of earthy neutrals. This is intentional – so that it can speak to all the different rooms it opens up to: the bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen / living room. To keep things interesting, we’ve made sure to include lots of texture, balanced the light / medium / dark tones, and included colorful accents. Since this is our vacation home, we’ve used personalized framed photography on a picture rail that spans the length of wall above the coat hooks. On the other side, we included accents with the foundation stonework and patterned throw pillow. Oh! And the plant. Never underestimate the power of a green plant accent! If you can, tend to the live version for improved air quality. But in the case of a cabin, especially a vacation home that is visited intermittently at best, you’ll want to invest in some quality faux greenery.

As a reminder,  our vacation home plan assumes 2 bi-weekly users and will need to accomdate occasional groups of up to 6. A few things we considered for  our cabin entry way:

• Store a guest book on the photo ledge
• Artwork can include personal photos and/or fun times at the cabin
• Ditch your outside shoes for personalized cabin slippers
• The linen closet holds one spare set of sheets for each bed  and at least 6 bath towel sets
• Could also use entire entry nook to house / store extra dining seating.

• Pair a small seating option with closed storage to house games, books, and extra blankets
• Display a binder with property / rental information on the dresser
• Frame and hang the wi-fi password on the wall(s)
• Instead of typical artwork, frame a local map with points of interest labeled by the front door
• Provide cabin slippers as part of rental experience – and to encourage no outside shoes to help preserve cleanliness and flooring longevity
• Linen closet holds same AND the locked owners closet holds additional spare linens

If you like what you’ve seen so far – stay tuned to see what the bathroom has to offer next. I may be biased, but I think it’s pretty spectacular!

Are you building a cabin of your own? Either as a vacation home or short-term rental? If you need helping hand, we’ve got all your affordable interior design needs covered! You may want to specifically check out our Whole-House Interior Design Packages or our Short-term Rental Design Options!