Upgrade your home without leaving home, and don’t spend a fortune doing it.
We have all been home social distancing, and while we miss the interaction with others, it has been a perfect time to get some things done around the house. From landscaping to checking things off the to do list, lets face it, we have the time more than ever to spruce up our homes.
Personally, my deck has gotten stained, the shutters too! I made myself a home office area, rearranged the furniture (ok I did this a few times, because well, I had the time), and I even helped out with a new little log cabin my dad and brother built just across the field from me.
A new home is always fun to “play” in, and while we couldn’t go out to the stores to make purchases just to be on the safe side, we got creative with things we had around the shops and barns on our farm. If you have unused items around, chances are you can turn them into something completely different.
Where do you start?
Lighting, for instance is one of the easiest ways, other than paint, to make a big difference in your home. We took an old chicken incubator, a single plant planter, a set wheels off a rusted old corn planter, a bucket and fish baskets and made light fixtures out of all those things. Each fit in perfectly with the log walls and rustic décor through out the home. We even had a traditional chandelier fixture that we painted black and wrapped some deer sheds onto it that turned out picture perfect.
Anything can turn into something if you have the right mindset my dad told me once, and he is absolutely right! The shower rod is made of a copper tube that also acts as the plumbing pipe that feeds the shower head without adding extra cost or exposed pipes in the way. While we are on the shower, it is simply a sealed concrete floor with extra metal from the roof covering the walls. If it keeps the rain out of the house up top, it can keep the water in the shower stall.
The best thing about the whole cabin is the wormy chestnut accent wall that wraps the staircase to the second floor, which can be seen from both the living room and the kitchen. A few years ago, we demolished an old house that had been vacant on a neighboring farm. My dad knew one day he could do something with that chestnut, and he has surely brought it back to life in the little cabin, even using it as accents in the cabinet doors and drawer fronts.
Also, from the old house was the exterior poplar lap siding. Cleaned it up a bit it has made a beautiful entryway to the cabin.
Even if you can’t see it at first and need to go browsing the internet for some inspiration, look around and then go back to what you have and use it in a new way to bring a once discarded piece back to life.
Article and photos by Molly Cooper, Designer, Cooper & Co., a division of Honest Abe Log Homes
Shower Light
Repurposed Fish Basket
Antler Fixture
Incubator Light
Vintage Chestnut
