Fall at the Cabin

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The brightest spot of 2020 has been our rustic cabin in the woods. We spent a good part of the summer working on this little house, turning it more and more into our home away from home. Truth be told, this place feels even more like home than our home in NJ. We live with less here. There is just one small bathroom, no dishwasher or clothes washer, but the nature right outside the door makes up for all of that. And then some. 

The foliage was glorious this year. I spent a whole week here in late September, a few days just Dax and me when my husband and son went home for work/school. The one silver lining in our son's hybrid school schedule is that he can do school from here a couple of days a week and so we spent more time here so far this fall than we ever have been able to before.

Inside the cabin, I added some fall decor to the fireplace. I am still working on a post of the updates we have done here but I figured I would share fall first, while it's still fall. The main changes we made to the fireplace were painting the dark stained wood in the same Backwoods Green by Benjamin Moore that we painted the kitchen cabinets. This room can feel especially dark and this new green really reflects light so much better and it brightens up the whole space. 

One of my favorite updates is the banquette style seating we added in in the kitchen. It's such a cozy spot for breakfast, especially on chilly mornings. But I also had visions of puzzle doing, crafting and school work being done in this spot when I designed it. I'm also slowly working on a gallery wall in this corner. So far, I've added a few of my small embroidery projects, including one made by my mother-in-law many years ago, and some favorite pictures. 

We added a new farmhouse sink and some open shelving in the kitchen that functions very well for our family. I will write a whole post on the changes we made here and the challenges that come along with design in a seasonal home. 

We also added some shelving and an old table to a corner in the family room. My goal is for the inside of our cabin to reflect our adventures outside the cabin. This place has played such a big role in our family's history and I enjoy having pictures and collected things that remind us of that.

The family room is such a cozy spot. This plaid furniture is super comfortable and was handed down to the cabin from my brother and sister-in-law but I think we will be replacing it with brown leather furniture that we currently have in the basement of our NJ home. Jury's still out on that decision though because this plaid furniture is REALLY comfy. We do have plans to replace the carpet soon.

I use some mason jars hanging with rope to display nature's treasure found on walks in the woods every year. I collect leaves on every walk, every day, no matter how many I've already collected. :)

Back at camp, the front porch is a favorite spot for everyone in all seasons.  I added a few fall touches to this space too.

We worked on creating a new fire pit area back behind the cabin too. The cabin lights define the space so well and this area has given us another fun space to gather. When we were working on it this summer, I kept thinking of how pretty it would be in the fall and it far exceeded any visions I had. Now I am looking forward to it in the snow.

We had plans to buy a group of all weather Adirondack chairs for this space but decided to put it off until next year. In the meantime, our son built some benches from logs and I love them! They will provide seating in this space throughout the winter too.

The view from our back porch to the fire pit was the prettiest thing I've seen in a long time. It truly took my breath away when I opened the back door and saw this when we arrived at camp after just a few days away. I have so many more fall foliage pics to share but I will save that for another post since this one is already so long.

I have been reading the work of Mary Oliver more and more these days and I thought I'd end by sharing a bit of her writing that came to mind when I saw this view. 

Still, what I want in my life

is to be willing to be dazzled - 

to cast aside the weight of facts

and maybe even float a little

above this difficult wold.

-Mary Oliver

Fall Kitchen Decor

Hello friends! I hope you are all keeping safe and well. We are plugging along here. September went much easier than expected and for that I am grateful. But, in regards to online/hybrid schooling, it seems to be catching up to my kids already. Especially our high schooler who has always had more difficulty with school and is on a hybrid schedule. We are constantly researching and debating options for him moving forward, while attempting to predict just when school might possibly return to a more normal schedule. It is exhausting. Our college kid is doing well in his classes but some days are more frustrating than others and there is the constant question of - how much is he actually learning in relation to how much college tuition costs? I know these are the same issues most families are dealing with on some level and there are no easy answers. Some days it is easier to accept that than others. 

A Reluctant Return to Our Regular Routine

 

Hello friends! How was your summer? We hid in the mountains as much as possible and got lots of work done on the cabin there. It was very hard to pack up and come home to NJ but our youngest started back at school last week and so it was time. We chose to start the school year with a hybrid schedule which means he is in school 2-3 mornings a week as opposed to fully online learning. It was a hard choice for us, not so much for him. Like many high schoolers, he is very social and the need to have more time with his friends outweighed any other factor. With the infection rate still somewhat low in our area, we decided to give it a go - for now anyway. We will see how long any version of in-class school can last in our pandemic world. I am glad that he was at least able to start the year this way having met his teachers and learning first hand what their expectations are for the year. Our middle son is fully online for college this semester and that seems to be going well for him. He too would prefer to be in class, but his school chose to put all their effort into online learning and, so far, it seems like a good choice, especially at the college level. He's a strong student and I know he'll do well. His girlfriend went away to school and is currently in quarantine in a nearby hotel after being exposed to the virus by her roommate.  She's a very smart and responsible kid who worked so hard to get a scholarship to go to this school and it's heartbreaking to see her have to struggle because others didn't choose to follow the rules. This virus is so much about us all taking care of each other and it is disheartening just how many Americans have failed to learn that lesson.

Red, White and Blue Decor

Happy Fourth of July weekend, friends! We are home in NJ and have plans to hang out by our pool and BBQ, just a quiet day and I'm looking forward to it. I do have some patriotic decor pictures to share with you today. Let's start in our kitchen.

I've been collecting so many of these pieces through the years and it is fun to pull them out and put them together for holidays. I haven't been shopping for home decor so this is all stuff I already had. I found the banner at Sur La Table last year and the adorable dish towel at a gift shop in the Adirondacks a few years back.

A Cabin to Call Our Own

 

My love affair with the Adirondack Mountains began soon after I met Billy and he brought me to his family's cabin that they co-owned with friends for the first time. I had travelled to the area with my parents growing up, but we stayed in the very commercial village of Lake George, which isn't anything at all like the parts of these mountains that you find when you venture just a little further north.  

Early Summer in Our Kitchen & Living Room

Adding fun items to my kitchen is one of my favorite hobbies! Fortunately for me, I have plenty to choose from on the shelves in our basement since I haven't been able to shop in any of my favorite thrift stores or HomeGoods this Spring. Hopefully soon! 

A Couple of Fun Features - Cottages and Bungalows Magazine and My Photo in a Book!

Hi Friends! It seems like we are on the downside of the Covid-19 mountain (for now anyway) and I am very much looking forward to life beginning to feel a bit closer to normal again. Things have been slowly re-opening here in NJ with non-essential retail starting up next week along with outdoor dining. I think we might be the very last state to do so but there was certainly good reason for that. I don't really miss eating out, we much prefer to hang out here at home, but I do miss HomeGoods!! And thrift/antique stores - there's just no online substitute for those. I realized that I never shared a couple of fun things that happened just as the world was falling apart.

Our home was featured in the Spring 2020 issue of Cottages and Bungalows! It was an exciting day when this issue arrived! I was in great company - lots of great ideas in this issue.