“There’s No Place Like the Cabin”
Your Cabin Front Porch – Just Like the Movies
It was where Forrest Gump, “for no particular reason…decided to go for a little run” (Forrest Gump, 1994). Scout Finch learned here that “Atticus was right…you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes” (Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mocking Bird, 1960). Cinematic and literary history alike would not be what they are today without the front porch. It is the space where home and the outside meet, the single platform that invites us to simply enjoy life and in return, understand it better. When we want to host inspiration like Forrest had, and grow an unbreakable bond like the Finch family valued, your own cabin front porch is the perfect place to start. We couldn’t think of a better way to conclude our interior design series than at the entrance to log homes. Here are some ideas to help you create a cabin front porch that could be fit for the screen, or the pages of your own story.
Take a Seat on Your Cabin Front Porch
Log homes are incredibly welcoming when there have beautifully designed outdoor living arrangements on the cabin front porch. Incorporate different seating styles that can host more people in this area to complete your outdoor living aesthetic. If you’re going to have a log porch swing, hang one that can easily fit a twin mattress. You’ll be grateful you did when the day calls for an afternoon nap. Place a pair of rocking chairs that are either the same color of your front door or that sport a color/finish complementary to the door. In a similar fashion, you could add a pop of color with a porch bench placed right under a window. And if the weather is incredibly kind one day and there’s just not enough room inside to suffice for the extended family gathering, the cabin front porch can host outdoor dining pieces and the porch bench can double as extra places at the table.
Have a Screen
But, when the weather is not so kind, and the consensus is still to spend time at the front of the home, a screened in cabin front porch is the timely solution. It protects against the elements (and those tiny, unwanted guests, too) while allowing the air, view and sounds to still bring the outside to you. If you don’t want a permanent screen for your cabin front porch, there are motorized retractable options as well. With the click of a button, you can enjoy as a much or as little of the outdoors on your cabin front porch as you would like. But if the screen doesn’t add the design element you were looking for, drape some curtains that can add the pattern, texture and color you may miss out on with a screen.
Que the Sequence
Not really in glitter, but in arranging the details. Here is where your cabin front porch can truly come to life with your stamp of personality. Install one or two matching lantern fixtures to frame the sides of your door. You could also hang a grander one centered at the entrance, or all three to add more curb appeal. Place throw pillows and blankets on your cabin front porch seating, and you could add a basket to store the extras. Roll out an area rug for those times that you just want to kick off your shoes, and scatter your favorite plants throughout the cabin front porch – but especially with beautiful planters on either side of your entrance door. Hang a wreath here that echoes the surrounding greenery or seasonal festivities and seal the design with a “welcome” mat that does exactly just that. Front porches have a way of being nostalgic, exciting, refreshing and homey all at once. They embrace us when we most need them and never fail to give us renewed perspective. Films and books have long told us stories where porches have held memorable prominence. But now is the time to re-cast your own cabin front porch for the role that it was always meant to have in your life.
We hope that these ideas and others in this blog series gives you design clarity so that your future cabin entrances and exists will cause you to pause with gratitude.
About the Author
Julia holds a BA degree in Communication Studies and is passionate about using words well to tell the stories that matter most in our world. When she’s not working on new ideas for Conestoga Log Cabins, you can find her decorating, baking, or looking at vintage typewriters while antique shopping – all done with a cup of coffee not too far away.