I have often shared my dream of having my own lake front cabin.
I’m also kinda blessed to have a rock floor to ceiling fireplace that could be in a cabin. So I decided to celebrate fall… Cabin Resort style this year!
But there’s more…
Today I’m teaming up with a TON of other desperately artistic DIY bloggers, sharing all NEW FALL projects today!
So ready to get your fall on, in a big way today? Here’s mine!
The design
When I come up with a new project, quite often it starts off fairly simple. My first thought was to create an arrow sign of sorts.
Stencil sources – My own Old Sign Stencils / includes You Cut Tree Farm & Cabin Resort
But then I pushed that idea one step further… why not have a cabin shaped cabin sign?
Deciding to put it on my fireplace, this shape won.
The space above the text was to become a window, with a flickering battery operated candle. Cute, right?!
Let’s hope… 🙂
Building the cabin
I’m not some amazing builder, complete with building plans. (oh my, not even close)
Most of these steps went haywire and I had to redo things, so here’s the short version, which I hope you can understand…
1. Layer your boards to jive with a house shape of sorts.
2. Trace lines around the roof line, then down the left and right sides, then cut the boards to the shape of your desired cabin. Don’t forget to notch out your window!
3. Attach the roof from the front, then flip over and attach the rest with bracing boards from behind, as shown above.
4. To create shutters, attach little pieces of wood around the windows with funky hinges.
5. To make the window miter bars, attach string as shown, from the back.
To letter the sign
View Cabin Resort stencil HERE
6. Place a stencil (if you use one) on top of the wood, then go for it!
I attached two white boards to the base of the cabin so the lettering would stand out against my dark fireplace. But lettering on the wood would look adorable too.
7. How to stencil:
I like to tape the stencil into place, then using your fingers, hold the stencil down as you stencil along, using a VERY dry stencil brush. A tapping up and down motion is my fav way to stencil.
The paint choice was Fusion Mineral Paint’s Chocolate, so the lettering had a warmth to it.
Read my review on my love for Fusion HERE.
One thin coat was all it needed, thanks to the white background!
Perfect, sharp results! Always my goal.
But let’s add one more step…
A ‘swoosh’ was added for a hand drawn effect.
Stencilling tip:
Stencils must be bridged, (small gaps in the images) to maintain stencil sturdiness.
I decided to close up the swoosh bridge, by simply hand painting over the bridge.
You will find with most of my stencils, bridging is done to the absolute minimum possible, or naturally implemented. I want you to see the image first, not the bridge! (picky designer stuff here)
And there it is!
This would look equally cute with a house number!
Or just add hooks on it for an entry.
Will also work with any season! Can’t wait to play with it for Christmas.
And the back.
The weird chunk of wood on the back is to keep the boards a little more sturdy, due to the window cut out. Bad building rustic charm at its best… 🙂
Let’s just keep in mind these old fence boards are warped and all cabins are rustic. So in that case, I did good, right? (insert head nod at this time…)
How cute is that?! Makes me feel like I should make a little rustic Christmas village outside. Hmm…
On the fireplace
And here’s what I really made it for. My fireplace is officially happily decked out in fall.
Flickering light
This little cabin sign is also illuminated… can you see the glow through the windows?
I actually used white Christmas mini lights plugged in from behind. But battery operated candles would be adorable too if you built a small shelf under the window from behind.
For the mini lights, I draped white mini lights on some long screws situated underneath the window.
How to hide an extension cord
See that tiny strip of wood on the right side? It’s hiding the white extension cord. And I’ve edited out the cord in the room shot.
p.s. I want a plug INSIDE the mantel!
The glow is adorable at night especially. But equally helpful by day against my darker rock fireplace.
Ready for more? Be prepared for these projects to knock your fall coloured leaves off…
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This is SO adorable. I love the use of reclaimed wood, the stencil is perfect. The extra touch of the rusty hardware is SPOT on. Great job and wonderful photos. Also, thanks for putting this all together. Much appreciated.
What a cool piece! It looks like it was made for your mantle and I bet it would look great at Christmas! Love the backlighting and how you did the window. Appreciate all the work you did to organize this. Look forward to our next blog hop! ;o)
This is the most adorable thing I have seen in a long time! I want a Funky Junk resort cabin of my own!
Oh Donna, I do live in a cabin and I love it!!! What a great idea! I’m loving this tour. Thank you for putting this together! Hugs.
It’s too darn cute, Donna! Pinned it!
oh donna this so reminds me of last year when we stayed at a mountain cabin, and my first time lighting a fireplace (gasp!)!
love the “fire” and rusty hinges and chippy paint of your little cabin – amazing!!! xoxo
Fabulous little cabin! I really want to have a try at making it. There are several other things I’m very interested in within the links (little bird feeder and blue pumpkins) but I love looking at all the ideas. This has really improved my Monday.
This is an awesome project! You’re giving me some neat ideas for this blank wall in my house that I’m planning to tackle soon. I just ordered the Farmer’s Marker Stencil can hardly wait for it to arrive.
I love how creative you are. I have the same kinds of ‘junk’ but don’t have the vision you have. Thank you for all your inspiration.
Gorgeous and very unique. Why am I not surprised. Love it!
This is absolutely adorable!! So creative and looks fabulous on your mantel! Cant wait to check out everyone’s projects!
I love this so much! It is perfect for your mantel!
Oh Donna this is so adorable…I just love it and how it looks on your fireplace is just perfect
Such a cute project! You really were creative to come up with this little ‘cabin’ as the sign for the ‘cabin resort’. I hope you get that lakefront cabin someday! You provided easy diy instructions and I am already thinking about what kind of a cute little sign I could make for decor in my new home. Sadly, I am not to that point yet, still trying to furnish the place! I am pinning this and scheduling to share over at FB and Twitter. Thank you so much for all the work you did organizing this amazing blog hop! You are obviously a lady with a lot of talent and skills! Happy Fall, Chloe
Every sign you create is my new favorite! Love, love, love this one, Donna. The soft glow in the window is the perfect finishing touch!
Love this little cabin! So creative. Thank you.
Adorable!!!!
I don’t think that there is anything that you can’t do with a little shabby wood, nails and a hammer. LOVE this so much! It looks perfect on your beautiful mantle and by the way your home looks so cozy! We will be turning our fire on pretty soon . It’s starting to feel like winter! Thanks so much for organizing this awesome bloghop!
Hi Donna, I’m so excited… lol I guess it’s because of the sneak peek you gave on Periscope of your beyond adorable cabin sign! It turned out so cute, I love the window details, the shutters and jute mullions (miter bars)perfect! thanks so much for organizing this blog hop, I hope it turns into a huge success, it’s been so fun!
Laurie! You made me add that Periscope message in this post! Thanks for the idea! haha
So glad you were part of the tour! And thanks for the kudos on the cabin! The ‘surprise to me’ at the end (as per Periscope) was the shutters and miter bars and extra white boards for the sign. 🙂
Well isn’t that just too adorable – love it Donna! It looks perfect on your stone fireplace. Pinning to share
How Fun! I especially like how you did the “window panes”!
I love this!
This is SO STINKIN CUTE!! LOVE how this turned out. Pinning and sharing!! XO
Love this sign and how perfect against the backdrop of your rock fireplace. What a cozy place to sit and watch the fire – wonderful. Thank you so much for organizing this fun blog hop. Cathy
This is awesome, Donna! I LOVE the stencil and that cabin you built is amazing.
Super sweet, I love it! I have a stone fireplace and I think that a little cabin would look perfect on my mantle, as well…in fall or anytime of the year! PS- thanks for organizing the hop…super fun!
So cute Donna, love it! I especially love the window with the window with the funky hinged shutters. Very creative. Pinned!
OK, that’s so cool it’s not even funny! No fair being so darn creative 🙂 I need to get me one of those cabin stencils because that would be perfect for my Christmas decor this year!
Your unique style really shows through because although there are countless beautiful cabins (and I mean real ones), your cabin definitely says “Funky Junk” and I’ve a feeling if you actually built a real one, it would be the same thing. The window pane/ shutter feature and the chippy white roof against the dark wood draw me right in.
Thank you so much for putting this party together, Donna. There’s so many projects to be inspired by!
I think this is my favourite project of all! Love it! Gotta find some old wood…
Donna this is so cute! I love it! And you did a great job building it 🙂 I think I scheduled almost every photo in this post to my pinning schedule!
Oh my goodness… thanks Jill!
You never cease to amaze me. I love it. Always do.
How cute is that??! I’m in LOVE 🙂
Donna,
You always make so really great pieces. Love this piece so much and it looks like it’s part of the mantle. Just cool. I need more wood and tools in my house so I can make cool stuff like you. : )
LOVE your fireplace. And this sign is darling!
LOVE IT! So charming!!
This is beyond amazing!! I love the shutters with the hinges! Rustic perfection!!
Oh my goodness!!!! This is incredible! Such a fun and unique idea! It’s perfect for the whole Fall & Winter seasons!
Donna – I love this! I can’t believe to lights up through the window. I’m so glad your creative mind went to creating a cabin instead of an arrow – it’s perfect!
I absolutely love how sweet this is! I’ve never been able to use a stencil… I guess it’s just not meant to be! I absolutely love your font though… absolutely fabulous! So glad to “meet you” through our little home for fall blog hop! Pinning for future reference!
Thanks Betsy! And regarding the stencil, I really struggled at first with them until I learned that a DRY BRUSH was the key. If you can’t do it, use less paint. Thanks for joining the blog hop, it was fabulous!
This is so cool! I watched your Scope where you shared your vision for this project, and it turned out even better than I’d imagined! And thank you for organizing such a great blog hop! 🙂