5 DIY Rustic Decor Ideas for Your Log Home

Finding rustic decor ideas that are a perfect fit for your log home can be challenging and costly.

Here are some unique and easy to make DIY décor ideas:

Log Lamp

We all love the look of the traditional log lamp; it’s a great addition for the rustic look of your log home. Not to mention, it’s easy to make. If you’re looking for a more modern look, utilize the natural cracks in the log and install the light inside. Your lamp will have a unique light pattern and a cool look.

Dog Feeder

If you’re tired of Fido’s food and water bowls constantly spilling on the floor or you just dislike the look of the steel bowls on the floor, add a rustic twist. Sand the bottom of a log down flat, cut out two holes and place the dog bowls in the cut outs. You can also use a raised log feeder for your bigger dogs, making a small table with the same two cut out holes.

Tree Stump Vase

For a beautiful addition to your table try making a wooden vase. Drill a hole into the stump wide enough to fit another vase or a jar inside and tall enough that whatever you put inside doesn’t show over the edge. Sand and varnish the outside of the vase to avoid splinters.

Log Path and Garden

Instead of a stone path through your garden, consider using log slices as steps.  After cutting the log into slices, seal them and lay the logs out to decide how they fit best, then glue them together. If you have a large amount of the log left over, remove the inside, add some soil and seeds and you’ll have a garden in the log.

If you’re interested and would like more décor ideas for your log home, contact Schroeder Log Home Supply, Inc.  

Pioneers: Log Cabin Perfectionists

Although the true origin is uncertain, the log home has been around for a long time. Back then, they were somewhat easier to build as two or three men could have one completed in a few days.

These were smaller than our current structures as they were only one room and the floor was made of ground beneath our feet. Now it may seem like these buildings are silly to make now, but the people who used to build them lived a prosperous life.

Log Cabin Life

 

Living in these log cabins out in the woods allowed the pioneers to be self-sufficient. After all they built their homes in the middle of forests where they were surrounded by practically endless supplies. If they wanted food, they simply could have went out and searched for berries or vegetation.

Or if they were looking for dinner, they would only need to find a creek or river and fish. Then at night, they wouldn’t need natural gas to heat their home, they would just build their own fireplace and burn wood to heat the house.

They would also use that fire to help cook the fish they caught earlier in the day. Also, if they weather were to turn, they would be able to insulate the space in between logs to help keep out heat and cold.

Schroeder Log Home Supply, Inc offers quality products for your log home including stains and finishes, wood cleaners, chinking, caulking, and wood treatments. If you have any questions about our products or services, please feel free to contact us and let someone from our knowledgeable and friendly staff help you!

Keep Your Log Home Looking Good

It’s no secret that as time goes on, things start to age and show signs of wear. This especially holds true to log home. As soon as the structure is built it is exposed to not only the elements but to animals that will start to chip away and begin to break it down. 

It is very important to take preventative measures to make sure your log home is not only durable, but maintains a great look also.

What To Use?

After winter passes, it’s a great idea to go through and inspect your log home for signs of wear and tear. If some of the logs have started to decay or rot, using Liquidwood would be perfect as it would reinforce the wood as well as restore some of their structural strength.

Then after that, it would be smart to use something like Shell-Guard RTU Borate Wood Preservative to help prevent any further wood decay from happening. Now that you have repaired the wood, you have to make sure it looks good as well.

A cleaner such as Log Wash would be a good choice for cleaning not only the log but other wood surfaces in your log home. Then a simple bonding agent like OXcon Wood Cleaner could be applied to give the wood a fresh, clean appearance.

Schroeder Log Home Supply Inc has a wide variety of products you need to help restore the logs of your log home and keep it looking like brand new. For more information about our products, please feel free to contact us today!

Here’s Why You Need Insulation All Year Round

As we all know, the seasons provide our log homes with a variety of challenges. In the winter, we have to keep our wood tight and secure, from snowstorms and other weather-related threats. Without doing so, we risk cold temperatures infiltrating our homes. In the fall and spring, we just have to make sure our wood is kept healthy through the temperature changes. And, in the summer, we have to let our wood breathe. But there is one thing that spans all the seasons: our insulation.

Insulation, of course, is what keeps temperatures out, depending on the season. It is essentially a protection in the cracks and chinks of our logs that helps us utilize the wood’s potential through caulking. Backer rod foam insulation, in particular, is one of the best methods for this. Placed in between two logs, the foam comes in three different shapes to accommodate any wood: round, triangle, and trapezoid.

What backer rod foam insulation does best is keep up to date with the seasons, too. In the winter, it is the frontline in defending our log homes from the cold, as we mentioned. But, in the summer, surprisingly enough, insulation is just as important. This material can greatly prevent your log home from turning into a sauna, by keeping those high temperatures out. In both situations, also, the insulation is widely beneficial to your wood, and is guaranteed to keep them alive and well for some time.

Insulation is no easy process, though. It takes the proper time and skill, and, with seasons as serious as they can be sometimes, it’s essential that this job is done right.  That is why we are always available to take any questions or concerns you may have about your wood or insulation installation. At Schroeder Log Home Supply, we’re glad to help with anything—with summer coming up, we want to make sure our customers are well-prepared to beat the heat. Contact us for further information today!

How To Compost At Your Log Home

 Composting can be a great way to cut down on your daily waste, and what better way is there to pay back the beautiful environment that you live in than composting?

For you log home owners, composting in your backyard will give you nutrient rich soil that can be used to feed your gardens and your laws, and all you need to do is start separating your garbage.

How do I get started?

The first thing you’ll need to do is designate a spot in your backyard that’s a bit off the beaten path, but not too far away so you won’t want to visit it a few times a week. You’ll need a shady spot that doesn’t get too wet. You can pick up a compost bin from a hardware or gardening store, or even online. All that’s left is to add your compost materials!

What gets composted?

You can compost food scraps, like lemon peels, eggshells, coffee grounds, nutshells, and teabags. Add into the compost bin newspaper scraps, yard clippings, and withered flowers. You should start out with about ¼ green material (food scraps) and ¾ brown material (lawn clippings and debris).

What are the next steps?

All that’s left is to water the compost bin once a week, and keep it covered. Don’t forget to mix it!

When is it ready to use?

You can start using your composted material when it’s dark and crumbles in your hand. The amount of time it takes will depend on what you compost (larger materials take longer to break down, but if you chop everything up before adding it to the pile, it’ll be ready to go sooner). All that’s left to do is enjoy the lush garden that your compost bin has helped to produce!

Schroeder Log Home Supply Inc. has all the quality products, materials, tools and equipment needed to help protect, clean and enhance your log home. Contact us today and let us help guide you toward the right stuff you need to get your log home and property ready for summer!