CABIN MISCELLANY

Even though your cabin is beyond reach of gas and electricity, you need not be without modern kitchen conveniences. Oil burning ranges and refrigerators provide the same service as found in a modern city home.

If you are going in for real cabin comfort, you will naturally have running water in thekitchen and bath. The next step in comfort is an adequate supply of hot water. Electric, gas- or oil-burning equipment will give you all the hot water you want.

With an insulated storage tank you can have automatic hot water with an electric heater. The cost will depend on your power rate and you must decide if it fits your purse. If you have one of the so-called “bottled gas” installations, you can use this fuel for your hot water. An oil burning water heater will provide an adequate supply of hot water at reasonable cost.

Water-heating coils in the back of the fireplace or in a wood burning stove provide inexpensive hot water, but not always timely or in adequate amounts. It is possible to connect these coils with a storage tank that is also heated by oil or gas appliances, so that you only use this fuel when the fireplace or stove does not supply enough hot water.

Probably one of the most neglected comforts in the average cabin is the kitchen in general and the cook stove in particular. If the cook is to have as good a time as the rest of the family, the cabin kitchen should be modern and conveniently arranged. A wood burning cook stove does not add to the pleasures of feeding the family and guests. But a possible point to consider: a kitchen range is an excellent added heater in a cabin that is to be used in cold weather.

Today’s cabinet type oil range, with burners and fuel reservoir concealed, is as attractive in appearance as the modern gas or electric range. Burners are quick in performance and adjustable to any degree of heat desired. “Bottled gas” installations are also practical if your cabin is located where it can be serviced by the sales representative. The gas, compressed to liquid form in a steel cylinder, is piped to your stove like ordinary city gas. However, burners must be especially adjusted for it, or if you are buying a new stove, get one made for this fuel.

Refrigeration adds to the comforts of cabin life as much as to city life. If you have electricity, you can use the conventional electric refrigerator. Also available are mechanical refrigerators that use gas. Modern oil burning refrigerators also give effective performance and are usable anywhere, requiring no outside connections. There are two types—one having a continuous flame and the other requiring the burners to be lit about two hours a day, the burners going out automatically when the required quantity of oil has been consumed.

While the space may of necessity be smaller, the kitchen of the vacation home deserves as much thought in planning as that in the city house. Apply the same principles of convenience and workable arrangement and provide plenty of storage space, for the family on vacation does not ordinarily go food shopping every day. On the following pages you will find a number of kitchen conveniences that with a little planning can be incorporated into your cabin kitchen.

This diagram shows how the hot water tank can be connected with heating coils in the back of the fireplace or in the firebox of a wood-burning stove. A stand-by gas or oil heater supplies additional hot water when needed.

CABIN MISCELLANY

Native stone, gathered from near the site, seems to be the most popular material for the cabin fireplace or barbecue. Skillfully handled, it may be adapted to a variety of artistic treatments, and it lends to the cabin, inside and out, the atmosphere of ruggedness sought after by most cabin builders. Sometimes the stones are gathered one by one over a wide area for their appearance, beauty and other characteristics, so the fireplace itself becomes almost a collector’s item to those who have gathered far and wide the material for its construction. Where stones of the proper size are not available, they are frequently blasted from larger boulders.

The various ideas for indoor and outdoor fireplaces and barbecues shown here have been sketched from photographs of fireplaces actually built in Western cabins. They show some of the wide possibilities of design and of decorative treatment. Among them, or from a combination of their various features, you should be able to find the design of your ideal fireplace.

This attractive all-stone fireplace shows what a little ingenuity can do in arranging a mantel without the use of wood or set-back in the masonry. A carefully selected long flat stone, imbedded in the chimney wall and supported by three oblong stones, makes the mantel and adds a touch of master craftsmanship to the entire fireplace.

A metal hood gives a rustic effect to this small fireplace and adds to its efficiency as well.

For a large cabin room this massive fireplace lends an air of warmth and comfort. The large mantel area is obtained by building the fireplace out into the room and setting back the chimney. Suggested by the fireplace at Rainbow Gibson’s Weasku-Inn, Grants Pass, Ore.

Increased floor area in the smaller cabin is obtained by setting the fireplace back flush with the walls. The chimney could have been set back still farther and covered, but running the stone work to the roof breaks up a long wall.

Hand-picked boulders, skillfully arranged and tapered toward the ceiling, make this fireplace look as if it had been transplanted from a frontier cabin. It is an effective and interesting treatment where a mantel is not desired. From the W. B. Jones cottage at Kaweah, California.

A huge oak beam, hand hewn, tops off this large fireplace and gives a massive effect in keeping with a large cabin living room. The warming-ledge with its old-fashioned cast iron kettle adds a note of charm.

Here is an interesting treatment of massive stones that shows still another mantel arrangement. In this case the mantel is a quarter log supported by two heavy hewn beams imbedded in the masonry. It fits in charmingly with the atmosphere of a log cabin. The bar support for kettles is even more pioneerish than a pot and crane and in keeping with rugged charm of the fireplace itself.

All the world likes to return to the primitive at times. In most cases this return takes the form of cooking and eating a meal outdoors. There is something about a fire outdoors that awakens impulses lost in us ages ago. And a well cooked outdoor meal makes hearty vacation appetites even keener.

Since the purpose of your vacation home is to get closer to nature, you should plan to get the most out of it by providing facilities for cooking and eating at least some of your meals in the open. On the other hand, you will want to arrange to have greater convenience than the open fire on the surface of the ground that served your ancestors long ago. The outdoor grill, or an outdoor fireplace with a grill built in, provides the comfort and facilities that the modern generation demands.

This barbecue grill and fireplace built in the stump of a great redwood looks as if the tree had actually grown around it. From the E. D. Thompson summer home at Ben Lomond, California.

This barbecue layout consists of grill, oven, and separate fireplace. The oven is heated by the draft from the fireplace or barbecue, which passes around it, but it may also have a separate firebox. Note the handy adjustable grill, which is one of several types sold by Pacific Coast manufacturers.

An isolated area surrounded by trees and shrubbery makes an ideal setting for the outdoor fireplace. Be sure, however, that there is no dense growth overhead to interfere with the draft. Large logs make rustic seats, one on each side. Place the rough table about ten feet away with split logs for benches.

Outdoor grills range from the simplest form U-shaped brick cooking place, covered with a heavy steel screening, to huge affairs of brickor stone with chimneys and dampers, Dutch ovens built into the sides, warming places for plates, and perhaps a roaring separate fireplace to soften the chill of the evening air. All of them are relatively easy to build and reasonably inexpensive. However, you must keep the fire hazards in mind, and in the National Forests, before you begin to build, have your forest officer approve your plan and location.

Construction of the outdoor fireplace is much the same as that of an indoor one except that the chimney and flue are not carried to such a height. Nor does the footing need to be as thick unless your fireplace is very heavy. A concrete base eight inches thick with four inches of this above ground is usually ample. You may use the chimney of your cabin fireplace for your outdoor fireplace or grill but be sure to provide a separate flue.

Here is a combination outdoor fireplace and grill large enough to cook for the neighborhood. After the steaks are broiled, large logs can be rolled in to provide a roaring fire for the evening. The grill can be supported by a three-sided frame of firebricks built up to the proper height.

The feature of this barbecue and oven is a sliding fire pan. The fire may be used to heat the oven until the coals are ready and then slid across under the grill, or with two pans both grill and oven may be heated at the same time.

To make this barbecue pit, a framework was built up of an old barrel and scrap lumber and then covered with concrete. A slow fire burned out the wood when the concrete had hardened. It is set on a platform of concrete and bricks against a rough chimney of rock.

This barbecue of stone is built with the firebox and grill at a convenient height. A chimney is desirable but not necessary. Note the device for raising and lowering the grill.

There are several methods of adapting the outdoor fireplace to cooking. The simplest is to provide yourself with a pair of rather high andirons and a grill to lay over the top of them. The grill may also be hinged to rear of the fireplace or you may install sliding adjustable grill as illustrated. A pot and crane adds to the appearance as well as the utility of the outdoor fireplace.

The design of the barbecue grill or outdoor stove is a matter for your own taste. For comfort’s sake you will want to have the grill topabout the height of your kitchen stove. Build up the firebox so that when the coals are glowing, they will be about eight inches below the grill, which should be made of ³/₁₆-inch steel rods spaced about one inch apart in a metal frame. A groove or seat for the grill may be made in the masonry, or you may provide supports by imbedding projecting pieces of iron in the firebox walls. A piece of sheet steel laid over the grill will provide a fry plate when one is needed.

A chimney is a good addition to a grill of this type. It not only adds some architectural character but it will draw off fumes and give a better draft to your fire. And if you want even more efficiency, you can include some sort of damper arrangement to control the draught.

This outdoor stove is simple to construct and may be used for cooking over flame or broiling over live coals. You can make it even simpler by omitting the chimney and the door on the front of the firebox.

For roasts over the coals a revolving spit is indispensable. A half-inch iron bar can be bent in the form of a crank at one end, sharpened at the other, and set in a pair of bearings or saddles designed to straddle the walls of the firepit.

You don’t have to wait for good outdoor weather to enjoy grilled steaks if your fireplace is equipped with a hinged grill that hooks up out of the way when the fireplace is not being used for cooking. For this type of grill use ¼-inch rods spaced about 1¼ inches apart. The andirons, or metal legs attached to the grill, keep it at the right height from the floor.

A pot and crane add interest to the cabin fireplace, whether it is indoors or out. Any wrought iron shop can make this crane. You might even get it done by the country blacksmith.

Another way to convert an ordinary fireplace into a barbecue is to install a sliding grill. By providing additional slides you may adjust the height from the coals. Two types of metal slides are shown. Don’t forget, when having the grill made, to adjust its shape to the side walls of the fireplace and to allow for heat expansion.

A barbecue belt is a great convenience in keeping important accessories handy when you are cooking in the open. You can make one of leather or oilcloth or several thicknesses of cotton material interlined with buckram. Make pockets to hold the salt and pepper shakers, provide clasps for your pot holders and loops to hold your fork and spoon. Now you are ready to cook. If you prefer, you can build these features into a chef’s apron.

Fireplace tools that stay up out of the way when not in use may be hand forged by any good blacksmith or wrought iron worker. A simple bracket with projecting prongs, as illustrated, is fastened to the fireplace wall and each tool hangs by a collar. Rough forged tools are more in keeping with the cabin effect than the factory-finished kind. If the maker is skillful enough, the heads may be made in various designs. Animal heads are popular.

Discarded railroad rails make excellent material for hand-forged andirons that are heavy enough and crude enough for any cabin. Simply have the blacksmith turn up one end of each piece of rail. If you want to be more original, you can have the end forged into some special design, as shown.

The old-fashioned California ranch-type dinner gong will round up the family from far and near when the meal is ready. Any blacksmith can forge one of octagonal tempered steel. Suspend it by a steel wire from a wrought iron bracket.

A handy supply of wood is a great convenience in the cabin. So, plan a woodbox when you plan the fireplace. Here is one built in the fireplace wall. You can put a door on it, if you wish, but the exposed wood does not look out of place in the cabin. Don’t overlook the possibility of a two-way woodbox that can be filled from the outside or from the garage or wherever the wood is stored.

Many vacation homes are so obviously furnished with discarded town house furniture—odds and ends from different rooms—and with misfit draperies and scraps of old carpet. After a few seasons they are likely to look like a cross between a second-hand store and a rummage sale. Rooms containing such odds and ends can scarcely be called restful and yet a cabin home is supposed to exist for rest and relaxation.

The fold-away bed is popular in well-ordered cabins. You can buy the old-style apartment house beds or construct the folding arrangement yourself with hinges or braces and legs as shown. The shelf and curtain plan is the simplest way to conceal it, but if you want better appearance in the daytime, recess the bed into a closet to fit and enclose it with doors.

Four single bunks arranged Pullman style provide a lot of sleeping capacity in a small room. However, don’t overlook the problem of comfortable ventilation.

Imitation log siding made the framework and finish for these built-in bunks. Note that space between the bunks is sufficient for daytime lounging without striking a tall lounger’s head against the upper bunk.

If you are buying new furniture, give consideration to the newer so-called California style furniture, which retains the Spanish or Mission influence. It is now made by various manufacturers. It has simplicity and sturdiness, is not easily damaged, and does not need a great deal of care. It is perhaps the most distinctive kind of furniture for the purpose and, when set in an environment of rustic simplicity with gay fabrics and correct accessories, is admirably suited to informal living.

Here is a space saving arrangement—a bunk and trundle bunk. The bunk at the right slides through the living room wall and under the high bunk in the bedroom. A variation of this arrangement is a bed that slides through the living room wall to the sleeping porch so you can sleep indoors or out as fancy dictates. From the W. B. Fairweather beach home at Balboa Island, Calif.

If old furniture must be used, try the magic of paint. It is wonderful what may be accomplished with some cans of paint and brushes. Then cover the old seating pieces with some gay cretonne slip covers, use the same fabrics at the windows, and a cheerful, colorful result is obtained.

When refinishing old furniture try remodeling it to fit its new surroundings. Chest and chairs and such, dating from the early days of the century, are likely to have a lot of gingerbread decoration. By removing as much of this as possible and getting down to the simple basic lines of the piece much improvement may be made.

These bunks, attractively curtained with cretonne, fit into the atmosphere of the cabin living room without detracting from its appearance. If the curtains are made to slide closed, Pullman fashion, they provide privacy for an early retirer.

Folding or sliding doors from the living room or bedroom to the sleeping porch help make the beds more accessible to the center of things in the cabin. If you have double-deck bunks on the porch, provide a second door and ladder to it. From an arrangement in the Walter Doty home, Los Altos, Calif.

Before painting any piece previously coated with shellac or varnish go over it with varnish remover or use a hook scraper and steel wool, cleaning down to the bare wood. Apply a coat of flat white and, when dry, at least two coats of one of the quick-drying enamels. Go over each coat with very fine sandpaper or steel wooland brush off the resulting dust before applying the next coat.

If you are working with maple, walnut or cherry, the natural color of the wood is often more pleasing than a paint or stain. Remove all traces of enamel, stain or varnish and sand the surfaces smooth. Then apply a thin coat of clear shellac—orange if you prefer—and after sanding this once more polish with ordinary prepared wax.

Steamer style bunks are particularly effective in the beach house. The ladder provides safe and easy access to the upper one. Don’t overlook the possibility of providing drawers for storage space beneath the lower bunks. From the Seton I. Miller residence, Van Nuys, Calif.

A unique arrangement of fireside seats made from automobile seats, which may be bought at any wrecking yard. Special framework has been constructed to hold the seats at the correct height and angle. The upholstery may be covered with material to match the decorative scheme of the room.

This rustic version of a four-poster bed is made of four-inch posts with a large pine cone on the top. The post may be with or without bark and the framework may also be of poles instead of finished lumber.

Rustic furniture, of course, is attractive in most cabins, but it frequently takes considerable skill and ingenuity to make it comfortable.

Where considerable room is required to sleep weekend party guests, give a thought to furniture and fixtures that can be converted into comfortable beds on short notice. Studio couches provide lounging by day and sleeping by night. Double-deck bunks use a minimum of floor space and provide attractive and comfortable sleeping accommodations. Hinged wall beds that disappear under shelves and curtains or into closets are likewise popular.

A good cooler. Make a large box-shaped frame and cover with several thicknesses of burlap. Put it in shade under a water hydrant set to drip continuously but very slowly on the top of box.

These diagrams show the various steps in making a comfortable barrel chair. The seat, which may be the barrel head dropped down until it wedges tight, can be upholstered to suit your own taste or you may make a rope lacing for seat support as shown above.

Here is a simple and sturdy cabin table that can be built in a few hours. Allow two linear feet of space for each person, and build the top of the table 29 inches from the floor.

An extremely simple yet effective camp stool made from a smoothed half-log. Bore four holes at least two inches deep for the legs and be sure they are spread well apart.

This “dummy waiter” type of underground cooler consists of a hole or well about 10 feet deep lined with concrete or bricks, with a frame over it to hold a series of shelves hung on a pulley with a counterbalance.

A small skylight trapdoor above your cabin cook stove serves as a ventilator and an escape for smoke and hot air. The drawing shows how it should be rigged. The box keeps out rain and snow and should be flashed all around with drain holes on the lower side.

The simple two-way stool shown here is made by knocking out one side and one end of a fairly strong box. Round off the corners and fill the box with pillows or tack pads inside. It can be used as a low backrest on the floor, and when inverted makes an ordinary flat-topped seat.

A rope-wound keg with sponge rubber cushion makes an unusual stool. A similar keg may also be used as a table base. Tack rope to hold in place.

Any home craftsman can make this hurricane candlestick. Vent holes should be drilled on the underside to provide air for combustion. An ordinary lamp chimney is used. It will not smoke the chimney nor blow out in the wind.

An old-fashioned, long-handled skillet, an electric clock and the skill of a manufacturing jeweler are the ingredients that go into the making of this unusual cabin timepiece.

Steps in making traditional backwoods chairs. Seat and back can be woven of rawhide or covered with plywood and padded. If bending is not done when wood is green, steam wood in very hot water in covered trough.

This wagon hub lamp is simple enough to make and carries out the farmyard motif.

A wagon wheel gate makes an interesting entrance to the cabin pathway.

This illustration shows how the guest-book may be given a permanent support. It might be placed in the living room or on a covered porch.

A chandelier made of an old wagon wheel and with the electric fixtures encased in old-fashioned lamps is an interesting and appropriate lighting fixture for the cabin living room.

A novel hatrack made of the mounted head of a buck and four legs that have been cured and tied to make a right angle and then inserted and securely fastened in holes bored into the back board.

Refinished shutters from old ranch houses make ideal and attractive screens for use in vacation homes. Put them together with small brass two-way hinges, patch up old cracks and holes with plastic wood, scrape and sandpaper all of the old finish until the wood is in fair condition. You can then give the shutters any type of finish that will fit in with your decorative scheme.

If your vacation home happens to be situated where you have R. F. D. mail service or a daily newspaper delivery, why not get away from the ugly and conventional mailbox? Your own cabin built in miniature will make a mailbox that is unusual. Your name on the side of the cabin or on the post below will help to guide the guests to your place.

The apartment idea of using cupboards to divide the kitchen and the dining alcove merits consideration when you are planning your cabin. These cupboards give you the effect of two separate rooms and, of course, supply a good deal of storage space without taking up valuable floor space.

A mountain cabin scarcely requires the conventional kind of pictures on the walls. However, here are two kinds that fit the cabin picture. Have some extra large enlargements made of photographs of your choicest scenic spots. Mount these and frame them with strips of cedar bark. Geological survey maps or the forest service maps of your vicinity, similarly framed, are an appropriate cabin decoration.

It is a good idea in every mountain cabin to provide one metal lined closet with floor space the size of a single bed mattress and high enough to store your entire supply of mattresses and bedding, as well as other things you do not wish to go into chipmunks’ and packrats’ warehouses. Tin or zinc is a satisfactory lining. One or two metal lined food storage compartments should also be provided in the cabin kitchen.

This old-fashioned but rustic dining room table is easy to build. Four seasoned posts, some heavy plank, and a supply of nails complete the bill of materials. The table is particularly effective when rustic chairs are used with it.

A cupful (not more) of Diesel oil over the laid hearth fire just before lighting is a safe starter with no flare such as kerosene gives. It allows a successful immediate fire with no paper, less kindling, and greater warmth. Diesel oil is efficient and cheap, and the small quantity used for this purpose seems to make no obvious increase of soot. Its safety and cheapness can lead to many adaptations of it as a fire starter in camp or lodge.

If members of your family are not familiar with lighting such fires, warn them against tossing gasoline or kerosene on the flames. It is positively dangerous.

Ordinarily there isn’t space for a bath tub in the average cabin, but a shower is usually acceptable to all but the very small members of the family. If you have young children, you can solve the problem by walling up the shower with cement to a height of two feet from the floor and providing for a stopper in the drain. This makes a small tub that young children will appreciate, and it is easy for adults to step over the wall.

This ox-yoke lighting fixture fits into the cabin atmosphere.

Any wrought iron worker can make this door knocker from an old horseshoe.

This interesting lighting fixture is made by suspending an old kerosene lamp on a hame from a discarded set of harness.

Horseshoe andirons give a ranch effect to the cabin fireplace. Branding irons also make good andirons.

These horseshoe hinges will add interest to the cabin door. The nails shown are ornamental, the necessary support being provided by strong screws countersunk in the iron.

A sheep bell hung from a strap iron spiral makes an interesting door bell. A pull at the bottom sets the bell to jingling gayly.

This portable and collapsible table is easy to make and a great convenience in the kitchen or at the side of the barbecue when you are entertaining outdoors. You can make it of rustic materials or of ordinary lumber. Cover the top with strong canvas or a good grade of oilcloth, or both.

Ever since the first man came down out of a tree and set up housekeeping in a cave, he has been interested in making his dwelling more comfortable and more beautiful. Naturally, the amount of material that has been written on the subject has been enormous, because man is also interested in telling his neighbors all about it. As a prospective cabin builder, undoubtedly you will want to read more fully on the subject of houses and methods of construction. The various books listed below should prove helpful. They are among the most recent works published, and should be readily obtainable from any good book dealer. If you are building a vacation home, you will find them a source of knowledge as well as inspiration.

The Real Log Cabin, by Chilson D. Aldrich. (Macmillan.)How to Build Log Cabins, Lodges & Bungalows, Popular Science Publishing Co.More House for Your Money, by Elizabeth Gordon and Dorothy Ducas. (Morrow.)Home Owner’s Handbook, by C. B. Smith. (Housing Publications, Inc., N. Y.)The Householder’s Complete Handbook, by Hawthorne Daniel. (Little, Brown & Co.)First Aid to the Ailing House, by Roger B. Whitman. (McGraw-Hill, N. Y.)

The Real Log Cabin, by Chilson D. Aldrich. (Macmillan.)

How to Build Log Cabins, Lodges & Bungalows, Popular Science Publishing Co.

More House for Your Money, by Elizabeth Gordon and Dorothy Ducas. (Morrow.)

Home Owner’s Handbook, by C. B. Smith. (Housing Publications, Inc., N. Y.)

The Householder’s Complete Handbook, by Hawthorne Daniel. (Little, Brown & Co.)

First Aid to the Ailing House, by Roger B. Whitman. (McGraw-Hill, N. Y.)

The editor wishes to acknowledge the co-operation extended by the West Coast Lumbermen’s Association, Seattle; the Red River Lumber Co., Westwood, Calif.; and the California Redwood Association, San Francisco. Readers desiring additional data on cabin building may secure it by writing these organizations.

For the amateur builder, one of the best sources of concise, authoritative information is the series of bulletins issued by the Government Printing Office at Washington for the Department of Agriculture. They are called “Farmers’ Bulletins” because they are intended for use on farms, but the material they contain is applicable to the cabin builder’s needs, since conditions on a farm and out in the woods, as regards plumbing, sanitation, water supply, etc., are identical. If you want copies of these pamphlets, write to the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., enclosing 5c for each one.

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