A CabinWoods in the

A farmhouse cabin in the California mountains provides a cozy retreat to enjoy the fall colors—and vintage collectibles.

When you have fond memories of vacationing with your family as a kid, sometimes you just have to recreate them when you’re grown up. That was the case for blogger and Instagrammer Janice Morrow of Fig and Twigs, who decided with her husband, Bill, to build a mountain getaway in the charming vacation town of Big Bear Lake, California. “I remember being up in Big Bear with my family as a child,” Janice says. “I wanted to get back to being in the mountains.” Now their custom 6,500-square-foot cabin has ultimate farmhouse charm, perfect for hosting family during the fall.

VISION AND VOICE

From the start, Janice had a vision for her mountain cabin. “I told Bill, ‘I have a vision of us having a getaway to go to on the weekends, with a red pot on the stove simmering with hot soup, and us coming inside after a walk through the fall leaves.’”That year for Christmas, Janice received a big red cast-iron pot for Christmas with a note from her husband saying, “Let’s follow your dream.” That’s when they started looking at real estate.

Once they decided to build a home from scratch, it took the couple a year and a half to design the home themselves, with help from an architect. One of the priorities for the home was a light and airy design. “So many homes up here are very dark with a lot of wood, and they don’t give that same sense of peace,” Janice says. “We needed it to be really light and airy inside, so we wanted every wall white, with light wood. ”Tall, vaulted ceilings and plenty of windows were integral to the design to get that bright and relaxed feel.

But light and bright farmhouse style is counterintuitive for an area that predominantly has traditional wood log cabins, as Big Bear does. “Our builder is local and had always done dark wood homes, so it was hard for him to understand the concept,” Janice says. “But now he loves it and has since built a home similar to ours on his own property.”

A HOSTING HOME

While Janice’s original vision was a smaller cabin for the couple to escape to on the weekends, as they started to plan, they realized they needed something a bit larger. “Once we started thinking about why we wanted to have this home, we realized it was about family,” she says. “We wanted someplace our children and grandchildren could come and gather.”

The home’s design reflects this embrace of hosting family and friends. The 6,500 square feet includes six bedrooms that can sleep a total of 16 people. The large dining room, kitchen and separate bar room also provide plenty of living space for gathered family and friends to share meals and relaxing vacation time together. “When you walk in, you feel like you can relax,” Janice says. The design, plus the gathering of people, makes this cabin in the woods a perfect retreat.

" When you walk in, you feel like you can relax.”

(top, right) The vintage mirror in the entryway was a surprise purchase. “We found it at the Salvation Army, and it was in this giant crate,” Janice says. “They wouldn’t let us open the crate, but we knew it was a mirror from France. We took a chance and bought it. It is hand painted and the color matched. But the mural was a picture of odd-looking cherubs that were frightening to look at, so I created the pressed floral design to replace it.”

The upstairs sitting room is primarily for Janice’s grandkids. “We wanted that room to be for the grandkids to play, their space where they could just be themselves,” she says. (opposite) The living room area is a cozy mix of fall décor and relaxing seating, especially for the family dog, Daisy Rhubarb. Miniature sliding barn doors cover the TV for a clean look that also provides functionality. “I don’t like seeing an exposed TV, but my husband loves to watch sports, so this was a compromise,” Janice says.