Couple makes spacious log cabin cozy for the holidays
Some of Judy Daggett's casual acquaintances wonder why, at 68, she doesn't retire from decorating her log cabin in Morris to the hilt for the holidays. The yuletide adornments throughout large collections of snow globes, wood Santa figurines, miniature Christmas trees and much more create a welcoming tableau appreciated by everyone from dinner guests to grandchildren. But, according to Judy, many visitors are surprised that she and her husband, Ken, don't scale back. “A lot of people say to me, ‘How do you still do it at your age?' ” she says.
Close family and friends, however, know that, for the Daggetts, the ritual of winter decorating is about more than dressing up the house for others to enjoy. In a custom-built home filled with family heirlooms and lovingly refurbished secondhand finds, the Daggetts are proud to keep up long-established holiday decorating traditions. “I don't just do it for the grandkids,” Judy says. “I just love it.”
Seemingly no surface from the circa-1850 pie safe in the upstairs hallway to the antique baking table near the base of the staircase to the children's high chair in the living room, which was rescued from a chicken coop near an abandoned barn is left without a vignette, a poinsettia or an evergreen garland to adorn it.
This festive current-day effect is a far cry from the Daggetts' first Christmas in their house in 1991, though. Judy, Ken and their three sons spent nine months building the cabin, the plans for which came from a Utah company that specializes in log-cabin construction.
“We didn't even have a regular Christmas tree our first year here, I don't think,” Judy says. “We had a little tiny tree on the steps. But it was just so nice and cozy. We feel very fortunate that we found the property.”
Now, every year after Thanksgiving, that land provides evergreens from which Ken and Judy gather boughs and pinecones to use in sprucing up their home for Christmas.
Greenery plays an integral role in the Daggetts' holiday decorating; the couple use it not only for draping across mantels and wrapping around stair railings, but also to add bursts of color and texture behind or at the base of holiday vignettes to help them pop.
Artificial garlands supplement the Daggetts' natural harvest, serving as a seasonal (and non-needle-shedding) accent to chandelier lamps throughout the home and the backsplash area behind the kitchen sink.
To enhance the country-Christmas ambience and lend softness in a house outfitted in hardwood literally from floor to ceiling, Judy relies on her bountiful quilt collection.
She takes a “more the merrier” approach to her quilt cache, which numbers more than 50; the touchable textiles are folded in pie safes, draped over freestanding wood racks, arranged on shelves and tabletops, and, yes, even spread across the occasional bed.
As with her collections of Santas, miniature log cabins and blue-glazed saltware, Judy lets volume, rather than any single style, make the primary visual statement. Carrying colors and textures throughout a space rather than isolating them in a single vignette or display creates a sense of cohesiveness, making rooms look full but not cluttered.
The Daggetts' willingness to think outside the box (or the flea market, as it were) in finding their furniture and other decor has resulted in plenty of impressive acquisitions over the years.
The couple often visit nearby barns and chicken coops that are scheduled for demolition in search of discarded treasures to bring home to their cabin. Some of those old coops yielded both the previously mentioned children's chair in the living room and a cabinet that stands against a wall in the dining room.
Sometimes, the couple haven't even had to leave home to make their decor-ready discoveries the stones that surround the Daggetts' living room fireplace came from the ground that was dug out for the house's basement.
“Almost everything in here was made or refinished by my husband,” Judy says. “All of our stuff is very lived-in.”
And whether it's an ordinary day or Christmastime, when greenery, pinecones and holly berries help give a fresh look to treasured collections and timeless pieces, one thing is clear to Judy: She's not retiring from the delights of decorating anytime soon.