In this blog post, I’ll be sharing the behind-the-scenes details about the journey to find our vacation rental cabin in the San Bernardino mountains, and its transformation! After years of searching, we immediately knew this Running Springs cabin was the one the moment we first saw it, and it made the long journey all worth it! From a diamond in the rough to the modern Running Springs cabin it is now, here’s how The Viewpoint Cabin became the perfect mountain getaway for you!
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The Discovery of our Running Springs Cabin
As a Southern California real estate agent, I have been searching for the perfect mountain cabin near Lake Arrowhead, CA for over 3 years! At one point, we even looked out of state, but ultimately decided we wanted a cabin in the San Bernardino mountains, which is within an hour commute for us, so that we can enjoy it as well. I wrote our fair share of offers on other cabins along the way, even opening escrow once (that cabin turned out to have serious foundation issues so we cancelled the escrow), but all of those losses made perfect sense the moment we laid eyes on The Viewpoint Cabin! It’s like I tell my clients all the time: missing out on a house means that a better home for you is up ahead! That has always been true for my clients during their home searches, but I must admit, it was hard to take my own advice, haha! Between the low inventory of available cabins and getting beat out by higher offers along the way, I wondered when our cabin would appear.
When we saw the listing photos for this cabin, we immediately made the trip up the mountain to view it. I think we were the first showing! The moment we walked through the front door, my husband and I gave each other a silent, knowing, wide-eyed glance (pro tip for home-buyers: don’t talk about how much you love a house while you’re at the house, haha!). The view was breathtaking. I immediately knew we would be submitting an offer, and we knew this Running Springs cabin was ours. We submitted our offer and won in a multiple-offer situation by giving the Seller a great price and favorable terms!
Running Springs Cabin Transformation
It wasn’t the modern mountain cabin retreat that it is now. There was also quite a bit of deferred maintenance on the exterior. The cabin was lacking in amenities that I think guests should have (including a microwave, a water-filtration system for purified drinking water, and a whole home generator, in light of the power outages that the San Bernardino mountains are subjected to). So, we started tackling a long list of renovations to totally transform it!
Exterior Renovations
One of the biggest updates we did at our Running Springs cabin was to “top” a few pine trees to really maximize the incredible, sparkling city light view! It looks unreal and absolutely breathtaking! This is how she got her new name, The Viewpoint Cabin!
Topping those pines also gave us firewood for next winter!
On the exterior, we had the dry rotted wooden stairs at the front of the cabin replaced with black metal ones with diamond grates on the treads, so that snow won’t accumulate on them. Using mesh paneling below the stair handrail gave it a fresh modern look. We also replaced a bunch of cracked concrete work.
The large back deck had dry rotted steps that created a fall hazard. The deck also hadn’t been stained or painted in years. We had the deck steps demoed, and added a wide, concreted walkway connected to the deck as another hangout space for folks to enjoy the view. Then we had chunky steps built to connect the two spaces and painted it all black! The walkway made the biggest difference of all — it has a nice modern aesthetic, with a black handrail and the same mesh paneling we used on the front stairs, and is just a great spot to drink a beer and enjoy the city light view!
On the south side of the cabin we had concrete steps poured for owner access to the build up. We also had a concrete pad poured for our whole home generator — that means that even if the utility company shuts off the power in the event of an outage, the power will never shut off at The Viewpoint Cabin!
When we bought the cabin, the front door was a bumblebee yellow. After sampling 1,598 green paints, I painted over it a gorgeous, vivid, true green (Dard Hunter Green by Sherwin Williams). Then I painted the bench on the front porch to match.
And look at this super cute cabin address sign I ordered from Etsy!
Running Springs Cabin Interior Concept
The cabin came fully furnished, so the first thing I needed to do was to clear everything out to make room for my modern cabin vision! That took longer than I had hoped, haha! The old furniture was mostly mid-century, with lots of bohemian decor and vintage knick knacks (think warm walnut wood tones and cognac faux leather). I wanted the the cabin to feel unfussy with clean lines and white oak wood tones, with larger-scale furniture, and much less “stuff” than it had at the time (aka “clutter” lol). And I wanted the decor to reflect the outside — special, rustic, wooden and stone pieces and layers of green throughout the space. I’m happy to report that I absolutely love every single piece of furniture and decor I brought into the cabin, and it all came together with that Scandi modern cabin vibe I love!
Kitchen Updates
The kitchen had great bones already, but the dishwasher was so old that it was not even really cleanable anymore. So we replaced the dishwasher. After hours of searching, we went with this budget-friendly dishwasher with amazing reviews.
We added a white oak kitchen island with flat panel cabinet doors and a quartz waterfall countertop. It adds so much storage and really modernizes the space! I love the way the flat panel doors add to the Scandi modern cabin design. In the island we had a microwave built in, as the kitchen was lacking one. This microwave has amazing reviews and is the best price I could find on a built-in! We also had a trash can pullout added to the island, to eliminate the need for the freestanding trash can in the corner. This lockable mini fridge with solid doors (love that no one can see the mess) was built in to the island for our own personal drinks/food, so that the full size refrigerator can be exclusively for guest use.
We switched out the old faucet for this Amazon find, and had a Waterdrop under-sink water filtration system installed, so that guests can get purified drinking water right from the tap.
I built a shelving unit to create a coffee bar station using glass jars and custom labels, and I love how it turned out!
Here’s everything I used for a Scandi modern cabin kitchen:
Living Room Updates
The living room was all about switching out furniture and decor to achieve a modern cabin aesthetic. I started my concept for the living room with these stunning forest-inspired abstract art pieces.
I decided those art pieces would go above this gorgeous modern bench I’ve had my eye on at the top of the stairs. One of my favorite finds is this organic, irregular-shaped mirror I added across from the window wall in the living room — so now you get a glimpse of the amazing view from that side too! One project that I’m glad we did was to have a 70″ TV mounted on the stair wall — it was tricky, but really opened the space up versus having a TV sitting on top of the sideboard. For fun modern mountain cabin vibes, I switched out the basic light at the entryway with an adorable fox sconce (sold out now, but this cute owl sconce is still available).
Here’s everything I used for our Running Springs cabin living room:
Primary Bedroom Updates
The updates to the primary bedroom were really all furniture and decor, and the addition of a 65″ TV! I started with this incredible green abstract art piece, knowing I would use it above the bed. I was on the hunt for a sleek canopy bed in a light wood tone, and I’m glad I found this gorgeous one! It really anchors the bed wall. I love these minimal globe plug-in sconces (no hardwiring required!) that we used on either side of the bed, that save space by eliminating the need for a table lamp on the nightstands.
Underneath the TV, I used two large fish tank stands (so random I know haha) as a sideboard. They are sold out in the larger size now, but you can use several of the smaller size fish tank stands to get the same look. And finally, creating a work-from-cabin desk area right in front of the beautiful view was the best use of the extra space in this larger bedroom. I found this plug-in sconce to use above the desk that coordinated perfectly with the other sconces. This high-quality and affordable wood finish wishbone chair brought it all together! Then I added this cozy fur to the chair to give it some Scandi modern cabin style.
Here’s everything I used for our Running Springs cabin bedroom:
Bathroom Updates
The bathroom was fine before, but it was dark and plain. We did a lot in there, and it ended up being quite the transformation! Visit my blog post Cabin Bathroom Decor for an Amazing Makeover. There you’ll see the before and after pictures of the space and links to all of the bathroom decor I used!
Secondary Bedroom Updates
In the smaller secondary bedroom, I switched out the queen bed for a black metal bunk bed (twin XL over queen). Then we mounted a 50″ TV. We used this super fun forest privacy film on the bedroom window and on the window at the top of the stairs — it still lets a ton of light in while providing total privacy!
Book Your Stay at The Viewpoint Cabin!
Guests love the upgrades — see what all the buzz is about and book your getaway at this modern Running Springs cabin!
