This Cabin Couldn't Be Cozier

In the six years that Danica and Chris Gadeken spent gutting and renovating their 1,000-square-foot home near Lincoln, Nebraska, they picked up lots of skills — but the biggest lesson they learned didn’t involve a hammer or nail gun. “I realized that walls do talk,” says Danica, “and they will tell you what style your house wants to be.”

The message for this one came after the couple replaced the worn exterior siding with greenish-brown board-and-batten: “The home whispered that it felt like a cabin,” Danica says, and she and Chris ran with the idea. They installed wood planks in nearly every room and chose furniture that fit with the look. The transformation is exactly the kind of project Danica dreamed about taking on when she was in design school, and it’s now the basis for her blog, Nadine Stay. “I want to show that anyone is capable of creating a beautiful home with their own two hands,” she says.