So many of you have asked me about our little cabin in the woods so I decided to do a Montana Cabin Home Tour post and share all the details. Our cabin is located in what is called, Gold West Country in southwest Montana. It’s in a little known town called Polaris, which is in the Pioneer Mountains.
Our Cabin in the Pioneer Mountains of Southwest Montana
We purchased the cabin back in 2005 when it was about 4 years old. The original cabin was smaller and we added on the front section and the porch a few years after purchasing it.
We added on a living room addition so we had a larger place to gather. The original cabin was barely a thousand square feet which made it a little crowded for our family of 6. We hired a local guy to do the addition and I love how it turned out.
The Living Room addition is lower than the main cabin and has made the cabin much more enjoyable with our large family. We chose to do stained concrete floors and put the heating inside the floor. It gets below zero often in the winter and the floors are always warm in the winter which we love.
I decorated the living room areas in darker colors to blend in with the original part of the cabin. The white buffalo and mountain goat are made from real animal skins on the Navajo Indian Reservation in New Mexico. They were a gift from my Mother-in law and I think they are the perfect addition!
This is the original part of the cabin. The kitchen is quite small and we don’t have a dishwasher but we don’t mind! We have everything in the kitchen that we have at our other homes and I enjoy cooking for everyone. We often have members of our extended family come visit us here and it’s so fun cooking and entertaining at the cabin even though it’s small. We’ve made some great memories in this little kitchen!
We’ve added some extra storage where possible and there’s a tiny pantry behind the fireplace. One of the main support beams was made out of a local aspen tree with the bark still in tact which gives the cabin character.
All the wildlife photos throughout the cabin were taken by my father, Bruce Benson. He’s a wildlife and landscape photographer and loves sharing his photos with all that come to stay at the cabin.
There is one bedroom on the main floor of the cabin. The bedroom is very small and we’ve done our best to maximize the space. The log bed was made custom for the room and while it takes up most of the space in the room, we love how it looks.
The loft overlooks the main cabin and has two beds. I recently updated the bedding and added some new throw pillows. On my next trip down, I’ll be updating the curtains because the ones there now are about twenty years old and are hand me downs from our days when we lived in military housing. I figure it’s about time we update them! The cabin seems to be the catch all for my older decor from our other homes.
I like having a pretty table set and every summer I enjoy creating a new tablescape at the cabin. I enjoy foraging for wildflowers and grasses on our seven acres and making a pretty centerpiece from what I can find outdoors or Iย use faux flowers to make a centerpiece as I did for this tablescape shown.
I always pick one thing that inspires the tablescapes I create. The dining table at the cabin is black with some sanded patches of brown and as I was thinking about what I could use for this years cabin tablescape, I remembered that I had these cute black and ivory checkered napkins. I used these napkins as the inspiration and designed the rest of the elements of the tablescape around these. I love decorating with black and white so I really enjoyed pulling this rustic, farmhouse style tablescape together.
I like to mix textures and patterns which is so easy to do with black and white. The black woven placemats and the table runner were a good mix with the checkered napkin and the solid off-white plates.
Here’s a photo of last summers Montana cabin tablescape using my dollar store dishes. I bought these hand painted sunflower dishes from a dollar store over twenty years ago when we lived in Kansas. I’m so glad I saved them as they were the inspiration behind this fun tablescape at the cabin.
The view from the front porch is so beautiful. The porch looks out over the pond and the Pioneer Mountains. We love to sit out here and enjoy the peace and quiet. Every so often, we see a moose wander down by the pond which is always a sight to behold!
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The View from the Front Porch Overlooking the Pond and Pioneer Mountains During a Thunderstorm
This is such a special place for our family. There is no cell service or internet at the cabin and we added satellite TV a few years ago. This is our place to disconnect from our busy lives and reconnect as a family. We play games, hike, visit both Elkhorn and Jackson Hotsprings, ski at Maverick Mountain in the winter and most of all, we relax and do nothing at all!
We have created some wonderful memories in this little cabin in the woods of Montana and we are so grateful we’ve been blessed to have such a special place to gather with our family and friends.
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I snapped this photo from the front porch of the tablescape.
I hope you enjoyed our Montana Cabin Home Tour! Our little cabin is truly a piece of heaven!
If you’d like to visit the cabin, we do rent it out on occasion. You can contact me via email at [email protected]
If you’re’ visiting southwest Montana and the Pioneer Mountains, here are some great things to do while there:
Crystal Park – Dig for quartz crystals and purple amethyst, Cost is $5 to park, bring your own digging tools, located about 10 miles from the cabin on the Pioneer Mountain Scenic Byway.
Coolidge Ghost Town – located 15 miles or so from the cabin off the Pioneer Mountain Scenic by way. Unrestored silver mining ghost town. There is a photo of one of the old cabin framed in the living room of our cabin.
There are many hikes up to alpine lakes in the area and our favorite is Sawtooth where you can hike up to Sawtooth lake.
Dillon Montana is about 35 miles away and is the closest town and is located off I-15. The Taco Bus is a must and is on the main road through town. Can’t miss it! Best authentic street tacos and mexican food.
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