Versatile Packing

When you visit Lakeview Cottages, you get a cute vintage cabin in a fabulous setting. The cabins have personality and are clean, but are very simple. The guests make the cabins their own for the week or two weeks they are mountain cabin dwellers. Some guys come up to the lake, throw their sleeping bags on the made up beds, fill the refrigerators with prepared food, then hit the lake for 24/7 fishing. Other residents really move in - with wall hangings, special dishes and appliances, rugs and lamps! It is fun to see the cabins take on the personalities of each current guest.

Being simple cabins, there is not much furniture or storage. There might be a bedside shelf, but no bedside table. Since I like a place for my book, reading light and other necessities, I set out to find a bedside table that could multi-task, be inexpensive, rustic, and not take up lots of room in my car.
My solution is borrowed from my college days when everything I owned fit in a '62 VW bug. Crates are great! You can pack them, then at the destination, unload them and stack them into shelves. Since they're used for carrying supplies they take no extra room in the car. My college age daughter combines them with 1x12 boards to create longer shelves. The crates in the top photo are from Michael's. These crates are a little sturdier than the ones sold at Joann's.

Cindy, in Cabin G, found this sectioned box at ----. It stands on end to fit a narrower wall space.

I also use plastic storage bins to transport and store my cabin linens and supplies. They don't look quite at home in our rustic cabins, but they do make a great shelf for holding a suitcase off the floor.

When you're packing for your mountain getaway, look for containers that are spacious and can be put to use when you get to the cabin. I recommend using versatile crates. (George says, "Be crative with crates!")