For what feels like an eternity they’ll watch a storm roll in, approaching from the mountains to the southwest. Suddenly it begins to pick up force and speed, descending through the sweeping valley where they reside. “And when it hits,” says homeowner Bart Butzer, “Betsy and I relish every moment of it!” Designed and built to withstand Montana’s extreme weather systems, the Triple B Ranch house is equipped with numerous lightning rods, constructed with reclaimed materials that have already proven their …

When Dallas couple Jennifer and Robert Quinn began taking their family on annual camping excursions two decades ago, they explored various areas throughout the Southwest—particularly Colorado. On one occasion, they happened to drive through Lake City, Colorado, a small town nestled in the San Juan Mountains. “It was just like driving through a fairy tale,” Jennifer says. “We fell in love with it.” The couple began dreaming about and planning to build a log home in  Lake City as they continued makin…

Just a few minutes from the Bozeman, Montana, airport, the Rocky Mountains rise toward the heavens. A drive along the Gallatin River leads to a captivating log home that fulfills a lifelong desire for its owner, blending the beauty of the Mountain West with modern convenience and sweet serenity. “I wanted to create a home where our large family and other families with us could all be in one room,” relates the homeowner. “The house is centered around a great room on the main floor with dining room, kitch…

The essence of the hybrid home lies in cooperative construction methods, perhaps both log and timberframe, incorporating varied elements both in materials utilized and the home’s comprehensive theme. Creativity comes to the forefront in hybrid construction, allowing the homeowner to blend such elements as wood, stone, and concrete while achieving a captivating fusion of décor elements. In short, a hybrid home provides the palette for the ultimate in inventive and original vision. On a sprawling 147-acre…

“Initially, we were looking for bare lake frontage to build a log cabin on,” begin Wisconsin homeowners Jamie and Karen Geschke. “However, finding a great lakefront lot without an existing home proved to be impossible.” Then a realtor friend, Erik Johnson, showed the couple a property on Lake Kaubashine that was coming on the market, and it was love at first sight: sand beach, pristine water, not much boat traffic, and bordered on one side by state-owned land. There was a modest house on the property, b…

“Our client chose full logs for their family house,” says Dennis Davis, project manager for RJ Dailey Construction, “believing the aesthetics would make the proper statement about family and farm values: strong, stable and, most of all, enduring.” RJ Dailey builds only custom residences and estates, says Davis, “but up until now only in California, where our company is based.” It was an honor and a pleasure for the company to be selected as the general contractor for a log home on a family farm in Illin…

Joe Murphy didn’t have a lot of extra time on his hands, but he really needed a project. Over the past decade, Joe and his wife, Jill, have developed a penchant for purchasing fixer-upper real-estate projects, predominantly in the Lake Gaston region 60 miles north of Raleigh, then updating and breathing new life into them and putting them back on the market for future owners to enjoy. “In October of 2015,” says Joe, “Jill and I became interested in building a new house on Lake Gaston. We had owned sever…

Something clicks when the right house comes along. One Midwest couple, weary from looking at dozens of homes, finally found their forever home 18 years ago when they purchased a stately two-story. “It sure had all the bells and whistles and then some,” says Ann, recalling how her love of family heirlooms and Old World furnishings would be a perfect fit. Her husband, Karl, reserved judgment until he went downstairs to the lower level. To differentiate the formality of the home’s more traditional style, o…

When Jim and Nancy Schueler of Hamilton, Montana, set out to build their fourth  log home, they wanted a design that would take full advantage of the 250-acre  property’s breathtaking views of the magnificent Bitterroot Mountain Range.  The result was a sprawling home situated on a knob in the Bitterroot Valley, with expansive windows in every room to offer panoramic views of the surrounding mountains.  “We wanted to design a house with a view from every room, and we accomplishe…

In 2009, when land prices were falling, Indianapolis residents Dale and Michele Wedel bought a parcel of ground in Brown County, Indiana, approximately 70 miles from their Indy home. It seemed like a good investment, and the pair had an inkling that it could make for a nice vacation place, or even a retirement home down the road. “A couple of years later,” says Dale, “Michele and I began a more earnest discussion about what we wanted to do with the site. We tentatively thought that a log home might be a…

Whether it’s for business or pleasure, one of the greatest delights a traveler can encounter is a better-than-expected lodging experience. Such was the case for my husband and me while we were making our way through the Southeast for work.  Located just 15 miles, but seemingly eons, from Louisville, Kentucky, is Captain’s Cabin Bed & Breakfast. The 1800s Appalachian-style log cabin is situated a stone’s throw from welcoming proprietors Tammy and Jan Paul Donelson’s main house. The cabin was loc…