Category
Room-By-Room

Setting Up Camp

For families looking for year-round recreation, Lake Sunapee in western New Hampshire offers something for everyone. Summers are spent swimming, fishing, and boating. Winters are spent skiing at nearby Mount Sunapee. Spring and fall offer the chance to explore local hiking trails. So when Nicole and Stephen were looking for a place to build a vacation getaway, Lake Sunapee fit the bill. Since it’s just two hours away from their primary residence in Boston, they are able to spend plenty of time there wit…

Heaven on Earth

Heaven’s Landing, a unique residential airpark community, is nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of northeast Georgia, about three miles from the city of Clayton. The 635-acre gated development is surrounded by thousands of acres of National Forest.   “My wife, Jan, and I have a 1.5-acre lot at Heaven’s Landing,” says Tom Nasser, “but it came with a million dollar view.” Owners of a Cirrus SR22 airplane, the couple met Mike Ciochetti, developer of Heaven’s Landing, during the annual Cirrus Mig…

No Compromises

What do you get when you combine luxury living in Montana with a beautiful, rustic, log cabin home? The end result is the ultimate second home nestled at The Yellowstone Club, an exclusive residential club, ski resort, and golf resort in eastern Madison County, Montana. Situated just west of Big Sky, south of Bozeman, and northwest of Yellowstone National Park, Yellowstone Club is operated by Discovery Land Company and offers a variety of options for premier mountain living. The club’s home sites provid…

Money-Saving Kitchen Ideas

In every issue we will bring you money-saving ideas for your new log home.  This time we focus on kitchens. Include a functional built-in pantry. Save money on purchasing a tall pantry cabinet from your cabinet supplier and make a pantry closet on the job site. Use commercial-grade, long-lasting shelving for super function, recommends Susan Serra, a certified kitchen designer in Huntington, New York.  Use open shelves. Open shel…

A New (Old) Oregon Farmhouse

As the owner of Oregon Log Homes, Mike Neary has nearly 40 years of experience supplying and building custom log homes around the country. From weekend cabins to large-scale commercial projects (including Disney’s Fort Wilderness Lodge in Orlando, Florida), he’s pretty much seen it all. So when the time came for Mike and his wife, Patti, to build on their property near Dufur, Oregon, he had a pretty good idea of what he wanted. In this case, what the Nearys wanted was a home that would bl…

17 Design Ideas For Outdoor Spaces

Outdoor spaces 1. Consider putting a small swimming pool in a screened-in porch; you can enjoy a refreshing swim while still being protected from the sun. 2. Think about creating outdoor space up high for a different perspective on your property. Perfect for stargazing! 3. Add a fireplace to a covered deck for an outdoor room you’ll enjoy even on the chilliest nights. 4. Add a ceiling fan to your screened porch or covered deck to keep air moving when you can’t c…

18 Bathroom Design Ideas

1. Allow light and air into your bathroom with plenty of windows. If privacy is an issue, add frosting or attractive window treatments. 2. Use a pedestal sink in a small space. You may lose some storage, but your floor space will look much bigger. 3. Get creative with fixtures. A slender tree with extending branches is a natural choice for hanging towels. 4. Use an antique wooden ladder instead of a towel bar. 5. Choose a copp…

A Family Tradition

The Duke family history is permeated with a love of the outdoors that can be traced back to David’s father. He loved to hike in the mountains and built a cabin for his family near Hebrew, Utah, when he was 70. When he died, he left the cabin in trust for his six children. David and Hanne Duke vacationed at that cabin with their children for many years. “We really enjoyed the chance to bond as a family and be in a beautiful place in nature,” David says. “We decided that it would be nice to have a place l…

Tall Tale

Appalachian Log Homes, based in Knoxville, Tennessee, prides itself on providing unique character logs to their clients when requested. “I will never forget,” says the company’s vice-president, Dave Carter Jr., “the character log installation at the Atwill/Peck cabin in West Virginia.” Steve Atwill had come across a special piece of wood that he wanted to serve as a support post and artistic focal point for his 20 x 26 cabin. “Normally,” relates Carter, “we arrive on site with our load of logs and stack…

Master Bedroom Trends

Most homeowners consider the master bedroom their sanctuary. It’s the one space in the house that’s totally private. Owners go there to feel snug, secure, and “away from it all.”  But five years ago, log home enthusiasts were building bedrooms so large they rivaled the size of many people’s entire homes. Voluminous footage, vaulted ceilings, chambers within the chambers became commonplace. Features like elaborate exercise nooks, coffee bars—even kitchenettes—started popping up. …

A Five-Star Prize

“It all started way back,” begins Brad Thompson, telling the story of how he and his wife, Daryl, came to acquire their 362-acre farm in the rural community of Stewartstown, in northern New Hampshire. “I grew up in the town of Winchester, on an 1,100-acre farm. In 1974, my dad, brother, and I built a hunting and fishing camp in Clarksville, just north of here. I guess I have the love of the land bred into me.” His father, at 88 years of age, is still enjoying the camp, his very own piece of paradise.&nb…

The Great Outdoors

Living next door to the outdoors holds the greatest appeal for log home owners, and making the most of outdoor living space is steadily rising on the wish lists of those building and buying new homes or enhancing existing outdoor amenities. From wraparound porches and extended decks to patios, pergolas, pools, and full kitchens, creativity and craftsmanship drive spectacular results. “We just started a line of outdoor living spa…