“There’s not much that tops the happiness we feel on the day we launch our boat at Swan Lake,” say Montana residents Mike and Linda Smith. “It’s usually in the month of May,” they continue, “when the lake is uniquely quiet and beautiful.” The event signals the beginning of summer fun at the cabin. Conversely, the day the boat comes out of the water at summer’s end is melancholic for the couple. The Smiths’ sentiments are understandable, considering their idyllic lakefront property and sleek contemporary…

Handcrafted log homes highlight the natural beauty and unique characteristics of the wood. Each home is one of a kind. “It wasn’t going to be quite this large, originally,” says Marvin Meyers, regarding his log home on the Yampa River, near Steamboat Springs, Colorado. “But the more time my wife, Tish, and I spent visiting our property the more we realized that our family and friends would also want to spend time here.” Initial cabin floorplan designs came in at around 2,500 square feet. The final plan …

From the back porch of their log cabin home, Bill and Dedie Nutt have an up close and personal view of nature that few people ever get to experience. For example, nearly every night, right around sunset, a cinnamon bear (really a black bear in its “cinnamon” color phase) ambles down to their man-made pond, stoops over, and quenches its thirst with a long, slow drink of water. “It’s pretty amazing to see,” says Bill, “and right in our own backyard.” That cinnamon bear is just one of the many slices of na…

Something about this home speaks to you. It reaches out and grabs your hand, whisking you back at least 100 years. The wide front porch beckons you to sit and stay a while, reminiscing about the past. The tin roof alludes to a simpler time and the reclaimed timbers encompass images of an old barn that could easily tell stories of a long ago generation. The door greets you as though you are a long lost friend, coming home after years of being away. Everything about the home …

Many log home lovers dream of building a lakefront vacation home. When a Wisconsin couple found a property for sale with two lakes on it, they knew they’d found a treasure. “The property was absolutely beautiful,” says the homeowner. “We wanted to build a vacation cottage that would be large enough to accommodate a big group of family members. And we wanted to be able to view both of the lakes from inside the house.” Northern Wisconsin, a region rich with lakes and acres of forest land, seemed like an i…

A Minnesota couple, John and Jean, enjoyed family ski vacations in Montana for years before they decided to build a dream home of their own in Big Sky country. They looked at many different properties in the area, but always kept coming back to Moonlight Basin, a resort development with ski-in ski-out parcels that overlook huge stands of trees and stunning views of the Spanish Peaks mountain range. “We couldn’t resist the lure of Moonlight Basin,” says Jean. ”Not only are the views amazing, but there is…

Their Scandinavian log home is a wish come true for the McHugh family. Paradoxically, it is also the result of an unfortunate event. A few years back, the cottage the McHughs owned in the Laurentian Mountains burned down. And though the loss was regrettable, this dynamic and enterprising man saw it as a sort of blessing in disguise. It gave him the opportunity for him to fulfill a childhood dream. Kids collect all kinds of things—baseball cards, butterflies, coins, rocks. For McHugh, it was log home mag…

Nestled into Gibson Jack Canyon, a few miles from the southern Idaho city of Pocatello, is the artfully designed residence of Silvia and Fernando Grigera. Originally from Argentina, the couple’s home reflects their native roots. “There are some great architects in Argentina,” says Fernando, “Silvia and I have always admired the architecture of our homeland and wanted to incorporate some of it into our Idaho residence.” “You don’t commonly see this type of log and timber home here in the high desert of s…