Log Cabin Homes Magazine

A Strong Finish

by Tracy M. Ruff | Jul 9, 2021 | How-To, Maintaining

You’ve most likely spent months, if not years, planning the design of your log home and hadn’t even considered what you would use to protect its precious walls. There are many companies out there that claim they make the best finishes for the exterior of a log home. Weeding through all of these products can be a daunting task, and you may be tempted to drive down to the local hardware store and pick up a few cans of the product that’s on sale that week. Before hopping in your car, get to know what makes…

First Born

by Anne Gardon & Perry Mastrovito | Photography Perry Mastrovito | Jul 9, 2021 | Entire Home, Room-By-Room

Acquiring something for the first time will always have a special place in one’s heart and memory, an extra sentimental value that the subsequent ones (even if they’re better, bigger, or more valuable) can’t match. When Danielle Deraiche and her husband Jean Lemelin started their log home-building company in 2007, this pretty and distinctive blue log home was their first project. Originally, it was destined to be a guesthouse at a hunting lodge, but the client abruptly cancelled the contract due to fina…

The Jewel in the Crown

by Mike Haskew | Jul 9, 2021 | Exteriors, How-To, Landscape, Room-By-Room

A stunning stone patio, boulders, ornamental grasses lined up in rows, and tall, slender trees all serve to enhance the beauty of this home. An old saying tells us that the devil is in the details, but so is the dazzle! Landscaping and hardscaping your log or timber home put the finishing touch on the self-expression that motivates homeowners everywhere. Rather than an afterthought or an add-on, the exterior finish of the home and surroundings bring the vision to life and complete the journey from idea …

Welcome Home!

by Log Cabin Homes Magazine | Jul 9, 2021 | Entire Home, Exteriors, Room-By-Room

Front doors welcome visitors and reflect the personality of the people who live within the home. A front door can convey serenity, power, warmth, creativity, and so much more. Take some time to determine the statement you want to make and how you want your home to welcome you and your guests. And don’t forget about your interior doors: they also help create a home that reflects your personality and enhances your enjoyment of your home.

The New Norm

by Debra Grahl | photos by Roger Wade | Jul 9, 2021 | Designing, How-To

The professional consensus on current primary home trends, from differing regions of the country, includes cost-consciousness, sustainability, practicality, and a better-than-ever educated client. These are the overarching trends that will likely be around forever, becoming, as architect Shawn Leatherwood says, “the new norm.” “It’s a strange time right now,” suggests Leatherwood. “Prospective clients seem to be doing plenty of tire kicking before hi…

Keep It Up!

by Bridget McCrea | Jul 9, 2021 | How-To, Maintaining

With any home, maintenance plays an important role in protecting your investment from the elements and from the normal wear and tear that are inflicted on it on a daily basis. Ignore this important aspect of log home ownership and you could find yourself dealing with high repair and restoration bills, and a lot of heartache. Where log homes are different from traditional construction lies mainly in the logs themselves. While these natural wonders are strong, sturdy…

High Desert Hideaway

by Jennifer Donahue | photography Shane Brandolini | Jul 9, 2021 | Entire Home, Room-By-Room

There’s no mystery to the appeal of Flagstaff, Arizona, and the surrounding Coconino National Forest. At an elevation of 7,000 feet, the high desert area is a recreation paradise, with four seasons including snowy winters (an average of 100 inches of snow each year). When hot summer temperatures in the Phoenix area become too much to bear, folks head north to Flagstaff for relief in the higher elevations. In fact, the proximity was one of the things that drew Steve and Laurie to explore the area around …

Minimizing Maintenance for Your Retirement Years

by Wyatt Myers | Jul 9, 2021 | Building, How-To, Maintaining

A beautiful log home—it’s a great dream for anybody to have for their retirement years. Now imagine if that home required zero maintenance: No painting, no toilet repair, no worries … talk about a beautiful dream! Of course, a home that doesn’t require any maintenance really is a dream. But what you can do is take steps during the planning process for your log home that will minimize maintenance in the long term. And that’s a dream that everybody can live with. To help us come up with the best planning …

Space Planning 101

by Jennifer Donahue | Jul 9, 2021 | Designing, How-To

Photo by Heidi Long My husband likes to joke that I’m picking up space-planning skills from him. For as long as I’ve known him he has been a wizard at packing a suitcase so that everything fits, loading the car trunk for a vacation with room to spare, and arranging furniture in a room for the most efficient use of space. The truth is, I’ve come to realize that sometimes there really is a “right” way to do things! Space planning is arguably the most important part of the home design process. Ideally, you…

Irresistible Charm

by Karen Doss Bowman | photography Roger Wade | styling Debra Grahl | Jul 9, 2021 | Entire Home, Room-By-Room

Roger and Mary Ann Miller didn’t realize they wanted to live in a log home until they stumbled upon their dream home while visiting their daughter and her family in Kentucky. But the “opportunity presented itself,” Roger says, when his wife started flipping through a real estate brochure she found in her daughter’s home. That’s when Mary Ann came across a 2,760-square-foot home in Paint Lick, Kentucky. She couldn’t resist the cabin’s cozy rustic charm. “I fell in love with [the house] withou…

Building Your Log Cabin Home

by Mike Haskew, photos courtesy Rocky Mountain Log Homes | Jul 9, 2021 | Building, How-To

Building a log home is, quite simply, an adventure. And nobody should undertake an adventure without adequate preparation. When Jock Davidson, owner of Daniel Boone Log Homes, considers the process of building a log home, he advises, “The nature of home building, particularly log homes, is usually more art than science. No two log homes are exactly the same, and therein lies the art. The single biggest pitfall that homebuyers face is unrealistic expectations. The home will invariably take longer to buil…

Construction Loan Basics

by Mike Haskew | Jul 9, 2021 | Financing, How-To

For many log, timber frame, or hybrid homeowners, the most daunting task in completing the purchase or construction of their ideal residence is dealing with financing. Although economic pressures have weighed on the market and banks have often been described as reluctant to lend, even during the best of times obtaining a loan for a log, timber frame, or hybrid home requires planning, patience, and understanding of the necessary steps. While the processes of financing conventional a…