Sanctuary Hill
Sanctuary Hill

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Using reclaimed and recycled materials when building your home is not just a good way to be kind to the environment—it’s a great way to save money and add visual interest to your home! Reclaimed materials make your home truly unique while keeping materials that still have a little bit of life left out of landfills.  There is a difference between reclaimed and recycled materials. Recycled materials are reprocessed and often turned into an entirely different product, while reclaimed materials are reu…

Nouveau Adirondack

When a Florida couple decided that summers in the Sunshine State were too hot and muggy, they began planning a vacation home in Banner Elk, North Carolina, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains where the average summer temperature tops out at a pleasant 70 degrees. They also wanted a log house with a distinctive look, so they called on Allen Halcomb, architect and president of MossCreek in Knoxville, Tennessee, to come up with a design that would suit their personalities. “The couple expressed a desire to…

Maximizing Your Property

Even the lushest landscape can present unique challenges, so it pays to enlist the help of a pro to ensure your landscape suits your lifestyle. Landscape architects work with you to maximize your property, from analyzing the site to designing patios and decks, selecting plants, and mitigating environmental concerns. They can help you transform your ideas into reality, down to the smallest detail. Choosing a Partner As you would with any professional partner, research potential landsc…

What’s Hot in Great Room Design?

Once upon a time, a log cabin living room was a simple affair. Modest in size and design, it was merely another room in the house. Then, things changed. The living room morphed into a jaw-dropping showpiece worthy of grand get-togethers and cozy nights at home. This “great room” has been a log home staple ever since. And though its basic structure has remained unchanged, new log home owners have been finding subtle ways to improve upon perfection. We talked with Stephanie Gauthier,…

A Little Bit Country…

When you think of country style do you imagine large, overstuffed furniture, a riot of floral prints, and accessories on every surface? Those were the signature elements of country decorating decades ago, but the style has come a long way. Modern country style evokes warmth, comfort, welcome, and a connection with your personal history and that of the area you live in. Country décor can wander in many different directions: farmhouse, coastal, cabin, barn cottage, Am…

What’s Your Idea of the Perfect Home?

Set in a clearing in a forest in Washington, a traditionally built timber frame home combines classic elements such as a metal roof, wood siding, and stonework and gives them a more contemporary twist. What’s Your Log Style? This California gem is constructed of full, round logs. people who love the look of round logs on the exterior may choose a d-log instead to give them flat walls inside while preserving the rou…

Looking for Land

Possibly the most basic element of a log or timber frame home project, as fundamental as the wood itself, is finding that perfect location. Whether on a mountainside, in the deep woods, or beside a tranquil lake, the land is its own design element in the overall appeal and presentation of a wood home. Finding the right lot or acreage presents an opportunity to define the log home project in its entirety. In the right circumstances, the land and structure complement …

Comparing Bids from Producers

“Getting comparative bids when looking at log homes is very important, unless you are very well versed in log home materials and construction practices,” says Tom Kuhns, president at Kuhns Brothers Log Homes Inc., in Milton, Pennsylvania. “In fact, getting bids is actually a part of the learning process. No two log home companies are alike. Each company has different ways of doing things and different qualities and quantities of products so you need to decide what is best for you.”&n…

Living Large in Crested Butte

Originally established in the mid-1800s as a hub and supply center for smaller surrounding mining towns, today’s Crested Butte, Colorado, is a premier destination for year-round recreation. Located about 30 miles due north of Gunnison, it’s just far enough off the beaten path to have retained a sleepy town charm; the population of full-time residents is not much more than 1,500. But the number of vacation/getaway homes is on the rise. One such dwelling belongs to Ohio residents Greg and Beth Bookwalter….

Asking the Right Questions & Gathering Information

A log home is not an impulse buy. For some the decision to build a log home was made years before they actually began the process of transforming a long-held dream in​to a lifetime reality. “One of the first things is to establish how much you want to spend,” says Dave Fullerton, sales manager at Rocky Mountain Log Homes. “Is this a primary residence or vacation home? What genre of log home? Do you want the home to ‘feel’ a certain way? We try to establish t…

Matching Your Log Home to Your Budget

For just about anyone who considers building a log home, setting a budget is a necessity. Matching the home to the budget requires preparation, understanding, and, often enough, a reality check. When the time comes at long last to build the log home of your dreams, every aspect of construction, financing if needed, and ancillary expenses such as furnishings, homeowner’s insurance, and property taxes should be considered. It pays to think comprehensively on the front end, determining just how much initia…