Log homes have come a long way from the days of Little House on the Prairie and Grizzly Adams. Modest one- and two-room cabins have given way to multilevel showstoppers that are equal parts art and architecture. Still, the yearning to invest sweat equity remains strong for some log home owners. There is romanticism to knowing you built your home with your own two hands. At the advent of the modern log home industry in the 1960s and 197…
Lone Mountain Ranch in Big Sky, Montana, offers a smorgasbord of log home living, a bucket list of adventures, and cuisine to live for. At less than an hour from the Bozeman airport, 18 miles from the border of Yellowstone National Park (45 to its entrance), and 7 miles from Big Sky Resort, this historic guest ranch is close to paradise and feels like heaven. My friend and I came to stay for a week. Past the horse corral, across the meadow at the edge of the woods, our two lo…
On average, the first two people in a home each use 20 gallons of water per day. Each additional resident uses about 15 gallons per day. For a family of four, that amounts to a whopping 70 gallons consumed every day, or 25,550 gallons per year. Most of those 25,550 gallons go down the drain … literally. Is that any way to treat our most precious natural resource? Here are a few practical ideas for conserving water: • Use a rain barrel to collect run-off from your roof. Start with a simple rain barrel co…
It’s not often that you learn about prime real estate in the United States while working overseas, but that’s exactly how Wayne Hale learned of what would soon become the perfect setting for a two-story timber frame home. Neatly tucked into a bank on Georgetown Lake in Montana, Wayne and Susan Hale’s 5,400-square-foot masterpiece was crafted specifically to fit in with the topography and setting. With crisp green trees in the foreground and wonderful sloping mountains in the background, the Hales enjoy …
Log home design is often inspired by homes from more than a hundred years ago. With its weathered gray logs, tan chinking, and shingle roof, this home fits perfectly in its East Coast mountain setting. The covered porch shelters the front door and is a great place to sit and enjoy the fresh air. RMR Group/photo by Karl Neumann This log home is similar to the one above in terms of materials—square chinked logs and cedar shakes—but the overall effect is quite different. The s…
The trend these days is toward putting the master bedroom on the main floor of the home, but why not choose the loft if it is as spectacular as this one? The owners get a bird’s-eye view of their property and can enjoy looking at the intricate roof structure of their log home. Rocky Mountain Log Homes The sense of space and height in this bedroom is accentuated by the painted sheetrock and upper windows that mimic the roof line and highlight the roof struc…
As a bridge builder, Mark Van Meter knows the satisfaction that comes from a job well done. So when he decided to build a new home in the rolling hills just outside of Bowling Green in south central Kentucky, he knew he wanted the best. Located 60 miles north of Nashville and 110 miles south of Louisville off Interstate 65, Bowling Green is the third most populous city in the State of Kentucky after Louisville and Lexington. The property appealed to Van Meter for a couple of reasons: convenien…
Some of my favorite time at home is spent on a quiet spring afternoon, sitting on my deck listening to the rain hit the metal roof overhead. Whether it’s watching the sun set on a long, lazy summer evening, entertaining family around an outdoor fire pit, or playing a friendly game of flag football on the lawn, our time spent outdoors is the stuff memories are made of. Many of us choose our home’s location specifically for the abundant natural beau…
Along the road to log home ownership, you will eventually hit the inevitable speed bump of wants versus budget. “Wants versus needs” might be the first thing that comes to mind, but a log home has to have the basic needs in order to receive a certificate of occupancy: logs, a kitchen, an HVAC system, a roof, etc. It’s when you you start putting in the wants from your own personal list that your budget gets stretched. You want to infuse your home with the things that will tru…
Are you looking for gorgeous Arts & Crafts tile or lighting, a handcrafted bed frame, or a mesmerizing fire sphere? We did a little shopping for things we think will complement your log or timber frame home. The Art of Tile Nawal Motawi started making tiles in her garage and selling them at a local farm market in 1992. Today Motawi Tileworks occupies a 12,000-square-foot facility in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and sells tiles through 400 U.S. stores. Shown here are several styles of tile from the Arts &…
The esteemed poet and author Maya Angelou once said, “I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.” What we know about energy efficiency has increased exponentially in recent years. So now that we know better, there’s no excuse for not doing better when it comes to homebuilding. Not only are energy-efficient building practices an important way to preserve the environment, they lead to a more comfortable home and can also save you money—…
North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Parkway traverses 252 miles of the state’s mountainous western terrain and is iconic for good reason. Take a drive, slowly mind you (the Parkway speed limit is 45 tops, with occasional areas of 35 and 25 mph) to allow the scenic views around each bend to become indelible memories. There’s nothing quite like a parkway meander—unless, of course, you can call it home, which is the case for Tony and Brenda Seaford. “Our log cabin idea started when Tony dreamed of purchasing mount…
