“Initially, we were looking for bare lake frontage to build a log cabin on,” begin Wisconsin homeowners Jamie and Karen Geschke. “However, finding a great lakefront lot without an existing home proved to be impossible.” Then a realtor friend, Erik Johnson, showed the couple a property on Lake Kaubashine that was coming on the market, and it was love at first sight: sand beach, pristine water, not much boat traffic, and bordered on one side by state-owned land. There was a modest house on the property, b…

“Our client chose full logs for their family house,” says Dennis Davis, project manager for RJ Dailey Construction, “believing the aesthetics would make the proper statement about family and farm values: strong, stable and, most of all, enduring.” RJ Dailey builds only custom residences and estates, says Davis, “but up until now only in California, where our company is based.” It was an honor and a pleasure for the company to be selected as the general contractor for a log home on a family farm in Illin…

Joe Murphy didn’t have a lot of extra time on his hands, but he really needed a project. Over the past decade, Joe and his wife, Jill, have developed a penchant for purchasing fixer-upper real-estate projects, predominantly in the Lake Gaston region 60 miles north of Raleigh, then updating and breathing new life into them and putting them back on the market for future owners to enjoy. “In October of 2015,” says Joe, “Jill and I became interested in building a new house on Lake Gaston. We had owned sever…

Something clicks when the right house comes along. One Midwest couple, weary from looking at dozens of homes, finally found their forever home 18 years ago when they purchased a stately two-story. “It sure had all the bells and whistles and then some,” says Ann, recalling how her love of family heirlooms and Old World furnishings would be a perfect fit. Her husband, Karl, reserved judgment until he went downstairs to the lower level. To differentiate the formality of the home’s more traditional style, o…