Creating Your Perfect Home
Creating Your Perfect Home

Money-Saving Kitchen Ideas

In every issue we will bring you money-saving ideas for your new log home.  This time we focus on kitchens. Include a functional built-in pantry. Save money on purchasing a tall pantry cabinet from your cabinet supplier and make a pantry closet on the job site. Use commercial-grade, long-lasting shelving for super function, recommends Susan Serra, a certified kitchen designer in Huntington, New York.  Use open shelves. Open shel…

Building for Retirement

Retirement is a phase of our lives that requires very careful planning. In addition to making sure that we have enough monetary security to comfortably embark upon retirement status, deciding on where to live and what type of home to dwell in is nearly as important. Mark Elliott, vice president of New Hampshire-based Coventry Log Homes, celebrating its 20-year anniversary in 2014, says his company produces 25 to 30 percent of their homes for retirees. “The volu…

A New (Old) Oregon Farmhouse

As the owner of Oregon Log Homes, Mike Neary has nearly 40 years of experience supplying and building custom log homes around the country. From weekend cabins to large-scale commercial projects (including Disney’s Fort Wilderness Lodge in Orlando, Florida), he’s pretty much seen it all. So when the time came for Mike and his wife, Patti, to build on their property near Dufur, Oregon, he had a pretty good idea of what he wanted. In this case, what the Nearys wanted was a home that would bl…

17 Design Ideas For Outdoor Spaces

Outdoor spaces 1. Consider putting a small swimming pool in a screened-in porch; you can enjoy a refreshing swim while still being protected from the sun. 2. Think about creating outdoor space up high for a different perspective on your property. Perfect for stargazing! 3. Add a fireplace to a covered deck for an outdoor room you’ll enjoy even on the chilliest nights. 4. Add a ceiling fan to your screened porch or covered deck to keep air moving when you can’t c…

18 Bathroom Design Ideas

1. Allow light and air into your bathroom with plenty of windows. If privacy is an issue, add frosting or attractive window treatments. 2. Use a pedestal sink in a small space. You may lose some storage, but your floor space will look much bigger. 3. Get creative with fixtures. A slender tree with extending branches is a natural choice for hanging towels. 4. Use an antique wooden ladder instead of a towel bar. 5. Choose a copp…

To DIY or Not to DIY

Serious research, careful planning, and good old sweat equity help put the brakes on cost when building that perfect log home. Each lends itself to a more reasonable bottom line, bringing value and satisfaction to the process while potentially lowering the “hassle factor.” While research and planning are basic, some log home owners choose to invest their own talent and expertise during the construction process, performing certain tasks themselves rather than paying a premium for contracted services. Fro…

Today’s Trends in Log Home Design

For many Americans, living in a log home is a dream come true.  The typical log home owner is unlike most others, seeking an eclectic style that exudes warmth, comfort, and a touch of personality. While some may choose to go with a log home company’s stock floorplan as a starting point, others have their own design ideas in mind. We talked to a few log home industry leaders to find out what trends seem to be driving customers’ design choices these days. Blue…

Avoiding Financial Pitfalls

Before the saw connects with the wood, it is always good advice to measure twice and cut once. In other words, avoid those mistakes that cost time and money, and maybe worst of all, turn an otherwise pleasant experience into a frustrating ordeal. Designing and building that dream log home can be one of the most rewarding experiences of a lifetime. To be sure that the process flows smoothly from start to finish, it pays to listen to the voices of experience. Common miscues can lead to problems, and there…

Design Advice from the Experts

It’s no surprise your log or timber frame home builder seems to know just the right place to put that reading nook you wanted, or the perfect way to orient your home to take advantage of the views. With hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of homes built and many hours working with homeowners, these professionals have seen it all. And they can tell you what works, and what doesn’t, based on that experience. With just a little bit of investigation, we were able …

A Family Tradition

The Duke family history is permeated with a love of the outdoors that can be traced back to David’s father. He loved to hike in the mountains and built a cabin for his family near Hebrew, Utah, when he was 70. When he died, he left the cabin in trust for his six children. David and Hanne Duke vacationed at that cabin with their children for many years. “We really enjoyed the chance to bond as a family and be in a beautiful place in nature,” David says. “We decided that it would be nice to have a place l…

Storing Heat from the Sun

There are many ways to store the heat from sunlight that enters your home, including stone floors and masonry interior walls. Another way people are choosing to capture that heat is through the use of Trombe walls . Trombe walls are named after Felix Trombe, the French engineer who developed them. The technique is to build a portion of the south wall of the home with a high thermal mass material such as concrete, then cover and seal it with a pane of glass a few inches from the surface of the wall on th…

Maximizing Energy Efficiency

For decades the assessment of energy efficiency in log homes has been the subject of debate. Building codes differ from one jurisdiction to another, while climate, cost, and quality of construction also weigh in. Finding the proper balance to achieve the necessary efficiency means identifying the components of log construction that will realize the best return on investment. Rob Pickett has spent more than 40 years in the log home industry, operating his own…