The nation’s premier log home magazine, Log Home Living encourages the dream of log home ownership. Each issue celebrates the log home lifestyle, provides practical advice, and offers photo tours of the nation’s most beautiful log homes.
Budgets are a tricky business. Everyone has one — even the wealthy set parameters on what they’re willing to spend on a particular item. When it comes to building a home, however, there are more factors at play than simply a dollar amount. Location is obviously a major consideration, and depending on where you want to live and how much property you want to own, the bite it takes from your budget could be big or small. Likewise, lifestyle must come into play. Some homebuyers are happy with the basics in their homes — even if they can afford more; others are looking for mid-level upgrades. Then there are the folks who want all the bells and whistles, because, after all, when the custom home you’re shopping for is built with…
Windows When making your window selection, look for products with a low U-factor, a low air-leakage rating and a frame made of fiberglass or composite wood for the best insulating properties. Upgrade your current setup with caulking and weather-stripping around air leaks and by adding a protective solar film, exterior shades or UV-diffusing window covering. Lighting Lighting can be one of the most aggressive energy vampires in your home, but switching to LEDs can help bring your electric costs down significantly. An average LED bulb should last close to 20 years — a big plus in a 20- to 30-foot-high vaulted ceiling! LEDs use 80 percent less energy than standard incandescent bulbs and last 15 times longer. Heating and Cooling Heating and cooling systems account for more than half of…
If you grow herbs, fruit trees or vegetables, you’ve likely thought twice about spraying highly toxic pesticides on these plants — but that reluctance shouldn’t be confined to edible crops. Although pesticides have a place in some gardening protocols, the fact is that they do far more damage than you might realize. Not only can they negatively impact soil health, the bigger problem is that these toxins also kill beneficial insects that boost garden vitality. That includes honeybees, dragonflies, ladybugs, butterflies, lacewings and many other pollinators that are “good” bugs — insects that eat destructive bugs and fertilize flowers and fruit-bearing bushes. Protecting these groundskeeping heroes while controlling the garden bad guys is a balancing act, but there are some simple strategies that may help: Make a homemade spray: There…
Greg:We live in Tennessee, but we motorhome in the summertime. There’s a particular area of Colorado that we like in the south-central part of the state. We heard of this very exclusive RV resort that caters to Prevost motorhomes. We went out there in 2019, and they were just opening up some very rare property along the Rio Grande. We bought two of those lots. They had restrictions on them in that you could only build living quarters of 600 square feet inside or 800 square feet under roof. We decided to build a beautiful cabin with fir half-log siding and, on the lot beside it, put a pavilion with a fireplace and an outdoor kitchen. We’re just below 9,000 feet in elevation. In that part of the country, it’s…
As with most things in the custom-home-building process, the first things you need to consider are your wants, needs and how much of your budget you’re planning to invest in those areas. Kitchens, baths and bedrooms are obviously all “needs,” but the design and materials you select to outfit those spaces are driven by your “wants.” Beyond this wish list, there’s another factor to the equation: ROI. Building a log or timber home is a huge investment. If it’s a forever home (the last house you plan to purchase) or a legacy home (one you’ll pass down through the generations), your approach may be quite different than if it’s an investment home (one you plan to sell for a profit one day). In other words, some amenities and upgrades may…
The phrase “classic cabin” conjures up a specific vision: a petite home, somewhere in nature, probably either made with — or at least embellished with — natural materials. Maybe there’s smoke rising out of a chimney and there’s probably a porch on at least one side. “Think of the country log home; it’s timeless and it’s what folks have always dreamed about having when it comes to a log home,” says Danielle Whorton, director of project management at Southland Log Homes. “That’s what it still all comes back to.” In the pages of Log & Timber Home Living, you’ve seen the way log and timber-frame construction can push the bounds of design — massive mansions, modern tiny homes, functional farmhouses and more. But Danielle makes a point: Cabins have a…
