Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2024 i Log and Timber Home Living

When my staff and I started to plan this kitchen and bath issue nearly a year ago, I had no idea that it would become so personal to me. This very week, as we’re preparing to send this issue to the printer, I started interviewing kitchen contractors for my own renovation. A year ago, I moved into a new place and inherited someone else’s kitchen concept. The good news is that I heeded the advice we’ve given our readers over the years: I spent some time using the existing space, figuring out what worked and what didn’t. What I learned is that, while it was superficially pretty, when it came to functionality, nothing really worked for me. I designed the kitchens of the previous two homes I’ve lived in, inherently employing…

In the ancient Chinese practice of feng shui, one’s bedroom should a be a minimalist place of rest. To achieve this, the philosophy offers simple guidelines: do place your headboard against a wall; don’t have electronics in the room; do create symmetry; and, importantly, do not allow clutter — not even hidden underneath the bed or in the form of extra furnishings. Modern home trends are catching on — contemporary bedroom design is focused on creating simple, serene sanctuaries, often even making them smaller. As it turns out, when homeowners get to choose, they’re pumping that valuable square footage into spaces where you need storage and function most, like the bathroom. A recent Houzz report finds that primary bathrooms are only getting bigger, and homeowners are getting that square footage…

BE IT ON THE SHOWER WALL, on the kitchen floor or possibly even as a countertop choice, chances are your home has tile somewhere, which also likely means you have grout holding it all together. And while tile, itself, is easy to keep clean (most tile is sealed), porous grout is prone to collecting dirt and mold and holding onto it like a dog with a bone. Sure, you can buy potentially toxic and definitely expensive cleaning agents, but why would you when your pantry probably has two cheap, safe and effective ingredients that can knock even the toughest grout stains out: baking soda and vinegar. The recipe is simple. Make a thick paste using two parts baking soda to one part water and with your finger, apply the mixture…

In 2021, Cassia and Jesse Yi’s 10-by-20-foot back yard in San Diego was starting to feel a little cramped. With two young children, the couple longed for a place the whole family just “go outside and be outside.” “We were thinking we’d buy, I don’t know, five acres, and then eventually build on it and just have a little weekend getaway,” explains Cassia. However, just a year later, the two found themselves the proud new owners of a 26-acre property with two sprawling log homes (one clocks in at 4,500 square feet, the other at 3,900 square feet) 40 minutes away in Alpine, California. Cassia recalls that Jesse found the listing and sent it to her, and while they both thought it was interesting, “It was much, much more ambitious…

ANYONE WHO’S BEEN TO THE EYE DOCTOR knows the drill. You settle into the examination chair, start with a baseline of your current eyesight and then the ophthalmologist moves through a progression of corrective lenses, continuously asking, “Which one looks better: Option 1 or 2?” Visualizing the design of your kitchen can operate in much the same way. You know what you need to have in the space and very likely have the seed of a design aesthetic in mind, but you may have some trouble fine-tuning your style. Sometimes all it takes are small tweaks to a classic design foundation to shift a space from one style to another. Here’s how. Option 1: TRADITIONAL? This kitchen is every bit the traditional design you see in many of today’s log…

FOR A UNIQUE SPIN on kitchen and dining seating, consider adding booth space. Learn more about this simple way to maximize space at loghome.com/kitchen-booths. STRIKING THE BALANCE between beauty and function is key, especially when it comes to bathroom lighting. Head to timberhomeliving.com/bathroom-lighting-guide for a primer on creating a lighting plan that’s just right. LOW ON SPACE in your cabin kitchen? Check out cabinlife.com/cabin-kitchen-strategies for our top tips to utilize every precious square foot in the heart of your home. HEAD TO OUR CHANNEL, @logandtimberhomeliving, to see a sneak preview of magazine content, learn about the key differences (and similarities!) in log and timber homes, gain savvy building insights and much more! Connect with us on social media and sign up for our newsletters! Looking to buy your favorite annual…

Bathrooms are botched more than any other room in the house. The big problem is water. It’s central to the room’s function, but it also can be a source of damage. And designers unduly focus on cosmetics at the expense of critically important construction basics. Broadly speaking, the two causes of botched bathrooms are an unwillingness to spend the time and money it takes to construct a bathroom properly, and inexperienced people handling the work. After 10 years of remodeling bathrooms, I’ve torn out a lot of other people’s mistakes. Here are my seven sins of bathroom design. 1 Inadequate Waterproofing. Bathrooms are wet rooms first, design showcases second. Every aspect of planning and construction should take water exposure into account. If the waterproofing bill isn’t at least 5 to…

For this rustic mountain ranch, Jennifer Chipman, co-founder and principal designer of Bond Design Company, a nationwide design firm headquartered in Park City, Utah, found inspiration in two unusual places: historic industrial buildings and vintage speakeasies. The result is an award-winning property, and its kitchen is the centerpiece. It’s got a warm, somewhat masculine aesthetic that gets its nuance from the design’s details. DESIGNER: Bond Design Company bonddesigncompany.com…

Imagine the humble fish camp. One of the most unlikely materials that comes to mind is steel, right? Not for Edward and Kay Herring, whose vision of a family getaway takes the form of a custom-built home that fuses a mix of rugged materials, including steel. Edward, co-founder of a private equity firm, and Kay, a volunteer and full-time mom to their school-age children, reside in Dallas, Texas, but felt the call of Colorado’s streams. A property nestled on the banks of the Taylor River near Almont, Colorado, not far from the iconic Western town of Crested Butte, was the answer. “We wanted a cozy cabin that has great indoor and outdoor features ready for fishing as soon as the hatch starts,” explains Kay. The Herrings teamed up with local…

Rachel: My husband, Brad, and I love to hike in the mountains, either in the Great Smoky Mountains or the Rockies, and we always try to stay in a cozy log cabin when we travel to these places. So, when five acres of land on a hilltop became available near Nashville, we decided that’s where we wanted to build our own rustic dream house. We have a spectacular view of downtown Nashville from the hilltop. But we’re in a very tranquil wooded area, so it feels like you’re a world away. We have lots of wildlife around, including bobcats, coyotes and deer — even rattlesnakes. I knew from the beginning I wanted either a log or a timber frame home. Ultimately, we decided on a hybrid house. I wanted it…

Imagine taking a deep breath in a gorgeous herb garden on a sunny day. Now imagine that you could bottle that fresh air and somehow use it to scent and sanitize your home. It is possible! Just ask Stephanie Rose. Stephanie uses all-natural, handmade cleaning agents at her home in British Columbia, Canada. Now a master gardener, permaculture designer and trained herbalist, Stephanie began her garden journey after a sudden illness left her bedridden in 2006. “I used gardening as rehabilitation,” she recalls, explaining that tending plants in her Vancouver yard helped her strengthen her body and her mind after many months of exhaustion. Gardening also led her to learn ways to avoid harsh chemicals that might trigger or exacerbate her health troubles. Store-bought housekeeping and self-care products often contain…

TAKE A LAP AROUND THE APPLIANCE AISLE THESE DAYS, and among the familiar top-load washers and bottom-freezer fridges you’ll notice a new generation of machines that appear to have been ideated for an episode of The Jetsons. Think: devices that cook food in record time and others that wash and dry your clothes at once. These alternative appliances are often formulated for unconventional functions, like cooking al fresco or squeezing a washer and dryer into a particularly small space, but they typically come with a host of other benefits, like energy efficiency or even health perks. In short, these appliances check all the tech boxes, including some you may not have thought of yet. Tulip Induction Burners Induction cooktops are on the rise — and for good reason. They’re three…

As a young couple in their 30s, Phil and Ashley DeAngelo know they’re in a rare age bracket when it comes to log home ownership. Yet once they decided to build a home together, they knew no other material or method would do. “It just felt right for how we were growing as people,” says Phil. “A log home is strong and stable, old-school and built to last. It’s a place that fits when you are settled and rock solid in your life and beliefs.” With their sights set on the future, they began exploring the possibilities, using a variety of resources. “It was this magazine where we first saw the McKay plan by Hochstetler Log Homes, and we just fell in love,” Phil recalls. “I called Hochstetler, and they…