Yet another benefit of a fireplace
What could be more inviting than a cabin lit by the glow of fireplace and a few candles?
Originally posted 2015-12-15 14:27:10.
The clawfoot bathtub
When it comes to comfort, a clawfoot tub cannot be beat.
Here we have a modern take on the traditional soaking tub.
I encourage all my clients that when the time comes to pick out their tub that it is important that they get into the tub on the showroom floor, sit down, and lean back… most modern tubs, including Jacuzzis, are instruments of torture in comparison to these cast iron classics.
Originally posted 2015-12-15 13:45:56.
Small and tall
Small and Tall.
“Nine over Nine” windows… each nearly as large as the front door.
This little house appears to have ten foot ceilings, a steep pitched roof, and a proud chimney.
Sweet huh?
Originally posted 2015-12-14 18:31:49.
Beach house
It’s this time of year that I like to remember that there are handmade houses of a different kind in a much warmer place. 🙂
Originally posted 2015-12-14 15:10:15.
Good workmanship vs bad
I’ve seen this many times before.
Here we have a gorgeous antique cabin.
Don’t we all just love that massive stone chimney?
Aren’t we all impressed with the visual impact that such a prominent feature adds to this home?
Once again, being bold has paid off.
The simple beauty of this cabin draws us in to look closer and it is upon that close inspection that we notice the messy chinking that has been applied between the logs of this vintage structure.
But for some unknown reason, this awful mess is only on one side of the door and on the logs above it. The rest of the cabin looks beautiful. The chinking has been applied correctly to the right side of the front door and around the end of the cabin, all the way to the chimney.
It’s heartbreaking to see that such poor care was given to a major part of this historic cabin. At first it’s somewhat confusing as to why half the cabin would look so bad, and yet the other half appear to have been lovingly cared for.
If I had to guess, based upon years of experience, I would say that this cabin’s owners hired someone to chink the cabin and that after a day of him working on the home he was “removed”, and then later someone who knew what they were doing… someone with skill… someone who worked with care…Â was brought in to finish up the rest of work.
Were there any lessons learned here by the owners? Probably… you know, the ones we all know so well, but sometimes fail to remember or to practice…
“Never hire the lowest bidder.”
“Hire the best, leave the rest.”
“You get what you pay for.”
“Good work is rarely appreciated, but bad work is always seen.”
“It’s cheaper to do it right the first time, than it is to do it twice.”
Originally posted 2015-12-14 13:48:40.
Do you have a favorite window?
Imagine if you were challenged to come up with the best window that you could imagine… what would it be like?
And then, when the comes time to build your next home… make sure that dream comes true!
Originally posted 2015-12-13 22:38:38.
A log and stone home
Log and stone.
What a great home!
If I may be so bold as to suggest a “if I had built this” comment…
I just can’t help myself…
It’s the way I am… lol…
It’s challenging to find a more attractive house than the ones that feature the combination of log and stone.
I would have made one little adjustment on this home that I feel would have made it much more appealing… I would have built the stone addition a different size than the log section, rather than having it as a continuation of the existing log structure.
Here I would have made the stone section one-and-a-half story tall and I would have recessed it a foot or two back from the front of the log section. This subtle change would have made each section “pop” and celebrated each section’s uniqueness.
And, of course, (while I’m making changes), I’d have added a welcoming porch across the front of the cabin.
Originally posted 2015-12-13 17:57:58.
The width of a porch
This attractive log home fascinates me.
One of the many design “rules” in building an attractive log home is to properly size the front porch of a cabin.
Through decades of observing old log homes, and in building traditionally designed new ones, I have observed that…
A six foot porch, which is common on many new homes built today, is unheard of and impractical on a country cabin because it is simply too small to be useful.
Whereas, an eight foot porch is ideal, being visually appealing and offering plenty of room for rocking chairs, porch swings, and guests to stand on.
A wide ten foot porch is rare and often too large, appearing somewhat awkward and overbearing on any cabin other than the very largest of ones (20 feet or wider). These oversized “ten-footers” do offer the benefit of abundant exterior space, enough that a picnic table or even sleeping cots can be set up, and thus an outdoor space can practically become an exterior room.
As useful as these wider porches are I have often encouraged people to stick with the traditional eight-foot porches.
But here on this cabin we have what appears to be a unheard of fourteen-foot porch!
I can think of no other cabin like it.
If someone had told me of such a thing without seeing this image I’d probably have chuckled at the idea of how odd it must look.
But I would have been wrong… this cabin looks great!
Perhaps, rules are meant to be broken.
And, that when one breaks the rules, they need to be bold about it!
Originally posted 2015-12-12 16:40:32.
Siting a home on a property
I believe that more than half of the parcels of land that I have built on over the years have been half wooded and half cleared… these are easy properties to pick the house site as a cabin looks best when it is nestled close to the tree line where field and woods meet, much like you see here in this image.
Here we have “His” and “Hers” cabins.
But, which is which? 🙂
Originally posted 2015-12-12 15:17:06.
Good fencing
There’s a lot to be admired about a home that has good fencing.
A new home built on a raw piece of land tends to be a little bit out of place until outbuildings and a perhaps a bit of fencing is added. These extras tend to anchor a home to the environment.
Originally posted 2015-12-12 14:54:59.