Like no other place in the home, this area brings the outside, in. Thanks to this room there is never any doubt as to what season it is, or what the weather is like, or what phase the Moon is in.

This hallway spans the distance from the main section of the house to the back master bedroom, completely separating the two.

Of all the windows in the house for a forklift to crash through while we were taking the house down this would have to be the one. I can still see the look on that young man’s face when he told me about it. Just another memory.

But in the floors below this bedroom, here at Moriah, are found two woodburning fireplaces and one woodstove (that’s enough fires for anyone to feed).

I felt it would be a rare event when wood would be hauled all the way up to this bedroom in order to enjoy a fire.

A flickering fire in a bedroom is a wonderful thing to experience. Even if it’s gas.

And on the other hand, a fireplace that is never used is a shameful thing to see.

It was a good call to take this path. When it is cold outside and I am in this room, a fire is burning. Both attractive and functional. We have enjoyed this gas stove greatly.

Please take note of the painted flooring seen in this room. I bought new 2by6 pine lumber for the flooring here and painted the bottoms of that material in order to brighten the room below. I then painted the top of the installed flooring with three coats of durable floor paint.

I really like painted wood floors.

And, my feet… love… painted floors… oh, so comfy.

For years I have tried to encourage clients to have a room with a painted floor, and never once have I succeeded. Here, on this project, where I was in charge… I got to finally paint a floor… and everyone that sees it… loves it.

Moriah, as she was built in the 1970’s had half of her second floor removed to “create a dramatic open feel”.

And, I bear witness to the fact that it was indeed, dramatic. No doubt about it.

But by doing this, by bringing in an area of drama, that any feeling of intimacy… or security was lost from this cabin.

I felt more “in awe” in this space, than I felt… “at home”.

It was sort of like the feeling that I get when I enter a large barn. Often I feel overwhelmed in those structures with all that is laid out before me.

Now both feelings are wonderful to have, and I build both kind of structures, so clearly I like them both… but which feeling did I want in this log room?

Maybe a better question to ask is… which feeling should a log cabin provide?

I prefer living in a blended house, one that features a variety of rooms, with at least one of those rooms providing me a place of serenity and security, and a log cabin does a great job at providing me with just that. I also like having another area of the house that will inspire awe, and there are many options that can create that type of emotion.

Over the years I believe that half of the clients who have sat down with me to imagine their dream log cabin have had in their minds some kind of loft envisioned in that future home.

To this day I have yet to build a log cabin with a loft… maybe one day I will… but, so far none. I think that my line of reasoning, about the “feel”, plays a part in clients not moving ahead with having a loft, but generally the deciding factor is the reality of the loss of all that usable square footage.

The second floor loft area in the old Moriah was pretty useless… folks would walk into the second floor loft area, look down, say “wow!” and then leave the room.

And then downstairs I observed that no one would ever stand around the fireplace… it felt awkward… like something was going to fall on one’s head from above. And, for some reason, the chimney didn’t draw very well, probably because of this open ceiling concept.

So, when I rebuilt Moriah I put an end to this cathedral space here in the log cabin. And by doing so, I created an intimate dining room (that I have already shared with you) and a completely new bedroom above…. a log cabin bedroom.

Can you imagine… that the first owners of Moriah gave up having a log cabin bedroom, just so that they could have a space where guests would say… “wow”.

We are all different aren’t we?

But for me, I’ll take the log bedroom thank you very much. I think having a log cabin bedroom ranks right up there in the top ten most wonderful things to have in this life.

Here are four photos of original loft area… coming up next will be photos of the log bedroom that was created.

So, I made use of “the excessive wood”, from the rooms that were overflowing with wood paneling, such as those bathrooms. I took all these odd pieces of random sized lumber and created uniform flooring that I then glued down to the sub floor in a herring bone pattern.

My office floor is now chestnut (how many people have a chestnut floor?), and one of the newly created bedrooms has a beautiful heart-pine, one-of-a-kind, floor.

I was so blessed the day that little girl was born and my mother was proven wrong. She was born on my birthday… what a wonderful present to receive. It will be hard to ever top that one.

Shortly after moving into Moriah that daughter, the one my mother said that I would never have, became engaged to get married. And, she wanted to have her reception here at the house. That sounded fine to me.

My wife though expressed her opinion that the plywood scraps that we had been using for a sidewalk might not be appropriate for the wedding guests to use. Sometimes women can be mighty fussy about things like this. I offered to paint them, but that just got me in more trouble.

You see, we had moved into this house in a “partially unfinished condition” and the sidewalk was always at the bottom of my list of things to do. Funds were pretty lean at this moment of time and I just couldn’t put in a stone sidewalk, but I did have left-over pieces of Ipe that I had used to build all the porches here at the house… and it was highly rot-resistant. It might just work… I could build a sidewalk out of that!

The day quickly arrived for me to walk my daughter down the isle at a local church. Everyone expected old Dad to be weepy. But my daughter was grinning from ear to ear, so I was happy too. Not going to see me tear up, no sir.

Then it was time to head back to Moriah where in the log room of the house I danced with my daughter in her beautiful gown. Everyone again expected old Dad to be weepy, but why would I do that? … This was a time to celebrate!

I had a great time at that reception, talking to friends and family, and then, I was told that everyone was to go outside. Folks gathered on both sides of the new sidewalk. I beamed with pride. Just look at that sidewalk! It was a good day.

Then my daughter and her new husband came running down the sidewalk, everyone cheered, and then the over-dressed couple hopped into a car and sped off.

I looked at my wife and asked… “What time will she be back?” She rubbed my arm and responded… “She’s not coming back, honey, she’s married now”.

That’s the moment it all sunk in, and that’s the moment I fell apart.

Right there on that sidewalk.