You likely won’t see another photo like this one.

Here is the one of the few examples I’ve ever seen of a log cabin having been built on a brick foundation. Keep in mind that this is a new home making use of an old log cabin, so this combination of materials is vintage 1980’s (not 1880’s)

Keep in mind that I like brick. And, I like brick and stone used together… I feel that they compliment each other. But, try as I might, the use of brick under a cabin just doesn’t look right to me.

What do you think? Am I being too picky?

Originally posted 2015-06-18 22:27:37.

I really like the stone foundation found under this timber-frame addition.

The stones are massive… appropriately sized for this project. All are locally sourced sandstone (a nice feature). There is a nice blending of varying shades to be seen between each individual stone, which creates eye-pleasing contrast, and invites further inspection. And, there is a nice horizontal pattern going on with enough “fluidity” in the pattern to keep it from becoming rigid and “blocky”.

Throw in a few arches for a finishing touch… and life is good.

Originally posted 2015-06-18 12:34:24.

The mixture of stone, and log, and timber-frame is an unbeatable combination.

It’s so good it’s almost overwhelming.

I guess there is nothing wrong with being overwhelmed with the home one lives in is it?

Notice here the technique we adapted for completing the walls in the timber-frame area. Instead of using stress skin panels, attached to the outside of the frame, here we elected to fill in between the timbers with modern “stick framing”.

On this frame, only about two inches of depth would be seen of the timbers on the inside… the rest of these huge framing members would be buried within the wall.

Originally posted 2015-06-18 12:11:34.

There was a tall timber-frame addition off of the back of this log home, built using timbers that were sawn from larger, salvaged beams from an old factory.

The scale of this home… the “tallness”… was visually striking.

Originally posted 2015-06-18 11:50:54.

This was a Charles McRaven log home restoration project.

Out front are a couple of the men I worked with, now over 30 years ago.

I did learn a great deal during that period of my life.

Originally posted 2015-06-17 15:48:16.

By the time I started working at the Boar’s Head Inn I had already learned the skill and confidence needed to construct a home. I had personally undertaken all the various trades involved in building a home. I was a certified “jack of all trades”.

I had also salvaged many older structures for their materials. And, I had gained an eye for studying homes, seeking out what appealed to me, and questioning what was it about each of those structures that made them special. I had also taken engineering and business classed in college… so, even though I was unaware of it… I was on the path to becoming a designer/builder.

Here on this project, while working at this high-end “Old Virginia” resort, I learned what could be built today using modern materials and techniques, where cost was no object… in other words… quality ruled the day.

All I needed to complete my future niche in home building was to gain exposure to log and timber-frame construction. And, that is when fate stepped in.

You see, our summer lease on the apartment that we had rented in the city was coming to an end and so we sought out, and found, a rental home out in the surrounding countryside. It turned out that we moved into a house across the street from Charles McRaven… the most widely published author on log cabins, stone work, and blacksmithing.

Originally posted 2015-06-17 14:48:05.

This is the Boar’s Head Inn gift shop, which I helped build.

In 1985 my wife and I (along with a new baby) abandoned our “back-to-the-land phase” of our life and moved to the city of Charlottesville, Va. The primitive lifestyle we had found in the hills of Tennessee was too hard to maintain with the new addition that we had added to our family, and, we wanted to be closer to family.

We chose Charlottesville not only for it’s proximity to family and friends but because it was a prosperous college town with breathtaking views that are common in the surrounding counties.

Originally posted 2015-06-17 13:57:58.

This was the first log cabin that I ever helped build.

The year was 1985… that’s over thirty years ago… wow… where do the years go?

I was just a carpenter at the time, working for another builder.

I didn’t design this home nor can I claim her as one of mine, but she holds a special place in my heart.

This house, it turned out, changed the course of my life.

This is the home where I realized that I wanted to build unique homes for a career. This was my calling. This was my purpose.

Prior to working on this home, as a fifteen year old teenager, I had helped my dad build his dream home. I went on while in my early 20’s to build two homes for myself. I learned the skill and practice of salvaging materials from old structures, and on occasion, I also worked for several contractors… to pay the bills.

I worked hard during that phase of my life and learned a lot, but life was something for me to just enjoy at that time, and I had little focus. It seemed that every time I finished a project I thought that that was likely my last build… that I would then go on to getting a real job in corporate America.

It didn’t work out that way.

I had become addicted to building.

Originally posted 2015-06-17 13:21:41.

I really like the blend of painted siding, of stone, and of antique log, that make up this outdoor room.

One of the wonderful things about having a screened porch on a log cabin is that when you are sitting on the porch you find that the cabin is pulling you to come in and explore… and when you are in the cabin… well, the porch is calling for you to come out and enjoy the great outdoors.

Originally posted 2015-06-15 13:27:51.

This little screened porch speaks volumes with regard to the argument of quality vs size. The painted wood is all redwood, the screening is bronze, the floor is flagstone, the furnishings didn’t come from a big box store. Which would you rather have… this porch, or one twice as large made of cheaper materials and furnishings?

I don’t think the answer to that question is a “right or wrong” situation but what confuses me is that the reality is that 99.99% of people choose the larger, cheaper option when building a home. Almost no one chooses the “intense quality option”… Why is that?

Originally posted 2015-06-15 13:05:34.