Houses in this condition are rare today.

It seems that homes are either well maintained and improved as the years go by. Or they fall into disrepair and neglect, and then are trashed by renters before they are finally destroyed.

This home’s occupants though always cared for the house, seeing to it that it never leaked or went cold during the winter, but beyond that most basic level of care, no upgrades were ever made.

Originally posted 2015-06-08 14:29:23.

The bride was barefoot.

Way back in the 1980’s, when I was a carpenter, a dear friend of mine rented this old house which was located up a local holler here in the Piedmont region of Virginia. That friend eventually got married to a fine young lady in the back yard of this house and there I witnessed my first barefooted bride.

I remember little else about that wedding. I’ve attended so many over the years that they all tend to blur into one giant celebration. But for some reason there is something memorable about toes sticking out beyond that elegant dress.

It was about 20 years later that I received the call from the owner of this home that he wanted me to restore this home to her former glory for him to use as his primary residence. I had previously built his brother’s house and he was pleased with my work and his brother’s praise of the experience.

It’s funny how things work out in this life. There are so many “dots” in this life that one day connect, or so it seems.

Originally posted 2015-06-08 14:04:42.

Coming up this week… how I “upgraded” this home.  The photo above was taken near completion… the photo below was taken on Day One.

Originally posted 2015-06-07 19:59:58.

After five years the cabin had aged well. The siding was well on it’s way to turning grey. The copper roof was now a chocolate brown… the “new penny look” of fresh copper was gone.

That’s one of the great things about building a home with a traditional design and in using antique materials… the home improves with age… every year that goes by your home gets better.

Wouldn’t it be great if everything worked that way?

You can see the cabin’s addition rising on the far side. I’ll share some photo’s and stories of that addition with you over the coming days.

As always, thanks for letting me ramble on!

Originally posted 2015-05-27 13:18:30.

So, we finished up this little cabin.

We packed up our tools and went on to build many other structures, some that I’ve already shared here with you.

On occasion over the coming years I’d run into the cabin’s owners at the local deli and they would share how much the cabin meant to them… how it had created so many precious memories for them. It always warms my heart to hear such things.

I had left this side of the cabin rather plain, but prepared for an addition that would one day occur which would convert this weekend cabin into a full-time residence. I wondered if I would be the one that they would call. I wondered if I would still be building twenty years later.

But that call came only five years later.

The pull of rural life grew stronger for these folks. Each weekend stay at the cabin had grown harder and harder to leave for their return to the urban lifestyle. They had figured out a way to make the transition sooner.

Originally posted 2015-05-27 12:55:35.

There is nothing finer than enjoying friends on a front porch of a little cabin. Once the cabin was decorated the owners had the whole crew over to celebrate their new retreat.

Originally posted 2015-05-27 12:09:38.

Originally posted 2015-05-26 19:01:23.

Here’s a photo of me.

ok.. I admit it, it’s a younger me. 🙂

In this photo I’m demonstrating to my client how to apply the wire mesh lathing that will soon hold the chinking that fills the gaps between the logs.

This client, and his family, pitched in and helped a great deal during the construction of their little cabin. We call that kind of effort “sweat equity”.

Sweat equity does more than save money for the client (as if that wasn’t enough). It also helps them bound with their home, and it gives them a greater understanding of the amount of work that goes into building a home like this.

I want to encourage all of you… every single one of you… that you too can build your dream cabin. All it takes is two things… the proper knowledge and skill set… and that future cabin (or other dream home) needs to become your top priority… your main focus… your obsession.

Originally posted 2015-05-26 14:10:39.

Notice the careful attention to detail found in just this process of assembling four porch posts and the supporting top plate on which the porch rafters will be set into place….

Mortise and tenon joints have been created to connect everything together… decorative chamfered cuts have been made on the ends on the top plate… and carefully cut-out pockets are now ready for the porch rafters to be pegged into place.

Many builders believe that “rustic” is achieved through sloppiness and so they end up with a mess in the end.

Rustic beauty comes through careful material selection, traditional design, attention to detail, talent, and an abundance of time and patience.

Originally posted 2015-05-26 13:15:43.

This log home is an example of the largest cabin that two men can build together. There is not a single log seen here that couldn’t somehow, with patience and strain, be moved into place by a strong man and a good neighbor.

Fortunately we had a crew of four young men which made things considerably easier. And so, the neighbors to this cabin, much to their relief, could continue watching re-runs and munching popcorn. Whew.

On this job we had access to a couple of long, stout, timbers which we used to create a slide to help raise all those floor joists and the remaining top logs. It worked well.

Many historic cabins reveal to us that men would often stop placing logs after gaining about two feet of height above the second floor… I guess the men at that time had had enough. Winter was coming on and they were tired of lifting.

Today we always push-on higher, seeking a minimum of a four foot height of logs on this second floor. As a result we end up with a much more enjoyable bedroom… with four walls in which furniture can be set in place. Momma then has a place for all her furniture. And, you know what they say… “if momma is happy, everyone is happy”. 🙂

Another benefit to building a taller cabin is that we achieve a much more attractive home from the outside… a general rule of thumb applies to log structures… the taller they are, the more visually striking they appear.

Originally posted 2015-05-26 12:50:35.