Cabin Diaries: The Design Process

Friends would look at me a little askance when I mentioned we were flying in an architect/designer to help us layout the cabin. I don't blame them. Given the thousands of log home design plans already available on the market, flying someone in does seem a bit excessive and out of the Harris price range. And frankly, I was worried and wondering if bringing this designer in would be worth the money.

Now that she has been here for several days and laid out an initial design for us I can say this - she is SO WORTH IT.

We are in love with what she's presented us with. And it's fascinating--as she's talked us through the process of what we want, what we value, and how we'll use the cabin--how the "final" design is almost nothing at all like what we thought we'd end up with.

For one thing, we thought we'd select round golden, honey-toned hued logs. Nuh-uh. Now we're gung-ho for flat, gray, weathered logs. In fact, the idea behind the design is to create a cabin authentic to the area that looks like it's been here for a hundred years.  We're even doing an "add-on" area where it looks like the "original" log cabin had a porch enclosed with batten board at some point.

Where we thought the front entrance would be is now the back of the house.  And we followed the advice of Bernie in the last post and nixed the wrap-around porch. Now we have a 12 x 12 screened-in porch area that faces east off the kitchen, a west facing covered front porch with views of the mountains, and a north-west ground-level terrace, open for full sun.

We went up with a second story instead of down with a walkout basement. There are plans for beautiful archways and architectural windows that add a bit of "funk" to the house. There is also the coolest little office niche hidden behind the stairwell in the loft.

Nothing is set in stone (or log, as the case may be).  The designer has to go back and plot out ridge lines and weight bearing and joists and all that technical stuff.  But it's a relief to feel confidence in the direction of her and now our vision for the cabin.  She never pushed or really even offered opinions on what we should do. Instead, she asked questions and we came to realize the answers for ourselves. We want simple, authentic, and natural--with a bit of fun.

The process is just beginning. I'm sure there will be headaches and hard choices up the road. But for today, life in a log home looks lovely.

Are you Good At Making Decisions?

Are you good at making decisions? I'm not. "Terrible" would be a nice way of describing my decision-making process. "Incredible lengthy" and "unproductive" are other terms that come to mind.

I live in fear of making the wrong decision. Doesn't matter if it revolves around buying a $10 pair of earrings or a $50,000 car, I go through the same process of "should I/shouldn't I?" with every decision. (BTW, I do NOT drive a $50,000 car--just an example!)

While Blair and I are extremely happy in our choice of cabin designer (you should see the pictures of homes she's worked on - drool, drool, drool...), I'm feeling overwhelmed. Do we want a walkout basement, a loft, a second story, or a loft and basement? What color wood, inside and out? We want a wraparound porch, covered in most areas. Yet if we do that, the covered porch serves to separate you to some degree from nature while inside the house. How will we use the space? We think we'll spend most of the time out on the porch, the point of the cabin being to escape and enjoy nature. But what if we're wrong in how we'll use it? We'd love real stonework, but the facade stone is 1/3 the cost of real stone. Is it worth it to have the real stuff or is our money better spent elsewhere? I love a nice bathroom, but it is worth it to spend money on a tile shower, or just put in a regular acrylic shower liner and move on? Will I be glad we saved the money to use elsewhere, or wishing I had sprung for a bathroom upgrade?

These are but a small sample of the questions we're grappling with. (I know... everyone should be burdened with such problems).  But my head is spinning and I'm feeling less like making decisions and more like burrowing under my covers for a week and letting it all blow past. I always swore I'd never build my own home because I knew this would be my reaction to it. I just need to breath and remember that there aren't necessarily any right/wrong decisions and everything will work out in the end.

And a little wine probably wouldn't hurt...

Log Cabin Designer Arrives This Weekend

I haven't said much lately, but we are still proceeding with plans to build a small (under 1500-square feet) log cabin on our Stokes County property.  To that end, we've hired a designer to work with us so we get a design we'll be happy with for years to come. She flys in late Saturday and we'll be walking the property on Sunday, and will hopefully have a working design by the time she leaves on  Tuesday.

Blair and I have spent many an evening pouring through back issues of Log Home magazines, ripping out photos of fireplaces, decks, kitchens, and lofts that appeal to us. We've done almost a 180 in what we think we want for the cabin versus where we were 2 years ago. Then, we wanted a big golden-hued cabin with round logs, a full wall of glass arched out in the shape of a ship's bow at the back of the house, a fireplace big enough to walk into, decks off every bedroom, etc.

However, seeing as our plans to win the lottery to pay for all of the above have come to naught, we've scaled it back a bit. Now we're looking at handpeeled in perhaps a natural, weathered state of gray on the outside, with more of the tawny, golden hue on the inside. Flat logs, to cut back on dust. No wall of glass, which turns into a great big BLACK wall of nothingness at night. Still must have a real fireplace, but on a much smaller scale. And we are looking still at a wraparound deck.

I don't care about space as much as I do about unique. I don't want a cabin that looks exactly like every other cabin out there. I want the nooks and crannies used in surprising ways. I want a flow among the rooms and the feel of the cabin to be that there is more space than there actually is. Above all, we want simple. "Less is more" is our mantra for this experience.

I'm VERY curious to see what the designer comes up with. We found her quoted and used as an expert in several of the national magazines on log homes, and she always impressed us because her view was to look at where can you get the most bang for your buck. Huge fireplaces are lovely, but they're also drafty and cost a huge amount of money in stonework.

So, exciting weekend ahead of us. I'll keep you posted.

Flat Tire

Yesterday, 1 PM. We decide to drive out to the land and do a little maintenance work, cutting back tree branches and clearing out shrub sort of thing.

"Are we going anywhere other than the land?" I ask Blair.

"No. Why?"

I pull on my thick green and brown "exploring" shoes, the ones that make my feet look gargantuan and show up really well against white socks. "Because if we were going anywhere else I'd need to take a change of shoes."

Flash forward 40 minutes and we're at the land. Blair removes one tree that had fallen across a path and then calls me back to the car. "We've got to go," he says, pointing at the left rear tire which is emitting a wary hissing sound. "We're losing air."

Neither of us had brought our cell phones, so we're hauling tail back to civilization, praying the tire holds out. Which it did, at least long enough for us to reach a service station and fill up with air. We drove into Madison and abandoned the car outside of Beroth Tires and began the mile trek home.

We're walking along the main stretch of road in Madison, traffic whizzing by, when Blair nudges me. "Everyone's looking at your ugly shoes. The rubbernecking might cause a car wreck."

Isn't he just a joy to be around? Truthfully, it was so perfect a day yesterday that I didn't even mind being caught in my army shoes. 80 degrees, light breeze, no humidity. Just one of those days that makes you glad to be alive.

And it's the same today. I drove to Reidsville this morning about 40 minutes away for an interview and just enjoyed nature as I drove. Everyone took advantage of the weather this weekend to do yard work so everyone's lawns appeared trim and manicured with neat piles of trash bags filled with clippings on the street.

My day started off with 2 new assignments waiting for me in my inbox, one of which I'd been hoping to land. So all in all, a very content writer at work here today.

Even if I do own ugly shoes.