There are many terms applied to log homes today. First there would be the generic, “log structures”- meaning just about any home with a little log, including log accents. The second would be, “log homes”- mainly homes that are larger than about 1,500 square feet. And of course the rambling, “log mansions”.
From all the log home customers we have talked with, one of the favorite terms is, “Log Cabin“. That log cabin dream, that little piece of paradise that you have longed for is reflected in those two simple words. Visions of quiet evenings on a wide porch and the sun setting over the mountains, or a crackling fire, leather couch, and a good book absorbing your soul… I have had home owners refer to their home as a log cabin, when in fact it was 3,500 square feet home. That is a very big log cabin!
But all in all, the dream is summed up in an out of the way place, quietness, cleanness, freshness where only a log home belongs. I almost feel sorry for cabins that are built right inside a town. There is one cabin that comes to mind. Someone built it overlooking a busy main street of a town not far from here. Out of place and out of sink, it almost feels like someone decided to stick it there no matter how it looked. Its wide trapezoid windows stare blindly out into the street, as if trying to imagine what the mountains views look like beyond the rows of houses.
When I first encountered log cabins, the visions that I saw were of the late 1800’s cabins that were part of a rebuilt fort, not far from where I grew up. I visited there several times as a child. I can vividly remember the small cramped rooms, low ceilings, and narrow staircases that stretched up to the second floor. And the outside of the cabin was not much to behold either. Old weathered vintage logs, faded chinking, and crooked fence around a small herb garden… and this was the most prestigious home in this ghost town?
Well, needless to say, my opinion has drastically changed about log cabins. My husband, even a man of great ideas as a teenager, had a whole trunk full of log home magazines he had collected over the years. Mike and I and that old trunk became fast friends in the months following our wedding. I slowly realized that log cabins were far from what I had envisioned. I went from thinking, “Ok, I guess I’m going to have to live in some dark, dreary house the rest of my life.” To thinking, “Of course our dream home is a log cabin!”
I believe the term “log home” more closely reflects the log cabins of today. Log cabin more refers to the size of the home. Small, cozy, but high quality more accurately describes the log cabins of today.
Whatever your dream, don’t be afraid to dream. I saw an article the other day that said people today are afraid to dream, have very little imagination, and are scared of failure. My attitude is if you’re too afraid to dream, then rent an apartment the rest of your life. A log home only gets better the more the people dream about it before it is built. Dream, imagine, sketch, and buy yourself some good log home magazines. Then, when you’re within a few years of when you anticipate building, give us a call. We always love seeing people’s dreams turned to reality.
Building Log Dreams Since 1997,
Mike and Sue Lemmon
Cowboy Log Homes, Belgrade Montana