Choose your Wood Home Style
Why are log, craftsman, and timber-style homes so interesting? Handcrafted wood homes produced from whole cedar logs by artisans are fundamental symbols of comfort and security, a tradition of building that began in Colonial America. Over time, other home styles became commonplace, but the craftsman, timber, and log-style homes remain the finest examples of the wood handcrafted product. We believe in this lifestyle home because of its authentic craftsmanship and because of the warmth it provides not typically found in conventional construction. Our homes utilize only superior cedar and Douglas fir building products, hand-crafted in an earth-friendly manner. As an experienced handcrafted wood home builder, Doug Sidell’s team is here to build the Town & Country Cedar Home of your choice that will last generations, just as the ones built by the colonial pioneers did.
What Cedar Home Is Your Style? Luxury cedar home designs are typically customized to meet the lifestyle of the client. Generally, the style of cedar 'log' craftsmanship can be categorized as one of the following types of custom-built homes:
HOW RUSTIC ARE YOU? RUSTIC, FULL TREE LENGTH LOG CABIN HOMES retain the natural, round-on-round taper found in the standing tree. This style of log cabin home most resembles the pioneered log homes of early America. Hand hewn (peeled), full tree lengths of Town & Country harvested and kiln-dried logs are 'layered' on top of each other in a pattern that fits the logs closely together. Between the tree lengths, chinking (interior and exterior waterproof, natural looking caulking) is placed to create an airtight seal. The effect is a very natural, rugged look in an elegantly original dream log cabin home.
The Log Cabin Homes' Interior reflects the opposite side of the exterior tree length logs. Tree-length log cabin homes can utilize beautifully handcrafted full log trusses over the open spans of the great room or other larger living areas. Our trusses are handcrafted, matching the natural taper of each log to the adjoining log for an unmistakable luxury cedar log cabin home style. This is a rustic, very natural approach to building log homes, that closely mimics the style of log cabin homes found centuries ago, but utilizes modern building techniques for full architectural integrity.
Rustic Style in a luxury, tree-length log cabin home blends well in forested or mountainside environments from Appalachia to the hills of the Carolinas. The tree-length style may play a role in determining the final floor plan, as the entire structure must be designed for the integrity of the full log length. Rustic, tree-length chinked log cabin homes typically require more maintenance than the more 'conventional' lodge log cabin home style. Town & Country Cedar Homes built by C. Douglas Sidell & Co. offers unparalleled craftsmanship and a 20 year guarantee on all their log cabin homes. Our log homes are finished using only top weatherproofing and staining products. As in the past sixty years, our Client Services personnel are always available to offer reminders of required maintenance through the many years of Town & Country rustic log cabin home ownership.
LOOKING FOR TRADITION? A CRAFTSMAN OR 'LODGE' STYLE LOG CABIN HOME is a construction style coined by Town & Country Cedar Homes. This log cabin home style is similar to a "HALF-LOG" log home design that combines the more modern structural integrity of conventional construction, with a log home interior and exterior using a variety of kiln-dried, hand hewn log home paneling choices. This is the most common form of Town & Country luxury or systems-built log cabin homes. The Lodge Style log cabin home is constructed using tongue and grooved, 3" thick by 7" high Half Log Exterior Siding. [A lesser expensive option, typically found on systems built log cabin homes, is "Quarter-Log" log cabin home, constructed using 1 1/2" thick x 6" high Exterior Siding.] Chinking (cosmetic weatherproofing) is then placed between the cedar log panels on the exterior of the log home design. Lodge Style Log Cabin home designs are the most common; more typically found luxury log cabin homes offered by Town & Country Cedar Homes. In fact, our Lodge Style Log Cabin Homes range in size from a mere 750 sq. ft. systems built log cabin, to the most extensively custom designed log cabin home limited only by your imagination. The Lodge Log Cabin Home offers more diversity in design than a rustic, tree length log cabin home, and less maintenance as well. Many Lodge Log Cabin Homes can be found throughout America. This log home style plan can be combined with decorative finishes such as a variety of stonework, stucco, or even brick for a mixed-media style that is popularized in more urban environments.
Interior Design Of A Craftsman Or “Lodge Style” Log Cabin Home Designcan feature handcrafted, hand-hewn logs formed into majestic king trusses over any living area, including great rooms, family rooms, bedrooms and kitchens. Vertical and ceiling surfaces may be completed with bead board paneling, log paneling, chinked tongue and groove paneling. Add accents of stone, drywall or any combination of these finishes for a completely unique log home design that is all your own!
Timber Frame Home owners enjoy the dramatic influence of exposed, curved or straight timbers that frame their living spaces. Timber frame home plans allow for wide expanses of seemingly unsupported living space. Yet the timber frame itself artistically supports the home's structure. From the Queenslander style of an Australian sheep farm, to the rustic Adirondack home, to the massive mountain log homes found in the Rocky Mountains, Town & Country Cedar Homes built by Doug Sidell’s team are very distinctive wood homes -- either customized or from stock plans -- to meet your lifestyle. We make the timber frame elements integral to our luxury log cabin home designs so that the home's structure and your decor become a seamlessly unified whole.
The timber frame elements of your luxury cedar home will define your living spaces. A timber frame home is a complex structure -- a skeleton of sorts -- that holds the home together. The vertical members of the timber frame structure are called POSTS and the horizontal members of the structure are referred to as BEAMS. The beams are connected to the vertical posts with joinery to form cross sections spanning open spaces. You can't find the big beams of a timber frame home at your local lumberyard.
As a timber frame home designer and builder, we create the timbers right at the Town & Country sawmill in Boyne Falls, MI. Each timber post or beam is hand crafted just for your timber frame home and your unique floor plan design. Throughout the industry, some competitive timber frame producers will use a variety of timber wood types, including Green Wood logs (newly cut tree lumber not yet dried), Standing Dead Woods (lumber from trees naturally dead prior to cutting down), and Air Dried timbers (timbers that sit out for a period of time to lose their moisture). At Town & Country Cedar Homes, we utilize only Kiln-Dried timbers that we harvest from the forests of Northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ontario, Canada; air dry, cut, and then kiln dry down to 11% moisture content to eliminate cracks and shrinkage in your new timber frame home. When you entrust your luxury wood home construction to Town & Country Cedar Homes, you’re employing a handcrafted log home builder with a proven commitment to quality, craftsmanship, and material integrity.
Furthermore, at Town & Country Cedar Homes we use old world craftsmanship to build your timber frame home with joinery that will last for generations to come. We build our timber frame homes using only first quality northern white cedar, kiln dried and cut at our own sawmill to eliminate shrinkage and cracking after placement in your home. Our handcrafted timbers are then built into the elegant timber frame posts, beams and joints that beautify your luxury cedar home's interior and exterior.
Visualize your timber frame home design by determining your own personal style: Do you want to use reclaimed timbers in your home? Are the sleek, clean lines of contemporary timber frame designs more your ideal style? Do you desire old world ambiance that combines reassembled antique timber frame elements, such as old barn or ancestral homestead timbers? Should your great room have a European flair, like an old tavern?
Do you enjoy unique Appalachia or Adirondack style furnishings? Has a southern-states' Timber lake-style log cabin home caught your eye? Do you enjoy rustics? Have you considered arts and crafts style architecture? Do you want to blend a timber frame home with conventional new home construction?
Ask yourself these questions and begin a scrapbook of luxury craftsman, timber, and log-style home ideas you love to help you narrow down design concepts for your dream timber frame home. Your lifestyle will determine the style that is uniquely yours but you can count on us help with your timber frame home design and then build the Town & Country Cedar Home of your dreams.
HOW DO YOU DETERMINE YOUR LOG CABIN HOME STYLE? Defining your personal log home building style plan is best accomplished with the assistance of our experienced, professional staff. We believe that your log cabin home is an extension of your personal interests and tastes. Typically you won't find the perfect log home floor plan from a book of log home designs. Contact us today at (704) 794-8740 to speak with us personally or email us at doug@dougsidell.com to get started! We're here to help you with selecting property that works well for log cabin home lifestyles, the design process, and all aspects of your new luxury craftsman, cottage, or log-style home project.
