The gazebo style sunroom adds such character to this home. The pattern of log work in the gazebo’s roof system adds visual interest, both inside and outside. On the left side of the photo, the roof line is extended to create a covered porch that better protects the home from the driving winds of the lake. The complex web truss adds a lot of log “weight” to the home's exterior.

The use of a stain glass lighting fixture in warm tones adds a bit of sparkle to this home's eat-in kitchen. The mix of leather chairs and tapestry upholstery creates a more casual atmosphere. The massive upright log columns have copper wraps at their bases for access to the screw jacks, allowing for 6 inches of settlement.

This bathroom has a carved stone sink with a custom mahogany base, and the lighting fixtures were purchased through a home shopping catalog. We custom designed the leaf hooks for holding towels, wet bathing suits and other do-dads. The accessories were all found at garage sales and second hand shops. The trim was reclaimed from a 100-year-old water tower in Ketchikan, Alaska.

When designing this room, we transformed the most unusable space into the most desirable place. Space limitations or problem areas can be transformed into rooms with character and functionality! Here the limited headroom was used as trundle beds, allowing room for 4 beds. The “leftover” space was used for built-in dressers. Behind the dressers was still more “dead” area that we added shelves, lids to toy trunks and a “secret” door so the kids could stay up all night telling stories to their friends or siblings in the next bunk. The ceiling’s pine boards were all “white washed” with three coats and then we applied two coats of a clear sealer, sanding in-between each coat. This is a lot of added work yet the outcome of this level of finish highlights the wood’s graining and craftsmen’s artistry. The window we trimmed with half round birch tree saplings. I felt the limited gable-end wall that was remaining could use some “punch”. I asked my client if we could paint some diamonds with poke-a-dots and ladybugs hand panted at the intersecting points. We designed a circus style, roll down curtain to add privacy and block sunlight.

These handcrafted log stairs were made with a flat side stringer for better stability over years of use. The bottom platform was designed for entrance from two sides. The platform treads are cedar, mitered at the corners with a 45° corner. The top landing of the platform is in-layed with cherry planks to create a contrast in wood colors.

The gazebo style sunroom of this home creates architectural interest. Designing intersecting rooflines to work well and appear seamless is very hard and takes a lot of experience. The design professional must understand how a log home goes together, how the log work affects the structures's engineering, and how all of that affects the overall cost of the home.

Another guestroom in this home incorporates more pullout trundle beds. A children’s play table takes on double duty as a coffee table. The room's walls have the most delicate and subtle “underwater” theme, created by a fuax finish that was applied by using a trowel on glazes of sea foam green and two shades of blues. The floor is a sand tone, textured carpet to imitate the water’s floor. This room also makes use of the sloping rooflines with small doors that access storage closets and a mechanical room.

This small playhouse was created out of the slop of the roofline. I designed a crib size mattress to be built-in with log saplings that soldier along the face of a miniature bed and end table. On the opposite side of the wall (under the end table area) is an entry to a doghouse. This was designed to make use of every inch of space (See “mouse house” entry photo).