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Over six years ago our family fell in love with
the West and the natural beauty of the log homes that blended so
perfectly with their wooded surroundings.
Although we were blessed to find a small piece of property
outside of Telluride, Colorado, we realized quickly that our
“Dream Log Home” out West would have to wait for “someday”. With
2 children, ages 12 and 9, our hectic lives had become filled
with school and church activities, baseball games, gymnastics
competitions, and a house full of friends, family and pets!
The “Florida Style Home” we currently
live in is designed for lots of fun and sun with large fixed
glass windows throughout the house and a large pool that is both
accessible and visible from most of the rooms in the house. We
have shared a lot of wonderful times here with some of the
world’s best neighbors. Still, our hearts were set on an
entirely different lifestyle.
Both my husband, Dale, and my son,
Matthew, love hunting and the outdoors. My daughter, Madison,
and I share a passion for horses. There was an incredible
20-acre piece of property nearby that bordered beautiful
Highlands Hammock State Park and was heavily wooded with large
oak trees and pines. The only problem was that it wasn’t for
sale. But after several years of “begging” and much heartfelt
prayer by all, the owners agreed to sell and let us build our
“Dream Log Home” right here in Florida.
In the meantime, we had been researching
and visiting with log home companies and were immediately
impressed with the family owned and operated professionalism of
Suwannee River Log Homes. Their design team took our rough
sketches and magazine clippings and after meeting with our local
contractor turned them into a working set of plans.
We closed on the property in April 2004
and immediately began construction on my horse barn in May
(first things first). In June and July we began clearing for the
house, intent on keeping the land as natural and as wooded as
possible. God had other plans and cleared a whole lot more in
August and September when Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne
all crossed our path.
Still, we weathered the storms and in December
our first logs arrived and our “team” of builders got to work.
Suwannee River had wisely advised us to hire Joe Whitaker for
the actual log construction while our local builders, Sedlock
and Heston, would handle all the inside finish work and the
garage. The experience to date has been nothing short of having
the “Dream Team” on our project on a daily basis. Their combined
expertise, experience and recommendations continue to improve
the plan daily and we can’t wait to see the progress each and
every day. We hope you enjoy watching our home being built as
well.Be sure to take a look at
the
ten-page article in the June 2007 issue of
Log Home Living Magazine
featuring this project. |
