"I've always dearly loved them," she explains. "I guess I'm a nature-type person. I love doing anything outdoors, including gardening. And even though I wasn't able to visit any log homes in my childhood, I can remember family trips along the Blue Ridge Parkway and seeing log cabins and homes along the way. I always thought they looked so homey."
Like many people, Cathy's early adult years were spent in conventional, stick-built houses. In fact, at different times she had two built and it gave her a foundation for understanding the building process-a launching pad for what she really wanted. Always, she was working toward that dream of a log home, and about a decade ago she got serious. From books and magazines Cathy progressed to visiting model homes and log home manufacturers. She decided early on that she liked the character of hand-hewn logs because each log had its own individuality. She even traveled from her central North Carolina home to Virginia to visit a manufacturer who specialized in hand hewing, but, as many who've researched are aware, that can be a very expensive process.
During her investigation, Cathy found a house featured in a magazine that she particularly liked. Because it was an Appalachian Log Homes design, she called their office to get the name of the nearest representative. That led her to Pete Pyles, the Appalachian Log Homes dealer in the Winston-Salem area. Instant karma. These two warm and friendly people immediately hit it off and the best part was that Pete had something special to offer the house hunter: a milled log that could also be hand-hewn as a final step. "He could offer a large-profile log, too," Cathy enthuses. "There's nothing wrong with the smaller logs, but I just loved the look of the larger logs from the very beginning."
"Cathy selected a 6-by-12-inch rectangular log because she felt the profile worked so well on the interior for decorating," says Pete. "These are Western hemlock, old-growth logs from British Columbia, and they come in lengths up to 40 feet. That's attractive to people who want long, uninterrupted spans."
"And I definitely wanted that," Cathy adds. "My floor plan featured quite a lengthy span of exposed log inside and out. I didn't want logs that were spliced together. I felt the longer logs would just look a lot better."
Pete was willing to work from Cathy's hand-drawn floor plan ideas. "I'm not very good at that," she modestly claims. "What I sent in was so rough. But I did know where I wanted rooms and windows and things. Pete suggested adding the wraparound porch and a sunroom, since I'd seen the one in his model home and just loved it." These modifications worked especially well considering the setting Cathy had chosen.
"The land wasn't for sale actually," she says. "The man who owned it, Bill Smith, was an old family friend who owned a farm about 10 miles from High Point. I just stopped in one day and asked. The piece I had in mind was on one side of the road, but he was willing to part with 1 ˝ acres on the side opposite." When Cathy turned around and looked at the property, her excitement level rose even more. The acreage was on the corner of two roads and rose rather steeply upward in a sylvan setting full of mature trees. When a friend saw it he told her, "If I'd known you wanted land, I would have found you land," Cathy laughed off the comment because although it was steep she saw it as the Caraway Mountains at their best.
Of course, the semi vertical nature of the site did have some further impact on her floor plans. Cathy hadn't particularly wanted a basement, and she was planning to run her successful interior design business from one of the bedrooms, but Pete recommended a walkout basement so that less land would have to be moved, even though she would still end up with quite a few stairs to access the house and to take advantage of the lovely setting.
"I'm so glad I listened to him about that," she says. "I have loads of room for my business here in the basement now. It's a lovely setting, but I don't have to pick up and move anything when company is coming. I can have fabrics laid out, projects in different stages of completion and then at the end of the day I can walk upstairs and leave it behind. This was may be the best decision of all."
Another thought was to utilize the interior space so that there would be three sleeping areas instead of just the two that Cathy felt she needed. "It was done with resale in mine," she explains. "I don't plan to sell this house and leave. I'm just one mile from where I grew up and much of my family lives here, and I run an established business from here. But you never know what will happen in the future, so I've got two bedrooms and I've created a sleeping area in the large loft that turned out really well." Indeed, the loft, which was an element Cathy really wanted, overlooking her great room, has turned out to be a favorite spot. She also has an entertainment center and seating area, which she especially enjoys in the winter when heat raises to the loft and makes it particularly cozy.
Cathy placed her master bedroom on the main floor and she admits "not everyone might like this, but I planned it to be visible from the great room. I think there's nothing more romantic and more beautiful than a well-planned bedroom. I have a lovely bedcover and lots of pillows in mine. But I chose glass doors, not only to show off the bedroom but also because future homeowners could turn it into a den or family room if they liked."
She had Leonard Cutshaw of Asheboro, NC, as her general contractor. Leonard had built one of her previous stick-built houses, and had a little experience with logs, although nothing of the diameter she was using in this house. Adding a little more challenge was the fact that she was building a story-and-a-half home on the side of a hill. "She's got a full-shed dormer style," Pete explains. "She liked the doghouse dormers when she looked at our model home and knew that it would look just great on her property, too."
"I think Leonard was glad by the end of the process," Cathy comments. "We laugh about the challenges now, but he had to do a lot of things differently than he had before." Cathy's experience points out the value of having a contractor who is either experienced in building log homes or is very flexible and willing to learn. Fortunately for her, Leonard was in that second category and quickly became expert at "floating" windows, doors and kitchen cabinets (a construction technique used to account for the slight settling of log walls), as well as electrical and plumbing run adjustments for log.
"I have a few drywall finishes in the house, but they were put in only to give me some decorating options," she continues. "I wanted log, and I got a lot of log, so that meant that Leonard had to work around that."
During the nine-month construction process, Cathy drove out to the site every day. "I tried my best not to bother them, but I wanted to see what was going on and how much progress they were making. It was just great! I got more and more excited every day as I saw the home going up. We didn't have any major problems at all, so it was a lot of fun for me to see what was going on and gain an understanding of what-and why-they were doing things as they worked."
When the keys were handed over to Cathy about 2 ˝ years ago, she moved in and settled quickly. She has been quite pleased to find her home very low-maintenance. "I have composite shingles with a 25-year guarantee. I liked the look and the ease with which they went on. The logs were stained gray, and there's not a lot of upkeep because the aging process just makes the house blend in even more nicely with the surroundings."
Since she first moved in the house has settled nicely. It's also been a delight to heat and cool. The trees overhead help some, but she rarely has to run the air conditioning in spite of being in the South. And the gas-fired fireplace is often enough heat except on the worst winter days.
She's not been selfish about her home either. A family reunion, "with cousins I haven't seen in years and my brother from Dallas," was a big hit. So much so that they've asked Cathy to host another reunion soon. And when she walked out of her house one day to find an amateur photographer, complete with tripod and multiple lenses, taking pictures of her home, she assured the sheepish gentleman that it was quite all right with her. "When you've got something that is the realization of your dreams," she says, "you are real!"
