By K.T. Anders

Jim and Billie Craver love the look of their log home. It's blonde, blonde, blonde, a seductress of light-stained, square-cut hemlock log walls and pale furnishings that takes advantage of the North Carolina sun and suffuses their whole home with light. "I wanted it as light as possible," says Billie. "We looked at several log homes and some were dark on the inside." To keep those interior logs light, Billie chose a stain called Sandalwood and complemented it with beige chinking between the logs.

How did this couple come to build a mountain home in the flatlands? We lived on the other side of this property for 30-some years," says Billie. "Our next-door neighbors were elderly and I asked Jim if maybe we could buy their property and build our log home right here, much nearer to his family. The neighbors had been worrying about what to do with their property and were delighted to sell."

Billie and Jim researched carefully before they built their home, visiting other log homes in the area and poring through magazines. Appalachian Log Homes offered the square-log look they liked, so they contacted local Winston-Salem dealer/representative Pete Pyles.

Appalachian offered old-growth Western hemlock logs, up to 40 feet long, from British Columbia. "We preferred the hemlock over pine," says Billie.

Pete was building a home for his daughter using the same hemlock logs. "They're very stable and a good product," he says. The logs come 6-by-12 inches, square cut. Once the dovetails and notches have been cut, each log is hand-hewn with an adz.

From scouting around and doing their research, the Cravers had some ideas about the design of their home, but not everything. Says Pete, "We were able to develop their ideas into a floor plan they liked. It's 50 feet long with a great room in the center that projects out eight feet with lots of glass on either side of the fireplace."

There is also an abundance of outdoor living space. "We have three porches," says Billie, "two on the front that provide entry on either side of the fireplace into the living room, and a screened porch connected to the kitchen with a Dutch door." Billie is particularly fond of the Dutch door. "I open the top in spring and summer," she says. "Usually a good breeze comes through there." The screening, of course, is a welcome asset during insect season. Moreover, the porch roofs help shelter the logs from the elements, prolonging their finish and keeping maintenance down.

Designing floor plans to fit the customer's ideas is nothing new to Pete. "Most folks looking for a log home want their own home, not a cookie-cutter version," he says.

But Pete coordinates closely with clients to make sure the floor plan works. "I provide a blueprint of the floor plan and require homeowners to place their furniture on it to scale," says Pete. "That way we can pinpoint window placement, duct work and so on. Most women try different furniture arrangements on the plan because at least once in their lives they have moved into a house and the furniture never fit the rooms." Pete says it takes four or five times of massaging the plan before everything is made to fit. "I make sure it works before I even price their home, thus eliminating any unpleasant 'up charges,'" he says.

Furniture placement also helps Pete locate electrical outlets. "That way we can make sure all outlets are hidden, so there are never long runs of cords," he says. " Then we ask the clients to locate overhead fixtures-lights and fans- and our crew cuts channels into ceiling beams or rafters so wiring is totally hidden. All the utilities, air-conditioning ducts and The rest are all well hidden. That lets the beauty of the home stand out."

To make construction even easier, logs are predrilled vertically beside the doors and at the center of long logs." Says Pete. " The sill log is drilled so wire can be pulled from the basement or crawl space up into the wall." Then, in dead air space behind the chinking, we run the wire horizontally. This all means that wiring is much easier than most electricians think it's going to be.

It all worked so well that Billie says construction went more smoothly than they expected. Begun in late December 1998, the 2,000-square-foot house was ready to move into in June 1999. The home is basically a story and a half. The master bedroom is to one side of the great room and the kitchen and dining areas are to the other. The fireplace is a working wood burning hearth, built readily with rough masonry block and completed on the outside with stone. Overlooking the great room is a comfortable loft. The Cravers can sit up there and still enjoy the wonderful view of the nearby lake. Jim and Billie have just finished the basement with cedar paneling. They will use this lower area as a family, TV and computer room.

By doing a lot of the work themselves-including installing insulation, dry walling interior walls and painting-the Cravers were able to reduce the cost of the house. Typically, homeowners can save up to 20 percent of the cost of the home if they do much of the work themselves, according to Pete. "You don't even have to be that handy," he says, "although you'll probably be pretty handy by the time you finish."

Fortunately, the Cravers were handy. Billie even made all the curtains. But the biggest job was chinking. "We did all the chinking on the house ourselves, both inside and out," says Billie. "You have to have patience," she counsels. "Between the logs, where the chinking will be, is a strip of two-inch Styrofoam, then air space, then another strip of two-inch Styrofoam. You put on a quarter of an inch of chinking against the Styrofoam, using two-inch-wide tape to protect the logs above and below," explains Billie. "You spread the chinking with a trowel, then brush it out to make it smooth." But one row of chinking is only the beginning. For each horizontal foot of eight-foot vertical wall, there are seven stacked logs to chink between both inside and out, or 14 feet of horizontal chinking to do. "Yes, it requires a lot of patience," she says.

But the result was worth it for the Cravers. Billie says she and Jim love living in their log home. "I wanted a place that was comfortable and homey," she says. "It's so peaceful and serene, and I love the light, natural look of everything."