Christy, an Air Force senior airman stationed in North Dakota, was making her first visit to the log home on Christmas Eve. Up until then, "she was sad we sold the house she grew up in," Katrina recalls. "But as soon as she walked through the door, she just screamed, 'Awesome!' Now she brags to everyone how it's going to be hers some day. That was, by far, the best reaction we've gotten." And a heck of a house warming gift. Christmas here has been special ever since.
The Beltons built a traditional 2,700 square foot log home on four acres in Tobaccoville, North Carolina, a rural community about 18 miles north of Winston-Salem. For Katrina, there was no settling in period. Tobaccoville was home. A church separates the new log home from the house she grew up in, and the parcel itself sits on what was once farmland where her brother and sister primed tobacco as teenagers. Two old tobacco barns, now used for storage, remain on the property as reminders of the past.
The custom three-bedroom, four-bathroom structure was largely conjured up from the Beltons' imaginations. "I had a lot of thoughts in my head about what I wanted and what I liked but that didn't mean I'd ever seen it," Katrina explains. "It just meant I dreamt it up." That it would be a log home was never a question.
"It's what I always dreamed of," Katrina says. "That was the only option when we started looking."
Her family originally hailed from the Blue Ridge Parkway area of Virginia. "It's a mountain area. The homes I'm used to seeing are log homes and I just like a traditional look." For Keith, his attachment to log homes was rooted in his youth. "Growing up, I always watched the TV show Bonanza. The Ponderosa was a log home and I always loved it."
The Beltons spent months researching log homes, attending seminars and talking with homeowners, distributors and builders. When it came time to settle on a dealer, they selected one right in their own backyard, Country Comfort Homes of Tobaccoville. Country Comfort owner Pete Pyles is an independent dealer for Appalachian Log Homes. Keith and Katrina fell in love with the log home Pete lived in, but what really cinched their decision was that Pete was building a log home for his daughter as well.
"We all do a lot of things for ourselves, but when we turn around and do the same thing for our children that makes a big impact" Katrina says.
For the Beltons, the most important design consideration was spaciousness. Coming from a mobile home, Katrina didn't take that for granted. "I never lived in anything where I had enough space. Everything always felt cramped. Now we have a big, open great room. The kitchen's huge. Everything's just big and roomy. There's nothing tight in this house."
It's a floor plan that lends itself to the couple's lifestyle. "We have a big family so when everybody gets together we need a big area," Keith points out. The home has become a gathering place for all family celebrations - - birthdays, holidays and any other reason we can think of to get together through the year," Katrina says.
The home is built of 6x12 square hand-hewn logs fitted with a half dovetail notch at the corners. The timber is old growth western hemlock.
"One of the prime benefits of western hemlock," Pyles says, "is that we're able to get logs in lengths of up to 40 feet long." Since the Belton home's footprint measures 30' x 40', no splicing was required. This gives the home a structural advantage and eliminates many maintenance concerns because there are no joints that require caulking. Number one grade Douglas fir or better - - "a very strong product" according to Pyles - - was used for the ceiling beams and roof rafters.
The wood floors downstairs are 3" and 5" wide oak planks, chosen for their toughness and durability in high traffic areas. Upstairs, the flooring is knotty pine since it doubles as the downstairs ceiling. Rather than install carpet or another floor covering, the Beltons just finished it.
Custom touches included an 8' wide porch that wraps around the house with sections in the rear integrated into the house for added living space in the kitchen, master bathroom and hot tub room. A false doghouse dormer over the great room provides added natural light.
And then there are the outlets. Lots of them. The home has two electrical panels and six breakers dedicated to Christmas lights. Every outlet was installed with a specific light in mind. "This house was built for Christmas lights," Katrina says. In their old home, they kicked breakers left and right.
"If you turned the Christmas lights on, you couldn't dry your hair or you'd have no power in the house," Katrina says with a laugh. The couple made sure they had the juice to power their winter wonderland by installing 400-amp service during the original construction.
In Tobaccoville circles, the Belton home is known as Santa Land. The transformation process from humble abode to grand attraction begins in early November and lasts nearly a month. Just after Thanksgiving, Keith and Katrina flip on the lights and seemingly all of Tobaccoville takes notice.
"When we first turn them on, you see people hitting the breaks," she says. "We just sit on the porch some nights and watch them."
The couple has always enjoyed decorating for the holidays, but this was the first home where they had the space to do it up big and the power to do it up bright. "The only time it was a question was after September 11," Katrina says. "We debated: in the time of tragedy, sadness and sorrow, do we do something like this? And the more we thought about it, we agreed: in the time of sorrow and tragedy, how could we not do this. It's by God's mercy and grace we're still a nation and still a family. If we could do this little bit of work and make so many people happy, how could we not do that?"
No one in this community of 2,200 argued. Instead, they did what they do every year: Stop their cars, take pictures and thank the Beltons for a beautiful view.
