This Colorado log home is handmade and beautiful. The log cabin was built by the owners of a Colorado family that took two annual Colorado ski trips. They decided to permanently relocate to Colorado. They drove all over the state until they found the perfect 40-acre parcel in Pitkin County. The owners knew that their Colorado move was years away but they returned to Florida to begin making their log house plans. One day, Beth noticed a log house on the cover a log-home magazine. The cabin they wanted was found by Montana Log Homes. They make logs from lodgepole pine that has been left standing. The logs are ski-peeled to remove bark, but leave the inner cambium layer. Lanny and Beth traveled to Kalispell Montana to design their log home.
The owners found a floor plan for a log house that worked and modified it to meet Pitkin County’s building codes. The log house living room, dining area and kitchen were combined into one open space. The island in the kitchen is finished with the same stones that were used to make the amazing fireplace. The log house great room was designed to have cathedral ceilings with a fireplace. Due to Pitkin County’s restrictions on house size, they converted the open porch from the kitchen into a sunroom. This does not count towards the total square footage.
The great room of this log house is on level 2. It is accessible via the attached two-car garage and two sets of French doors under the cover of the outdoor deck on level 2. The log house bedrooms and recreation area were designed for teenagers by the owners. The log house features a family game area, two bedrooms and a small kitchen. There are also two full baths on the lower level. This log house is considered to be the home of their sons. There are two additional bedrooms on opposite ends of a long hallway with a TV room and a third-level bathroom.
Gabe Butler, the owner of Montana Log Homes of Colorado in Colorado, was chosen by the family as their log house contractor. The log home featured on the cover was built by this same crew. Butler told them that they were interested to purchase the same log home exterior. It had a three-story bay-window wings that were finished with gingerbread shingles. They also wanted the exact same hardware as the hammerbeam beam trusses in their great room. This required them to contract with a steel fabricator for those to be made.
