Many years ago, I began entertaining the idea of building a log home. It started with my grandmother's suggestion to build a log cabin out of whatever trees I could find in the woods on her property. That quickly proved impractical, so I started doing some heavy research on the only other option I knew of at the time - log home kits. When I met Jillena, and filled her in on my plans, she was completely supportive and quite interested in pursuing this with me. When the war in Iraq escalated and the price of lumber doubled, the costs of log home kits quickly became unaffordable for us.

Though disappointed, we were not willing to give up that easily. I continued to surf the internet for any option that could save us money. Our plans took on a brand new vision when I came across Log Home Builders Association. In reading their website, I learned the differences between a log home built from a kit and a log home built from real logs. I also learned that I could do this myself and save a lot of money using old-fashioned tools and methods. It quickly became apparent to us that this was the direction we should take - build a real log home from real logs. We successfully designed the floor plans ourselves (a 40x40 farm house) and would attempt to build pretty much every aspect of the house on our own, with the help of family and friends.

After flying to Seattle with my father-in-law to take the LHBA seminar in October 2006, we became certified log home builders. Jillena and I spent the next months gathering everything we'd need to get our project started. As of today, July 6, 2007, we are finally ready to begin. We are building on our own family land in the town of Hamlin, NY, right across the street from the property my grandmother originally proposed. What follows is a photo and video journal of the major stages of the project.

If you have any questions or comments about our project, or would like to come out and help, or would like to receive e-mail notifications of our progress, feel free to contact us at stargazer@stargazerpics.com.

We believe in giving credit where credit is due. Be sure to visit our Credits and Acknowledgements page.

CLICK ON ANY OF THESE LINKS TO JUMP TO A PHASE OF THE PROJECT
		OUR PROJECT MADE THE LOCAL NEWS!!! News10NBC came out and did a short piece on our log home project and plans to do follow-up pieces through completion. Click the image to watch the video that made the evening news.

		Click the image to view our house plans. We used Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Deluxe to create the plans, which can export files to be read by a CAD program. Our architect was able to use our electronic drawings to edit and print.