What house no matter what material its made from takes
work to maintain it. As home owners isn't that part of our
responsibilities to maintain them? A log cabin is a dream home
so is a Victorian so is a beach house.I'm lucky to have a stucco
house in California.

Trees are so primal. Why would we not want to live in them? Minus the kitsch of some overdone Disney-esque versions. Too many antlers and too many bark covered stumps can take away from the natural elegance of logs. Also, Cabin is a word which can be interpreted in so many ways. We should be careful not to define it as only one style.

I love them! They feel so classic and cozy

Would LOVE to be lucky enough to live in a log home and really wish they were featured on a regular basis on Houzz!!!

My husband and I purchased a small log cabin about 5 years ago. We absolutely love it. However I, in particularly do not appreciate all of the wood. We are painting some of the old T&G as it is faded and not very pretty. This is giving us the opportunity to bring some color to the walls. We of course, have an open floor plan. I have a 17x10 Persian rug which, with its beautiful colors also help brighten the living area.

We will soon be redesigning the kitchen area. This will be a challenge as the cabinets are hand made out of T&G. (done badly I might add!) The counter tops are made of the same T&G with that awful self leveling polyethylene liquid to seal it.

Usually log homes are filled with stuffed heads and "Up North" fabrics. Not for this shabby chic girl. We have meaningful artwork purchased on our honeymoon years ago hung on our walls with beautiful lace curtains at the windows. The beds are "marshmallows" with linen duvets, down quilts and masses of down pillows. Of course we lighten up for the summer.It is so much fun to hear what visitors have to say when they enter the cabin for the first time.

quirkycabin -

Our main home in SE MI is a log home that we built 12 years ago. Color isn't really much of an issue since you can always add it in fun ways. I've recently painted our new front door inside and out and am about to start refinishing our wood window sills since ours have been scratched up by our old fat cat and worn from weather exposure when we forget to close the windows during rain storms.

One thing to remember is that logs grow and shrink with the weather. Be careful of what you do since it will all move. When the house moves it makes a lot of loud clunking sounds that can be frightening to unsuspecting guests. Sometimes you actually cause the settling just by walking.

I don't know if you're aware of how log homes "work". We learned all the "behind the scenes" issues by participating in the actual building. It's not quite like Lincoln Logs, but also not far from it.

When we were going through our final inspection before occupancy we had two inspectors that didn't have a clue since not many log homes are in our township - two actually were being built at the same time - ours and another by the same crew. The mechanical inspector told us we were going to have to tear out all the ductwork because we were doing it all wrong. Then, after we explained to him that in a log home you cannot run ductwork through the exterior wall he figured it out. The other inspector wasn't going to let us move in because all of our moldings were installed yet. We explained that the house was going to make big shifts in the first year - he didn't care. Yep, we put it all up - a year later it was all bowed and shifted so we had to take it all down, remeasure and put it all back.

Oh yeah - I'm a knitting addict and have yarn all over the place in crystal bowls and baskets so I'm adding color all the time. Be careful what you do on your walls since it will cause fade squares no matter how old the home is. Every time I move a rug the floor fades differently. I use the "checks" aka cracks in the logs for hanging photos. I never have to create a new hole. I do know what you mean about the T & G walls. We have one in our master bath where our towels are hung and I did tell my husband two weeks ago that someday that wall might have paint on it when he gets home from work. I've fallen in love with Sherwin Williams' Velvet finish on wood walls. I'm currently painting the wood walls in our cabin in northern Michigan.

Have fun!

I took this random shot from my chair in the dining area one day for a friend. Nothing dark inside ours either. Yep, it's rather messy in this photo. I recently took an early retirement and am still adjusting to what I want to do daily and what I need to do. ;-)

this view NEVER gets old. Best change we ever made for ourselves and our children. Much easier lifestyle and I don't have to look at all those fingerprints on dry wall anymore!!

When we were building ours another family was also having a Barna Log Home built. They actually had a replica of Jim Barna's own home in TN complete with the drywall inside. What they didn't have done correctly was make sure the walls with the drywall were floating properly so they all shattered before their first year in the house. Instead of fixing them they just walked away from the house, moved to Florida for new jobs and let the house go into foreclosure. It had to be a $500,000 project. The last time we drove past it before new owners took over it was real sad.

I do like those railings. I'm working on our west porch by creating a sitting area and am going to paint our porch swing and repaint my furniture to match my new cushions.

The view from my knitting chair.

I need to take more photos since I can't find any current porch shots.

Log cabins are beautiful with a very rustic charm; and it seems that these days, home designers are doing more and more with them in terms of architectural styles.

There are problems, though, with all those architectural designs. The critters - especially bats - love all those little places under all those dormer overhangs. We've been dealing with them for two years and only have 4 dormers. We need to fill all the little triangles behind the window trim to keep the bats and wasps out. I can't work on the window sills right now until I get the wasps under control.

I took more photos this morning. I accidentally uploaded the front twice and can't seem to delete it.

This is my spot. As you can see, it would be a safer place to sit if there were railings. We didn't meet the required minimum height to require railings by code so we didn't go with that expense during construction. I've been looking at newer ideas.
I've got to refinish the porches and the cedar swing has aged and looks awful from the yard - or anywhere - so it's going to get a coat of green and cayenne to match our other porch door. Also, in the photo above this one there's a railing on the right of the steps that we were told we had to add by our insurance company. I painted part of it green and am going to paint the post cayenne. On the south side of the house there has been no landscaping since we couldn't decide what to do. We bought a bin of rocks so I'm going to start working on a plan along with a walkway from the east porch. I want to create a garden/sitting area there between the house and the trees.

Here's this morning's shot of our "curb". There used to be an old service garage there to the left that the local gas company stored tools and valves in. We tore it down and are letting the area go back to nature. My husband's mom was so upset when we built and put the house behind the woods. There is a creek that runs through there and the watershed area has been deemed a wetlands by our local DNR so we aren't supposed to be excavating and we like how it looks. We don't get solicitors here.

Wow, most comments I have ever seen. We have a 2800 sq. ft. log home in the Blue Ridge Mountains, NC. Canadian logs. Minimal interior maintenance.

Only critter problem we have had is a squirrel who likes to chew on our clear pine trim on the deck.

We have 8 kinds of wood in our house. Except for log walls in the great room, the interior walls are dry wall and painted colors. Face south with huge windows so light is no problem and in the winter very low heating bills.

Exterior maintenance is a must and we love Sikkens product.

I seem to have time on my hands today. ;-)

We also used Sikkens inside and out. Oil based on the outside and water-based clear on the inside.

I'm throwing the idea of changing our staircase by adding color to make it so that it's not invisible.

We have large windows on all sides since we changed the original window "plan". Our master bedroom has two windows the same size as the windows in the great room. The only regret we have is that we didn't put another window to the side of our back doorwall. At first we thought that would be our TV wall then we realized we didn't need 3 bedrooms so we left out the dividing wall upstairs and that's where we have our TV and my crafting area. We also have a loft that runs across the entire kitchen where the original plan didn't have one. There is a door frame inside our t&g wall and partial plumbing in case we ever were to add the 3rd bathroom upstairs that was in the original layout.

I've been adding cellular blinds now and may pull down all of our insulating curtains after all the blinds are in place. Since I quit my job we have to pace ourselves with our projects since we do have two homes.

We haven't turned on our AC at all yet this year. We thought about two weeks ago and I got stung taking the cover off the unit so that's as far as that went. We also have a pellet stove that we use in the winter.

We have Canadian cedar logs, pine T&G walls and ceiling, pine flooring and the last of the ash that the local sawmill had in our great room area.

When we were submitting our plans to the township they were extremely concerned about the snow load until we explained the roof system to them. People don't realize how thick a log home roof is. Our's is just about 10" thick so the only time the snow melts is when the temperature raises or the sun shines on it.

What we also like about log homes is that they are immovable. Hurricanes, tornadoes don't even make them creak. When the inspector was looking at our bond he wanted it all redone. We showed him our shipper and the weight of all the logs that were going to be in place he backed down. The 12" lag bolts every 6' also keep us pretty tight here.

No mice in log home walls. I've lived in 4 hollow-wall homes and they all had mice. None here. They can't get in unless I hold the door open and invite them in. The exterminator that I worked with at a GM facility told me that any stud-built homeowner that thinks they don't have mice just hasn't found them yet.

to Susan Schultz: Bats eat flying insects, including mosquitos. Bat houses might help them move out of your eaves to a more suitable location. You can hang the houses high in trees near the house. I found that wasps can also be controlled by hanging glass catchers (not the ugly plastic ones) with beer as the liquid bait! They come in for the party, and then never leave...!

Oh know all about those options and the benefits of bats. When we wanted to paint our trim we counted around 18 of them on one dormer. I chased over 20 off the north side. Our dog is having issues with the constant bat squeaking going on. It's so crowded that they're often still trying to sqeeze in after sunrise. We're surrounded by woods and are in farmland. All of us are having the same problem. I'm not sure there's enough trees around here for houses for this crowd.

We're thinking of just building a place for them that is similar to the space behind the trim and mounting it on our barn or on posts near the edge of the north woods.

We have had contracts with exterminators for the wasp and yellow jacket problem. As long as there are so many places to build nests we have to keep fighting.

Right now we're still under warranty with the bat relocation company that we hired last August. We had our house sprayed with bat-friendly chemicals in July and no one left.

Cooler weather is my friend with these wasps. At least we stopped getting them in the house.

Wow! Not THAT'S a bat problem!! We counted 5 the other night and thought that was alot! Good luck!

Some of the benefit of living in a log home in a wooded or mountainous (like ours) area is the wildlife visitors we live amoungst. Our issues can be pretty special! But, overall, rewarding.

Here at Teton Heritage Builders, we love log homes - especially the one in the photo that started this poll because we built it!!! If you voted "yes", take a look at more photos of the Lost Creek project & other log homes here: http://www.houzz.com/projects/24910/lost-creek-jackson-wy

Our log home was built by a father and son. It is a cabin built with much love; unfortunately the carpentry was less than stellar. We have encountered many unusual "building" methods to say the least. Two years ago the metal roof began to leak. By leak I mean water was running down the beautiful log walls and dripping through the seams of the ceiling all from the attic. My husband hung a gigantic tarp from the center of the room making a tent over all of our living room, dining room, and office belongings. We then laid containers at the edges to catch the drippings. It was a nightmare and we lived like that till summer when we were able to have a new roof installed. That being said; we do love our little house in the woods and are enjoying making it right again.

I love the log cabin look. It is so warm, cozy and close to nature. There would definitely need to be a nice big porch, with rocking chairs and comfortable cushions! Check out these cabin throw pillows for some fun cabin decorating ideas.

i have already commented but I wanted to add something because if all the comments about them being dark. i have been in cabins that were very dark and would not have wanted to live in; but, mine had many windows and the inside was natural wood color. it was very light and bright during the day. When the lights were on at night the walls had a cozy amber glow. i guess you can tell that I really loved it!

Maureen Allen - the only places you get carpenter bees are where your wood isn't finished. The woodpeckers will go to any house that has a nice spot where they can bang their beaks to proclaim that they are the king of the neighborhood. We did have a year of woodpeckers but after we installed a noise-maker they left and moved on. We have a random bird noise chirping during sunlight hours sounding off as if woodpecker predators are in the area. It works.

Rotted wood? I've had that in every house I've ever lived in whether in the overhangs under the later-applied trim, around doors or windows inside and outside and in the garages, in the basements, underneath bathrooms, and wherever old wood can be found.

One more thing - I absolutely hate the feel of drywall or sheetrock. It makes my teeth cringe similar to how others feel about fingernails on chalkboard. I don't know why but it's always been like that. Wet, dry, however, just the thought of it does that to me. I don't even like touching it. Between both of our homes we only have one room with drywall and that was done by the previous owner who enclosed a car port to turn it into his giant man-cave that we now use it as our family room.

I grew up in a plaster home then owned one later. The walls would crack in the same places over and over. I had nail-pops in both of my drywall homes.

Never had I thought about building or living in a log home so we went on a day-long tour of the local homes and didn't realize there were so many. All of them were nice and individually decorated. My favorite had to be the tiny 900 sq. ft home that a single man had built for himself on 15 acres after a divorce. His pond outside his door was massive and the whole setting was beautiful.

As for refinishing - if you do it right the first time, use the right products, choose the right colors it's not that bad. We don't do a lot of power washing - maybe 4 times in 12 years. I just use the garden hose when the topsides of the logs get dusty. Pretty simple and it waters my plants. We're going with a darker color now and, in another 8 years will possibly go even darker since it protects the logs better. I have some windowsills to redo but it's also giving me the opportunity to try something new and add color to the inside at the same time.

I never liked log cabins, till we stumbled on a log house shell in Moose Pass, Alaska, twelve years ago. It's very light and neutral on the in side because it's the view on the outside that's the star of the show!!!

sstar93 - how are you stuck in a floorplan when the interior walls are actually floating? I don't see how I'm stuck with what I've got here. As I said before, we actually have an additional door frame inside one of our T & G walls in case we ever wanted to split up the 2nd bedroom into 2 smaller rooms. Since my daughters are on their own and weren't moving in with us we only use one bedroom. The other two are upstairs and that's where our office/TV area is. That could be changed with just some studs and T & G. This is the 6th house I've lived in and can't think of how major changes could have been made to any of the others without affecting load bearing walls so, I think it often holds true with any house.

So, I totally disagree here.

I used to love the idea of a log house. But I saw many in my town when I was looking for a house, and I only liked very few of them, mostly huge ones. While I love the coziness, at the same time I can't take not having tons of light, and they do not deliver in that. The best of i have seen had drywall ceilings so you could still enjoy the logs around you without the house absorbing all light. My husband is always panicked about the difficulty of wiring. I think overall I've changed my opinion a lot over the past few years and now I find them dated and would rather have a modern mountain house.

I love love love the look BUT understand that they are a lot of maintenance. I think I would like something that had maybe reclaimed wood accents inside and lots of stone to cut down on maintenance.

Annegriet, that's not totally true. I'm not finding my home to have any more maintenance than any of the brick or vinyl-sided homes I've owned. We also currently own a vinyl-sided vacation home. The interior is taking more of my time than the exterior of my home here. Currently, I am resurfacing our decks, but, who doesn't have to power wash and re-stain their wood decks?

One of the largest benefits of log homes is the ability of the logs to hold the heat from the summer or the coolness from the winter. I turned on our AC and ran it for two days this past August. Now, it's going down into the 40s here at night and it's still warm on the inside so I haven't turned on my furnace yet.

I do have a problem with wasps but that will be taken care of after I plug the areas behind the window trim. Any home with space between trim and a warm sunny location will be an invitation to the wasps. I've had them in every home and have actually found them in one of my vehicles that hadn't moved over a weekend.

My vinyl-sided home has another issue that I have experienced in every stick-built home I've ever lived in. Mice. An exterminator that worked for me at the GM Tech Center once told me that anyone with stick-built construction who thinks they don't have mice or bugs inside their walls or attic is living in a dream world. He also told me that every log home he's ever serviced only had exterior issues. You will only get termites if the logs start rotting which is rare and only happens if the exterior wasn't sealed properly in the first place or the home is built in an extremely wet area. Termites prefer hollow-walls just like the rodents. My log home doesn't have an attic and there are no hollow walls. These logs are held together, not only by sheer weight, but by 10" lag bolts every 6' (about 6000 of them), and adhesive. We've had two mice inside and we brought them back in our duffel bag after a week in our cabin in the upper peninsula woods. Our roof has an R rating well over the traditional number and can withstand tornadoes and hurricanes. There are photos of log homes that have survived both with minimal damage.

There is no interior maintenance at all except maybe the hardwood floors. That's not exclusive to log homes. We've done nothing on the inside since it was built in 2004 except refinishing window sills that were damaged by windows left open and a cat that uses his claws to get up there to the window.

Wow--that is great to know! I really love the look. Thank you for sharing. Is your log cabin in a very cold climate?

We're in the Thumb of MI where it's a weather smorgasbord since we're surrounded by water. When I was still working I could check the temperature here in the morning, drive the 33 miles to work and find that the temperature has climbed up to 10 degrees from one place to the other.

Thank you Susan. I am looking at NC or Northeastern PA. I really love the rustic look.

You're welcome. Good luck. There are a lot of options out there.

Just bought a log cabin, needs a lot of work since last owners didn't maintain it for the last 15 years. Still, it's a beauty and we're tackling the problems one by one. Just finished the loft and upstairs bedrooms & guest bath - had to do that first with all the guests we've had so far - everyone wants to see it. I've made 5 punched tin wall sconces for the living and can't wait to start on the kitchen.

bontiki - 15 years? Wow. Is your home in an area where the seasons change? That can be bad for the exterior. Our log home is 13 years old now and we've had to restain the exterior twice now.

I see you have ceramic tile there. Do you have any cracked grout? With the shifting that we have during the seasonal changes when the house shrinks and grows I often wonder if the grout would crack. I have slate that came from my parents' home that I want to have installed inside our French door.

Hi Susan - our home is 32 years old and we live in Florida. The tile in the kitchen does have cracks and will be removed and replaced with wood. I don't know if it's from shifting or wasn't layed properly. The exterior needs to be cleaned & restained - have 2 projects ahead of that. My husband and I do most of the work ourselves so our goal is to the house finished within a year.

Don't know how to vote - with my reality or with my dream. Love the ambiance and reminder of living off the land that motivated the first log homes. Enjoy visiting my sister-in-law's log house in the GA mountains but they say it is a lot of work to maintain and that insurance is difficult to obtain and very expensive.

Building a new house near Houston, we considered a log house. There are actually a couple in our wooded neighborhood. However, in our area, log may limit resale appeal and our extremely humid weather is not friendly to wood in general, so we decided against log construction.

But my ultimate dream home, with no strings attached would be a simple log cabin with big windows and porch on the south side, by a lake in the mountains like ones we've been fortunate to enjoy on vacations around the Smoky Mountains. Enjoy the sound and comfort of solid wood walls and flooring, with a porch and scenic view typically associated with log homes.

1. We reconstructed a log house that was built in 1796 in a bend in the Cumberland River by Pioneers in Tennessee. The logs were pre-ordered and were waiting for the new Tennesseans in Kentucky when they arrived by wagon. It is 17 X 28 feet and we added a great room and loft beside the old cabin. I made a headboard from the original front and back door to the cabin. The wood is Poplar and nicely hand cut. It is true that a log house of this sort is a bit tedious to care for, but well worth the trouble. It is our hope that our family will use this house for many years to come and keep it in the family.

A relative built a log home in Montana, I visited a few times. Gorgeous from the exterior but, for me, too dark and depressing inside.

It's not dark inside my log home. We left the logs the natural white cedar color and have lots of large windows. We wanted to see the 13 acres we live on so we had extra windows added to the original plan. When I close my green curtains it's dark so I'm working on replacing them which is taking a lot longer now that I'm no longer working. I can't just make spur of the moment or large purchases.

Yes, yes, and yes again! They're just beautiful!

We love log cabins! We do sell log cabin railing inserts, so our answer is a bit biased..

Love, love, love!!!!

Bought our log cabin in 2016 and have been doing most of the total remodel ourselves, except floors. We’re retired so we’ve been taking our time and loving the results. I left a comment and picture on Nov. 10, 2016. Attaching before and after pictures of my master bathroom And kitchen.

You're making a big difference with those remodels. How old is the house? We built ours in 2004.

Beautiful reno @bontiki! Love the master bath sinks!

It’s 35 yrs old. The previous owner didn’t make any repairs for the 15 yrs they owned it. So, we’re taking our time to make it right. Still need to redo the front & back porches. Will start with these projects after we finish up with the damage we got from the hurricane. We lost a number of trees and one large branch went through the roof and took out a small porch.

Really love the updates to a contemporary log home! We have lived in ours for 4 years and have been trying to make similar changes, but started with the exterior. You are an inspiration!

@bontiki it took me two years to resurface our two porches. Each one runs the length of the house so they're 10'x49'. When I quit work in 2016 part of the plan was that I would do some of the work that we were going to hire people to do.

We try to do most of our work as well. Brings the cost down, plus I know my husband and I will show up for the job.

I have lived in a log home for almost 23 years. The home is roughly 46 years old. I love it. I too don’t think it is dramatically different than a brick or clapboard, wood sided stick frame. I also noticed someone who bought a log home mention they have had to stain a lot and someone talked about caulking cracking in a used one. After the first year we moved in I found a company that makes fantastic products for log homes. My home is tongue and grove and it was drafty. I purchased a product from a company called Perma Chink. We caulked with “Energy Seal” on the outside of the house with their product for tongue and groove homes in the summer of 2000 and today in 2022 it is still going strong. No more drafts where it is tongue and groove. Just a few places have needed touch ups. They have stain too. We had to stain every 3 years for awhile. But purchased their top of the line product and it has lasted double or more. I live in upstate NY. Winters used to be very tough. Not as much any more. But whenever I hear of someone in a log home with outside maintenance issues, I try to share as it can be difficult knowing what to use when your new to a log home, particularly if you weren’t the original owner. You can’t go to the person who lives next door to say, Hey what do you use? So I hope this offers some info to folks who need it.

I own a log house here in Middle Tennessee. We use it as a getaway in the country. The logs were milled by hand in Southern Kentucky and brought into Tennessee on horse drawn wagons. The house was originally built in 1796, the year Tennessee became a state. I brought the logs to the present location in 1999 and construction took a year. The logs are Green Poplar and hand milled on all four sides. We love it but we have to care for it with lots of love. The Carpenter bees love it too so we are diligent about caring for these old logs. It is worth it to live in a house with so much character and patina!!!

We also use products from Perma Chink. Last year we restained just the south end of the house which is exposed to the sun the most. The rest of the house we just hosed off and used a soft scrub brush and it looked freshly stained. We used Sikkens when we first built in 2004 so have kept using that since. It's holding up very well. We've only restained the entire house once and went with a darker shade since we didn't like the almost clear color we went with the first time.

Carpenter bees are annoying. We had a woodpecker problem too on the north side of the house. They hung upside down in the overhang and pecked holes in the wood. It was explained to us that they were the males who just wanted to make the noise so the local females knew who the loudest and baddest most attractive males were. ;-)

We made some carpenter bee traps using 4x4 and glass jars following videos we found online. Almost instantly one of them caught two bees. Now I need to dump the jar and refill since there's probably 20 bees in there. I found that honey works as an attractant way better than the pheromones that I bought.