My motto has always been: Change Is Good. But never has that seemed more true than now.

You see, it's been about 2 years since we started the process of building our log home. We had the land picked out, the bank picked out, the GC picked out, the builder picked out, the logs picked out, the floorplan designed the way we wanted it, and we even started clearing the land.

Then why isn't our log home done yet? Why haven't we even raised the first log yet?

We've been forced into a slight holding pattern right now due to all the banking & loan issues going on these days. Now is not a good time to get money -- especially large amounts of money.. Especially for home loans.

So, we are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, I guess. And we have to wait it out a little longer until banks are willing to lend money like normal again.

In Everything Bad, There Is Something Good
Fortunately, this gives us plenty of time to take a step back and reflect on where we are and how we got here -- in terms of planning and building our new log home. And I have to say, I'm honestly quite glad that the process of getting everything in order to build our log home has taken so long this far.

What I mean is...
If we had built right away (back in August of 2006), and gone with our first gut instincts on the details including:

• where to build


• what we want the house to look like


• where we want the windows


• ...etc, etc. etc.

Then we wouldn't have truly ended up with the log home of our dreams! (Which is right around the corner... I'm sure of it.)

As I mentioned earlier, we recently picked out the 7 exterior doors we will be installing in our new log home.

Now I'll share the details of the doors we picked out, in case anyone's interested.

A Craftsman style log home?... Yep, our "bungalow" will be of the Arts & Crafts variety. Much like the very first Craftsman-style log home built back in 1918.

Arts & Crafts was an artistic and philosophical movement that began in 19th century Britain. Craftsman refers to a specific style of early 20th century American architecture that was part of the Arts & Crafts Movement. So Craftsman is actually a subset of Arts & Crafts." Source

You may be wondering what the elements are which classify a home as being of the Craftsman style or the Arts & Crafts variety.

Here are some easy ways to spot a Craftsman style home...

I find it interesting that one of the first homes designed in the Arts & Crafts / Craftsman style was a log home built in 1918. And, that Craftsman style log home is still standing in a town near me -- Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

According to David Jutkins:
Gustav Stickley first publicized Craftsman plans and designs in his magazine The Craftsman in 1901. In 1904 he started to show Craftsman-designed homes and floor plans, and in 1905 he first applied the word "bungalow" to the Craftsman style of home.

Although the magazine ceased publication in 1916, its influence continued to inspire house designs among Americans until the 1930s.

Enter Clark Woodard, an instructor of industrial arts at Middle Tennessee State College, who built his log bungalow in 1918 using Stickley's Craftsman style design ideas.

View Stickley's Craftsman style home plans, compared to Woodard's Craftsman style log home plans.

Jutkins also adds, "Stucco, stones, and unpainted wood became favorite exterior materials for these homes, because they were inexpensive, functional, and required low maintenance."

Sounds like the Craftsman style and log home living complement each other well!