Deciding on the perfect design for your log home is a key piece of the process when building. Designing for the property or “lay of the land” is extremely important in order for the house to look natural once it is built. For many of us, it’s desirable for the home to look as though it has always been there, a part of the landscape.
By way of example, if your property is sloped, a walkout basement would be a natural choice to make. Your home’s entrance points will almost design themselves in this scenario. If the ground is flat and open, a ranch style home (bungalow) would best fit the landscape.
That being said, we also believe any log home design should reflect the occupants as much as it does the property. The most important part of designing for yourself is to determine your ideal square footage, particularly if you’ll be planning to be in your home for many years. Considering multi-use living might mean including at-home work space. Considering multi-generational living might mean a home that can provide for a young family as well as one or more grandparents.
Design for what you need
Our clients frequently tell us they only want to design for what they “need”, and this means keeping the house as small as possible while still comfortable.
One of our goals is always to reduce the size of the utility room. Utility or mechanical rooms are often ridiculously large, but we have found that a a 45 square-foot space is often all that is needed. Companion spaces like laundry rooms don’t have to be paired with or bundled into utility rooms if they are most convenient in another part of the home. Consider what makes the most sense for you and how you live.
Getting started
If you’re having trouble thinking of design ideas, you might start with browsing through our log home designs. Many of us find it easier to respond to existing designs, spotting what we like (and what we don’t like), rather than trying to reinvent the wheel or pull a design out of thin air.
Taking elements from several designs that you like and pulling these together with notes on what’s most essential to you can be a great way to get started.
After discussing these factors and preferences with you, we will have what we need to begin drafting conceptual floor plans and elevations.
Once we have an overall concept to work with, we can accurately cost the project to be sure we are on the same page with your available budget. At $2.50 / sq.ft. we keep design costs down to a reasonable level.
Please see our Ontario Log Home Plans page for all of our existing designs as well as estimated costs for building with round logs or square timbers.
Contact us today to begin your journey in creating a design that reflects you, your family and, of course, your property.
