Every year, we set out to find the best log and timber homes across the globe to showcase in our annual special edition: The Best Log & Timber Homes of the Year. Earlier this year, our readers voted on their favorite great rooms and the results are in! Here are the top five great rooms for 2020:
Honest Abe Log & Timber Homes
In true open-concept living, the great room strategically situates a dining table between the kitchen and living areas — a maneuver that makes the space more versatile. The vinyl-plank flooring is “dark oak” and the fireplace is encased in manufactured stone, but the real conversation starter is the one-of-a-kind chandelier, handmade by an Amish craftsman from a salvaged basket retrofitted with reproduction industrial lamp bulbs and suspended from a pulley.
Canadian Timberframes Ltd.
Photo courtesy of Canadian Timberframes Ltd.
The two-story stone fireplace is the artery that runs through the center of this spectacular timber frame home. The artistry of the frame’s joinery can be seen at every turn, from the living room’s arched king-post trusses and the barrel vault in the kitchen to the braces, corbels and finials that make this space something truly special.Honest Abe Log & Timber Homes
Photo by Brandon Malone
Square logs with wide bands of chinking are on full display in this log home’s great room. To accent the pine walls, the owners cut privet from their farm, dried it and combined it with eastern red cedar to make balustrades for the loft and staircase, which is skirted by locally grown live-edge cedar. The room is topped off by a heavy-timber vaulted ceiling and is decorated in tribute to Native American culture.
Square logs with wide bands of chinking are on full display in this log home’s great room. To accent the pine walls, the owners cut privet from their farm, dried it and combined it with eastern red cedar to make balustrades for the loft and staircase, which is skirted by locally grown live-edge cedar. The room is topped off by a heavy-timber vaulted ceiling and is decorated in tribute to Native American culture.
Mira Timber Frame
Photo by Andrew Shaw Photography
Though this timber farmhouse is only 28 feet wide, the great room feels much larger than its footprint would indicate. The Douglas fir posts are spaced on a 13-foot-grid along the length, and the design affords unobstructed countryside views on three sides of the room. The timbers are finished in a weathered gray stain by Sansin, which contrasts beautifully with the natural pine ceiling.
Honest Abe Log & Timber Homes
Photo by Brandon Malone
Floor-to-ceiling arched windows frame a pastoral view in this cozy great room. Though the floor area isn’t large, the cathedral ceiling, framed by heavy timbers finished in a rich, deep-brown stain that contrasts with the pine tongue-and-groove, making the room feel open and spacious.
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Dutch Oven
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