House of the Week: Log Cabin Haven

I grew up on a street in my home state of Tennessee named Skyland Drive for its position along a high ridge overlooking an endless vista of hills on one side and our town way below on the other. Off one end of the street was a private drive that led to a large two-story log home hidden in the woods.  Members of our church owned the house and I was fascinated by the house’s logs painted black against the white chinking, so different from the 1950’s brick basement rancher that was my family’s home. Today’s feature is a charming custom log cabin that was built in 2000 and crafted of high-quality oak logs. My favorite detail of a log cabin is the overlapping ends of the logs at the corners, just like the log cabins I would construct as a young child from my set of Lincoln Logs (invented by Frank Lloyd Wright’s son John Lloyd) so beautifully shown on this log cabin. 

Nestled in two acres of woodland, the cabin is a peaceful haven only five miles from Chestertown. The large one-story cabin has a pitched roof that changes to a shed roof at the front elevation to cover the full front porch, complete with a swing at one end to catch the warm weather breezes. At the side of the house is another “outdoor room”,  a screened porch that is a seasonal living-dining room. The deck off the dining area has ample room for wood to stock the wood stove and a grille for al-fresco meals. A gravel path bordered by stones of varied sizes meanders around the house and beckons one for an after dinner stroll as the sun sets. 

The front door opens into the living-dining room area with a vista upward to the loft containing living space that is currently used as a home office. The exposed wood structural supports, wall planks, sloped ceiling and wood floors reinforce the cozy cabin feeling.  The living room seating is arranged around the wood stove and has filtered daylight from the front windows to the porch. Behind the seating area is the dining area with sliding doors to the deck for al-fresco dining. At the side wall of the dining area, the stairs that lead to the loft have solid treads but no risers so the treads float above the floor. The overlook from the loft office offers a great bird’s eye view and the vertical wood pickets in the railing around the opening maintain the feeling of openness. 

I love galley kitchens and this one has an exterior door next to the detached garage for ease of unloading groceries.  The window over the kitchen sink has a lovely pastoral view of the woods and the fields on the horizon. 

All of the bedrooms are located on the main floor and the primary bedroom at the corner has two double unit windows on each exterior wall.   One interior wall that is adjacent to the bathroom is finished in gypsum board as an accent and the other walls are finished in the warm wood boards used in the living-dining area. The ceiling treatment is also the same as the living-dining area with exposed joists and decking. The bathrooms have gypsum board walls to contrast with the ceiling’s exposed floor joists and decking. The craftsman style furnishings fit so well with the cabin theme and I liked how one guest bedroom had a shelf above the window for display of pictures.

My favorite space in a house is usually the porch or sunroom but I especially liked the loft living space/office.  Each end gable wall is detailed with a single window and a cushioned seat below in between a grid of deep wood shelves with different heights as they reach the sloped ceilings for storage. I would be tempted to make one window a door to a small balcony for views of the landscape for a break from computer work. 

The property also contains a shed and a fenced dog area. Charming large log cabin in a lovely setting in the woods with a range of outdoor rooms from the deck off the dining area, full front porch and a side screened porch.  One level living with the loft bonus area for myriad uses.  Just think of the money you would save over time in not having to paint the interior walls!

For more information about this property, contact Richard Budden at Coldwell Banker Chesapeake Real Estate Company, 410-778-0330 (o), 443-480-1181 (c) or [email protected]. For more photographs and pricing, visit https://www.easternshoreofmarylandrealestate.com/, 

“Equal Housing Opportunity”

Spy House of the Week is an ongoing series that selects a different home each week. The Spy’s Habitat editor Jennifer Martella makes these selections based exclusively on her experience as a architect.

Jennifer Martella has pursued her dual careers in architecture and real estate since she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004. Her award winning work has ranged from revitalization projects to a collaboration with the Maya Lin Studio for the Children’s Defense Fund’s corporate retreat in her home state of Tennessee.