When the owners of this Sequim home first laid eyes on the storybook log cabin and longhouse tucked into the woods, it was love at first sight. The couple had always wanted to live in a log house, and here they had found two modest log cabins in the middle of five tree-lined acres with sweeping views of the Olympic Mountains in the foreground.
 

Unfortunately the existing structures, while charming, were woefully dark, rundown and undersized. Built in the early 1980s as a home and a horse barn, the cabins had seen little in the way of updates beyond the addition of a bathroom to the longhouse by the previous owner.

But seeing the potential for their dream home the couple purchased the property, intent on retaining the original charm, while adding additional space, more modern amenities and refined styling.  

To carry off their vision, one member of the Master Builders Association and Built Green took on the challenge. Tenhulzen Remodeling, Inc. designed and created a sizeable addition to the main house without dwarfing the existing structure - a feat, since the addition was planned to stand a whole story above the original house. One of the other goals of the project was to update the longhouse, turning it into a fully autonomous guest house that adult children could stay in when visiting for the holidays. And throughout the design process, Tenhulzen sought to minimize the environmental impact of their remodel.

Tenhulzen began by recycling the kitchen from the main house into the guest cabin. The family was then able to live in the guest cabin while the main house underwent its transformation. In order to minimize the height of the two-story addition, Tenhulzen excavated the area where the structure would stand, making the lower floor four steps below that of the main cabin.

They also added a clerestory roof (left) above the existing kitchen, which aesthetically stepped the transition between the original building and the addition while creating an airy, open feeling. 

With their natural advantages of energy-efficiency and structural integrity, logs make a wonderful building material, but there are some additional challenges that come with using the material. Whenever a builder or remodeler works with logs, they must take into account that the logs will settle and shrink more than cut lumber. For this project, Tenhulzen had to allow an extra three-inch clearance around the doors and windows to prevent the possibility of the logs crushing the windows. 

Eschewing traditional log home aesthetics, they opted instead for what they came to call "rustic elegance," a style defined by mixing old and new world finishes, textures and materials. With seemingly incongruous fusion, they paired log walls with iron railings, granite countertops and polished stone floors with a river rock fireplace accented with a juniper mantle. Modern hydronically-heated floors were installed throughout and the kitchen was designed around a turn-of-the-century wood stove. By bringing in elements of stone and steel, as well as old and new technology, their "cabins," took on a timeless quality.

Thanks to Tenhulzen Remodeling, Inc. for contributing their information and ideas on behalf of the Master Builders Association. For more information on the MBA, go to www.masterbuildersinfo.com.