Log Home Magazine ArticleApril 2003

We never build the same house twice because every piece of land is specific and has its own magic, says Kurt Geary. You can find that magic...if you 're patient and observe. Geary, president and owner of K. W. Geary Builders in Durango, Colorado, found the magic in a Stretch of land 25 mil es north of Durango and designed a handcrafted log home so in keeping with its environs you can practically feel the contours of the earth.

"What the owners didn't want was a conventional log house. And it really isn't," Geary points out. Instead it's a "completely opened vaulted every- where retreat in a killer setting."

Killer may sound like hyper sole, but here in the l4,000-foot Needles Range of the San Juan Mountains, exaggeration becomes understatement. The home is very much in keeping with the surroundings. It was designed to face the east, take advantage of the sun and get views out of as many rooms as possible, " Geary explains. Generous windows that frame the sky and maximize views on a sides are Geary hallmarks.

The home-away-from-home belongs to Blake and Lynn Ingle, California residents who spend nearly a third of the year enjoying Colorado's four-season pleasures. From their primary home by the beach in Del Mar it's a sea level to ski level commute to the three-story home a mile high in the mountains. The Ingles are a ski-hike-camp-fish kind of family all of which are available just out their front door. The area also offers an adaptive sports program for their daughter, 20-year-old Kristin, who has Down's syndrome.

"It's one of the main reasons we moved here," Lynn explains. ''So she could participate in skiing every single year.. She now out-skis me."

The decision to build a log home was an easy one for the Ingles. "We used to go to the Smokies every year when I wasa kid '' Lynn remembers. "That's where the desire came from for me. No argu- ments from Blake. He says he loves the way log homes look and feel. In act, this is the Ingles' second log home. The first served as a kind of primer. It was a small milled cabin Blake describes as "very, very simple. It didn't have the details this one has. "

"This one" is a 4 000 square foot custom home with three bedrooms and 3 1/2 baths. The couple opted for fully handcrafted chinked -style construcion for its distinctive looks. Says Blake, "The hand-peeled logs reflect light and give it more of a texture."

No Run-Of-The-Mill Home

Kurt Geary worked with Frontier Log Homes, based in Montrose, Colorado. The lodgepole pine logs are from the Pacifit Northwest and average 12 inches in diameter.

"What I like about lodgepole is that it has a lot of scars and cat faces (blemishes that have been grown over by the wood) that give the log a nice character." says Frontier's Dave Kemp. Frontier specializes exclusively in handcrafted homes.

"We don't do any milled homes," says Kemp. "Just the real thing."

The Ingle home was a labor of love - literally - since labor is the driving force in handcrafted homes. There's nothing prefab about it. Everthing is done by hand. According to Kemp, each log is picked individually for where it goes in the house. The logs retain their natural taper. Notches are scribed and cut by hand using a chisel, hammer and chain saw.

From the homeowner's perspective, handcrafted homes pose no more challenge than their milled counterparts. The decision is essentially based on cost and aesthetics.

Despite his previous building experience, Blake Ingle laughs when asked if he was prepared for the work involved. Not quite.

"The thing about building a full scale log home like this is that it requires much more planning," he says.

The process started when the couple laid out broad ideas for their floor plan and then "put the parts and pieces that we liked together." The six months between the purchase of their 3-acre parcel and their commitment to build were spent planning. The property's location - an altitude of 9,000 feet with lots of snow - didn't make it any easier. As a result, construction took about 18 months.

Luckily, high elevations, heavy snow loads and drastic one-day temperature differentials were nothing new to Kurt Geary. His philosophy is that a good design will correct for natural pitfalls. He knows what works both practically and visually in high mountain environments.

"We have a lot of experience. We've been doing it a long time," he says. Since 1982, Geary has built more than 250 homes.

Borrowing from Nature

The Ingles freely admit they had to make a few compromises in designing their mountain getaway. And if they had to do it over again, they concede they'd make a few minor changes. But they're not looking back. Who can blame them? It's hard to think about the 'what ifs?' in a place as stunning on the inside as the vistas it overlooks.

The home is detailed with top-of-the-line creature comforts - some subtle, all practical - that reflect the family's personality and lifestyles. Among them, hydronic radiant floors, private balconies off every bedroom, a pair of wood-burning fireplaces, marble bathrooms and oak and stone floors.

Underscoring all their choices was a penchant for utilizing organic materials in a way that makes the home seem like an extension of the great outdoors rather than an intrusion on the landscape. Variations of stone and a mixture of woods add depth and play to the interior design. Alder, for instance, is used for all the cabinetry and doors.

"It's...rarely ever senn," Lynn says, "and it's just gorgeous."

The staircase railing and balcony are aspen; white oak covers the third-story floors.

"We figured you can't make a mistake mixing lots of woods and stonework in their natural colors so that's what we did," Lynn says. The result is raw materials transformed into a home of raw beauty.