Monday, October 6, 2008

Final Thoughts - Log & Timber Frame Expo / Chicago






















Alright kids, last post on the Log & Timber Frame Expo that I exhibited at recently! It was a great show since it provided me with a venue to speak obsessively about log homes with other people!

Some trends I noticed from the show:
  • A good majority were looking to have their log home as their retirement or permanent home.
  • The older crowd were more interested in single story plans or having their master bedroom on the first floor. This makes sense - as we get older and not knowing what potential health problems we might face- do we really want to be climbing stairs in our golden years?
  • Full log homes seemed to be the preference of this particular crowd. Only 25% of the visitors to my booth expressed an interest in half log homes.
  • I would say 90% of the visitors to my booth were nature / great outdoor lovers! (This is me and Greg!)
  • Roughly 40% already owned the land they planned to build their log home on.
  • Quite a few expressed their desire to have that open floor plan - with the kitchen, dining room and living room all blending together. This is the favorite part of my log home too - it encourages togetherness and communication with family and friends.

All this talk about log homes makes me want to watch my Dick Proenekke video - "Alone in the Wilderness" again for the 20th time. If you haven't caught it on PBS, I highly recommend purchasing this video - an amazing story of a self sufficient man who in 1967 built his log cabin by hand in Alaska.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Awesome info, wonderful pics, thanks a lot for sharing this wonderful log homes information...

Constance said...

About 3 months ago, Dave & I recently watched the Dick Proenneke DVD again. Building the fireplace was one of my favorite parts! I bought his book for Dave for Christmas one year, it's basically his journal of his first year up there. It amazes me that he lived up there in solitude, I catch myself thinking about things like, how easy it is to die (canoe being overturned), what about medical help, things like that. Of course he wasn't exposed to germs being all by himself so he probably never got sick! I do joke with Dave that when we build a cabin, even though I don't need extravagant, I refuse to live "Proenneke-style"! Ha Ha!

The other thing that I think you would enjoy is a gentleman whose performances Dave & I catch everytime we are in Glacier NP. David Walburn performs at the Many Glacier Hotel and has 3 multi-media shows. One that he does chronicles his adventure of going to Alaska with 3 buddies, right out of college and building a cabin by hand on land that they homesteaded. They built it in 1988 and they had their 20th reunion up there this summer. It's a wonderful story about realizing dreams, discovering who you are and friendship! I wish he had a DVD of it for sale!

We are one of those people who love the full log look. (By that I am assuming that means no drywall, etc) We are in the process of looking for our land (Montana) and ours will be at retirement as well. I have been looking at floorplans that have lofts but if the Master Bedroom is upstairs does it have a good bedroom downstairs that will transition in case we start having problems going up and down stairs.

Since you like Westerns, what are your top favorites?

Connie

Jen said...

I'll have to check out that movie, I am not familiar with it.
One things for sure, all the people you talked to are 100% smart for wanting a log home.

Catherine Holman said...

I've seen that video and loved it! I've enjoyed looking at your photos of the log home show. I wish Kansas City would have one of those.
Hugs,
Cathie

Rick and Dianne said...

I'm glad you enjoyed the Expo! I enjoyed seeing the pics. I remember leaving a show a few years ago and dreaming of all the great things that I wanted to buy.

Your pictures brought that all back! I'm glad it was good.

Sondra said...

I just stumbled over this post...I am now reading One Man's Wilderness I purchased the book after viewing the Docutmentary. What an amazing man Mr. Proenneke was. If you visit You Tube and search his name you will find many visitors have posted short vidoes of their trip up to his cabin...so its nice to see how it looks NOW.
Just imagine doing that these days...just go up and homestead a piece of land and build a cabin, within minutes someone would be there to tell you "you cant do that"!