In Love with Log Homes
It was after the Kaikoura earthquake that Christine Hilton really fell in love with the idea of a log home.
Words: Pattie Pegler Images: Supplied
In Love with Log Homes
She met a couple who had been through the quake in their log home. Whilst their bed broke apart and windows smashed, the logs all stayed together and kept the place standing. They credited those logs with saving their lives. So when Christine returned to her home near Geraldine, she bought a 1 hectare section of Douglas fir trees, in Twizel, and started plans with an architect for a two bedroom log cabin. She then enrolled on a local log building course run by Graeme Mould of Natural Log Homes. “It’s an international log building course and people come from all over to attend,” she explains.
Using logs sourced from the local Geraldine forest, she set to work. It was a three week course and brought plenty of challenges not least of which was accurate chain-sawing and hand-peeling Douglas fir logs in 30° temperatures everyday and she had to juggle this with her work as a volunteer ambulance officer. But she thoroughly enjoyed her time working on her log cabin – and even got kitted out with a pink chainsaw and had the odd bit of help from her young grandsons. “They just loved the logs,” she says with a laugh.
The full build of the home took six months from start to finish. Whilst the log cabin was started during the course, it was completed by the Natural Log Homes team which took around three months. “It’s then put in a container with the logs all numbered and put together on site, like a jigsaw,” says Christine.
Meanwhile the builder, Laine from High Country Carpentry, had already laid the foundations on the 1ha site.
The cabin now stands amid the Douglas fir trees at Christine’s section. By day fantails flit around and by night the Mackenzie sky is a cluster of stars. Inside the finished log cabin, sunlight pours in and white, bright décor is balanced by the beautiful natural wood of the exposed logs. But they don’t just look good - they are very strong, very sturdy and also act as a great insulation, says Christine.
The home is now available for all to enjoy and bookable through Airbnb. But Christine has spent plenty of time enjoying the result of her handiwork and has clear memories of the very first night she slept in the cabin. “The first night sleeping here was amazing,” she says. “The main bedroom is on a mezzanine level and with the windows it almost feels like you’re in the trees and then there are all the fantails flitting about outside in the morning.”
This truly is a unique home in style and location. “Five years ago I wasn’t interested in log houses,” says Christine. “But now I love them. This cabin is a legacy for my family and it will last way beyond many of the modern houses we build now.”