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February 26, 2008

Hello everybody!

WOW!!! It's really happening, we have officially broken ground!

I just got home from Tennessee and am extremely excited about this entire project.
It was great to see the environment the cabin is located in: lakefront, wooded lots with panoramic views that change as the trees go dormant, but always remain beautiful!

I also got to meet with senior builder Ted, as well as Darlene, who is the manufacturer of the log home. They are both very enthusiastic and were really helpful in answering all of my questions about the construction process, the lot rules and regulations and how we can all work together to make sure that this cabin is truly a one of a kind and caters to the bloggers suggestions.

I made sure that all of the pre-existing material on site would remain so that we could later infuse it into the landscape and house surroundings. Hey, it's on our lot, so we want it!

This whole experience is going to be great for all of us! I've never been a part of the cabin-building process. I have worked in production landscaping for awhile and got to see the process of production homes (track homes) being built. Watching how the various construction trades are executed and the craftsmanship involved reflects the same level of professionalism of our DIY Network experts To actually make decisions on behalf of the bloggers in this case is going to be very cool, and you couldn't ask for a better representative on your behalf!

Keep in touch!
Ahmed

Me with the crew at the groundbreaking of Blog Cabin 2008.

Posted by ahassan at 10:08 AM | Comments (272) | TrackBack

February 25, 2008

Kitchen Features, Flooring, plus a Surprise Category

That's right, faithful and cheery bloggers, more features are here to face judgment. This two-week run has you deciding bathroom fixtures (three great choices: think about the entire cabin as you decide), kitchen sink (I sense a battle brewing on this one), kitchen backsplash, rear foyer flooring, a basement Man Caves theme and - reiterating that we have a sense of humor around here - you, and you, and you (and especially YOU) will decide whether one of our contractors, Simon (yes, from Season 1 of Blog Cabin) keeps his beard or not!

Feel free to defend your choices below. If you are a first-time blogger, we want to hear from you! Don't let the regulars have all the fun ...

Posted by whawkins at 12:04 PM | Comments (203) | TrackBack

February 14, 2008

Darlene Branim Reports on Changes to Blog Cabin 2008

Allow me to introduce Darlene Branim, CEO of Barna Log Homes. She has graciously taken the time to note all the suggestions made by bloggers that were woven into the San Jacinto floor plan:

NEW San Jacinto images below!

Hello Everyone! Here's a list of the modifications so far:

• Bathtub inserted into one of the upstairs bathrooms. We were able to make this work with out changing the size of the dormer which allowed us to keep the home symmetrical on the road elevation and without losing any closet space. Although a little tight, we were able to get a full size bathtub/shower combo in the room with the water closet and a pedestal sink. It worked out very nicely.
• Since many people thought the out door living space off the master bedroom was going to be an outdoor kitchen instead of an owner’s private porch, we moved the porch to the lake side of the home coming off the great room and closer to the kitchen and dining room.
• We then changed the fireplace to a dual fireplace (indoor and outdoor) on the log wall thus allowing for a full view of the lake for the new outdoor living area.
• Because we needed to change access to the new outdoor living space, we made the fixed glass units on each side of the fireplace to operable swinger doors.
• Now that we no longer needed a side entrance from the master bedroom to the private porch, we moved the two windows to the side wall of the master bedroom and added a double door to the deck/porch side of the master bedroom for access and to match the dining room wing.
• Bloggers wanted to see more glass in the fireplace gable end of the home so we added fixed trapezoid on each side of the fireplace to allow more natural light and to open up a view of the lake from the loft upstairs.
• For a little variety, we added garden window at the kitchen sink.
• Most everyone wanted to see a larger pantry and laundry room, so we replaced the home office with the laundry room and made the old laundry closet into a nice size pantry.
• Although not requested by the bloggers, we added a small arch window to the rear foyer wing and changed the window size from a single to a double to match the master bath wing. This really made things look balanced from the road elevation.

The original design was to have a detached two car garage connecting to the home with a breezeway at the rear foyer wing; however, the lot size just would not accommodate the length of the overall structure, so we planned for the driveway to be moved to the other side of the home (Master Bedroom side) and we have changed the home from a crawl space foundation to a full size walk-out basement. Now the garage will be in the basement of the home underneath the master bedroom.

The stairs are stacked so we have access from the basement coming up into the great room just outside the dining/kitchen wall. We would have normally flipped the master bedroom and kitchen wings, however with this particular design and since we have load bearing points instead of load bearing walls, we could not flip these wings as the staircase would then be in the way in the basement preventing us from driving into the garage as we now must do.

I believe that we have a very nice open flowing floor plan focusing on the lake with great entertainment and outdoor living spaces, yet accommodating a very narrow lot and working with the natural lay of the land so we do not disturb or take away from the beauty of the lot and the adjoining lots.

This has been fun and educational and I look forward to continuing to work with the bloggers as we design and build this house together.

Darlene Branim, CEO
Barna Log Homes

Left Elevation
Road Side Elevation
Right Elevation
Lakeside Elevation
1st Floor
2nd Floor

Note: If you are opening the images in Explorer, allow your cursor to hover at the bottom, right-hand corner of the image - this should enable the "expand" option providing you with a larger image view.

Posted by whawkins at 3:58 PM | Comments (498) | TrackBack

February 11, 2008

Another Five Features for Your Consideration ...

Warm greetings to you, Wonderful Bloggers,

As many of you have discovered, five substantial Blog Cabin voting features have come your way: wood flooring (gratuitous plug alert: powered by our friends at Lumber Liquidators), exterior stain, window style, master bath style and guest bath style. I am here merely to "restart" the conversation - as many of you have discovered the rhythm that we have established, i.e. new voting features = new blog entry.

This won't always be the case. In fact, later this week we'll be hearing from Darlene Branim, the CEO of Barna Log Homes, who will provide a full report on modifications to the San Jacinto floor plan - all suggested by YOU, the bloggers! You won't want to miss it.

Your servant,
Watson, Manager, DIYnetwork.com

P.S.
I have received some stinging criticism of the blog "refresh" schedule. I'm hurt you guys. I want to reassure you that I do my best. Also, if you don't see your criticism published, rest easy: I got the message.
We value you, trusty bloggers, so look for more refreshes throughout the business day. And, starting Feb. 16, anticipate weekend refreshes. You heard that right - even if I have to duck into Panera Bread with my laptop on a sunny Saturday, expect a couple of refreshes before Monday.

Posted by whawkins at 2:32 PM | Comments (329) | TrackBack