Abe Lincoln, Eat Your Heart Out!

Ever get caught up in the romance, and rustic air of a log cabin? Perhaps childhood tales of rugged frontiers-people living in log homes elicited feelings of adventure. Well, believe it or not, log cabins have come a long way since America’s early days, and the log home is quite a popular style of design, especially in mountainous, wooded areas where the home is complemented very nicely by the surrounding landscape. With that in mind, Country’s Best Log Homes magazine is one of the premier titles devoted to this unique style of homestead. For this review, I have two regular issues, the July 2002 and July 2003 issues, along with a sample of a few “special issues” that are published by this magazine.

Country’s Best Log Homes is published bi-monthly by the Sovereign Media group. Each issue runs more than 140 pages long, and is a very high quality piece of printing. The cover is printed on a very sturdy, glossy stock, with some beautiful picture of a cozy, interior of a log home. Inside, the magazine is loaded with scads of pictures of professionally decorated rooms that accentuate a strong “country” feel that is sure to romance any reader with fantasies a remote “getaway”. Surprisingly, the cover price of the magazine is only $3.99 ($5.99 Canadian), which is a tremendous value. A subscription gives you a slight discount, with a one-year cost of $19.95, and a two-year at $35.95. Subscribing to the magazine will earn you free copies of the magazine’s annual “Buyer’s Guide” catalog.

Like all magazines, Country’s Best Log Homes has regular columns and special features. The regular columns are devoted toward dispensing practical advice in the financing, designing, building, and maintain a log home. The columns you expect to find are:
Design, which discusses some things you may need to consider for your future home, like reducing the amount of maintenance your home will require, or creating suitable quarters for guests.

Money Matters is a column about all things financial, such as securing a mortgage, obtaining proper insurance levels, or questions to ask when refinancing.

Step-By-Step is a column on construction. The 2002 issue has a good column about choosing a roofing system, while the 2003 issue discussing proper foundation techniques.

Ask the Experts is a catch all column, where readers can submit questions on any issues confronted by a log home dweller.

How To… is more practical advice, such as developing a good relationship with your manufacturer’s dealer, or selecting the right floor plan for your needs. This column seems to be geared more toward the beginner, or prospective log homebuyer.

Traditions is a historical piece about some log style building that has been around for a while. For instance, the July 2003 issue takes a look at northeastern Minnesota’s Burnside Lodge, which was built in 1911 as a vacation or retreat locale.

Accessories is a short piece to advertise and review some products that may accentuate your home’s furnishing.

Floor Plans provides some diagrams for some new models available by various building companies. You will find at least 10-15 pages of diagrams, complete with each builder’s contact information. A reader service card is included in each magazine to help facilitate any interest one might acquire in these models.

The main articles are slightly longer features, and provide some good reading, and some helpful information as well. There are usually between six and eight articles per magazine, each running about five or six pages in length. However, because of all the photographs, each article is really not much longer than the columns. They are usually stories about actual people, their experiences in log home owning, or why they chose the specific place of their residence. In my view, the articles are the icing, where the practical information in the columns is the cake.

A few times a year, the publishers of Country’s Best Log Homes will put out some special issues. In the fall of each year, a Buyer’s Guide is produced. I have the 2003 Annual in my hand, and it is a much more substantive piece than the regular issues. It has many of the same contents as a regular issue, i.e. the columns and feature articles, but the guide has a heavily expanded section of directories. There are directories for manufacturers, builders and dealers, and miscellaneous services. Another directory is included to guide a reader to log homes that may be in one’s vicinity. Also, a vast portion in the middle features state-by-state information on open houses, seminars, and more. The floor plans section is also heavily expanded.

Two other special issues produced under this title are Vacation Log Homes and Luxury Log and Timber Homes. These special issues mirror a regular issue in format, only tailoring their content to suit the specific niche described in the title. The Luxury issue is somewhat ironic, since my thought on most of the stuff I find in the regular issues is that most of these homes are way too expensive for my meager circumstances.

Overall, Country’s Best Log Homes is a very good magazine that caters to a specific niche of homebuyer and homeowner. I would recommend at least one issue to anyone who enjoys home design. Otherwise, this magazine is only for those people who are serious about living in a home made from logs. I thought that despite being one huge advertisement for various builders, designers, and such, the way this magazine is laid out makes it seem as though it is smoothly bridging the gap between suppliers and customers. As such, I give this magazine a rating of four and one quarter stars.