Honest Abe designer Michael Hix was featured in the Macon County Times for his role in Honest Abe’s national award for design of the Cambridge floor plan used to build the Crossville, Tenn., Honest Abe Model Home.
Macon County resident Michael Hix, a designer for Honest Abe Log Homes, has been recognized with the highest award presented for log home industry design.
Honest Abe was the first place winner of the 2016 Jerry Rouleau Award for Excellence in Home Design in the category of Outstanding Model Log Home Sales Center for its Cambridge home plan, which Hix designed for the company’s Crossville Sales Center.
“Michael was given the challenge of creating a building that would incorporate the elements customers want to see when they are in the decision-making process into a floor plan that could stand alone as a home without feeling like a model or showroom,” said Josh Beasley, President of Honest Abe Log Homes.
Beasley said that Hix demonstrated his talents for design and collaboration during the Cambridge project.
“Taking input from a multitude of people throughout our company and creating a design from scratch that has captivated so many log home enthusiasts is no small feat,” Beasley added.
Hix said that the house is a compilation of numerous suggestions and requests by other Honest Abe team members.
“Usually, I’m working on a plan with an individual or a couple, so this was a bit more challenging because so many people’s ideas were involved,” Hix explained, “but it came together.”
Hix designed the house, which is visible from I-40 at Crossville, to present two very different looks depending on the approach. From one direction the structure gives the impression of a traditional log home, while the opposing entry highlights its timber frame components.
“Both facades are eye-catching,” Beasley said, adding that the home’s beauty and innovative design caught the eye of the editor of Log Home Living.
The model was selected it as an eight-page feature in the internationally distributed magazine’s March 2016 issue. An inviting photograph of the Cambridge’s great room adorns the magazine’s cover.
“It’s highly unusual for the sales model of a log home producer to even be considered for publication in a magazine,” said Beasley. “Having the Cambridge on the front cover of Log Home Living speaks to how innovative and beautiful the model and the Cambridge design really is.”
Beasley said that the annual award presented by the National Association of Home Builders Building Systems Councils that recognized Hix’s design talent is intensely competitive and is judged by an independent panel of industry experts.
“Mike creates excellent work, so it is great to see individual accomplishment recognized in this setting,” Beasley said.
To view photos of the Cambridge and download Hix’s floor plans, visit www.honestabe.com/cambridge-model-home.
