Honest Abe Living, July 2019
Log Cabin Offers Escape for Nashville Couple
Larry and Pam Swift completed their new nine-room Honest Abe Log Homes cabin in 2018. The 1,750-square-foot D-log house was created from Honest Abe’s Darlington B plan with some customizations like the addition of a covered back porch. Indiana natives, the Swifts have lived in Nashville since their marriage in 1967 and maintain a home there to be near Larry’s job at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
The cabin has become an escape retreat for the couple, their children and grandchildren. Log Home Living has selected the home’s floor plan for inclusion in its September 2019 issue, which hits newsstands later this month.
The Swifts recently shared their journey though planning and building their country cabin along with photos of the finished home with Honest Abe.
Log Home Tips
Staining Logs with the Back Brush Method
Perma-Chink Systems, whose products are included in Honest Abe packages, provides instruction on how homeowners can manually stain logs using the back-brush technique.
Learn How
Creating a Custom Mid-Sized Floor Plan
Honest Abe is constantly being asked about mid-sized floor plans, and we have a variety of standard and custom designs to consider when creating the exact plan you need.
Fall Log and Timber Home Tour
Plan to attend the Honest Abe Log Home 2019 Fall Log and Timber Home Tour on August 24. It’s a free event, but tickets are required.
Take a Virtual Tour of Honest Abe Cookeville
Honest Abe’s Cookeville model home created from the Bellewood plan recently had an interior re-design when Molly Copper of Cooper & Co. worked her magic on the house.
Why use an interior designer?
The director of Honest Abe’s new interior design company discusses how an interior designer can help bring your vision to life.
Summer Salad of Brussel Sprouts
Honest Abe Log Homes has partnered with Lodge Cast Iron to share variety of recipes the Tennessee-based, family-owned iron cookware manufacturing company has developed for use with its numerous products.
This easy summer recipe for a Salad of Brussel Sprouts is from its Lodge Cast Iron Nation: Great American Cooking from Coast to Coast cookbook.
Featured Floor Plan
The Swift home featured in this issue is a modified Darlington B plan from Honest Abe’s original design collection.
Celebrating 40 Years
First Honest Abe Log Homes Catalog Included 12 Plans
When Honest Abe Log Homes started log home production in 1979 only 12 standard plans were offered, which customers could – as they can today – modify to suit their tastes and needs. Customers could also supply their own plans or have the company create an original plan. One of the company’s early homeowners saved all the marketing materials she and her husband collected when they began planning their home around 1980, including this first catalog.
“We had a catalog with plans for 12 models with the front page showing Abe Lincoln holding an ax on his shoulder and propping his foot on the H of the Honest Abe logo. He was looking at a completed log home. Today, as I think back, it seems incredible.” – Honest Abe Log Homes’ first president, Rick Denton, in his 2019 book, “Honest Abe Log Homes Memories, Information & Stories.”
