Compiled by Katherine Owen
Photos by Myra Billings
Designer/builder: Old Hickory Log Homes and Construction
Readers Myra and Steve Billings may live on the eastern seaboard, but they found the inspiration — and the materials — for their log home on the opposite coast. Here’s how they built their dream forever home using 12-inch-round Engelmann spruce and lodgepole pine logs from British Columbia, inspired by the log cabins of the mountain west.
Myra: My husband, Steve, took me out west about 25 years ago for one of our anniversaries, and we got a rental car and then just drove. We saw all kinds of places—Wyoming, Montana, Glacier National Park. But what struck me the most were the beautiful log homes. I was blown away by the way they used big logs. The dream started then, and I began ordering [what was then] Log Home Living and really any magazine with a log home in it. I studied them, and then I began to design our dream log home in my head and on paper.
In 2019, I was the caregiver for my dad in his final days before he died of colon and pancreatic cancer. One of his favorite hymns in church was a song that said: “Lord, build me a cabin in the corner of Gloryland.” He assured me that, when he got to heaven, he would do just that—start a log cabin in the corner of Gloryland for me, and I assured him I would one day build me one here on Earth. I finally did.
Years before, I had met a custom log home builder, Paul Norman at Old Hickory Log Homes and Construction, and I knew then that he would build my home one day. He builds the most beautiful log homes, and he makes sure you are happy every step of the way.
The home we designed and built with him is one of a kind. We had built another home that we’d lived in for 33 years, so I knew what I would change with this house. I kept a lot of the same features, but I wanted larger closets and a butler’s pantry. (So I could close the door and leave a mess in there!) Our other home had a lot of glass, and I wanted this one to have that as well.
Paul made the process so fun that, even at 73, I was not stressed in any way. He is truly the inspiration and magic behind what came to be our beautiful, 3,000-square-foot, ranch-style log home with stunning 26-foot-tall glass windows and a huge, open great room that overlooks a small mountain.
While my dad never got to see my log home, my mom was able to see it two days before she passed in 2024. It made my heart so happy to know that she saw the beauty I saw in this home. It really was a lifelong dream for me, and now it feels like I can’t wake up. I just walk around in our new home and smile.
