Our Favorite Feel-Good Timber Home Stories

Tragedy struck Last Chance Corral (LCC), a horse rescue organization that takes in abandoned, neglected, mistreated or surrendered horses, the summer of 2018 when a tree fell on the barn the horses live in. Thankfully, no horses were in the barn during the tree fall. But Victoria Goss, the owner and president of LCC, was in the barn getting ready to bring the horses in when the 20 ton tree hit.  Goss describes the experience as a "boom" she could “taste and feel." She didn't know what happened at the time, but she suspected a gas leak at first. The large, sturdy timber frame beams saved her life that day. Oak Bridge Timber Framing, a family-run, three-generation-business raised on helping others, stepped up to the plate to help them rebuild. Read the full story here.

 

A New Home for Property With Old Family Memories

The owners of The Jackfish Lake Retreat have enjoyed their lakefront lot for years — long before this charming bungalow graced its grounds. Originally, the family owned a 600-square-foot cottage on this property, and they were very attached to all the memories they’d made here. The loss of their grown son to meningitis was a somber reminder that capturing every moment was of utmost importance. So they decided that one of the best things they could do was have a larger place where they could all be together at the lakefront lot they loved. It was a case of right location, wrong house. Now, it’s the memories that remain, and the new ones that are made every day, that give this charming new home its true beauty.   Read the full story here.

Gordon Walker always wanted a house in the mountains with a view of the water. With his timber frame home in Sun Valley, Idaho, he was able to do just that–and leave behind a legacy for his entire family to enjoy. The 9,844-square-foot home in Sun Valley’s Golden Eagle subdivision, a mile from the town of Ketchum, Idaho, began construction in 2003 and took just 16 months to complete. Builder Jim Bishop recalls Gordon's quest for a quick build: “Gordon told us, ‘I don’t buy green bananas.’ He didn’t want to have to wait.” Gordon and his wife, Janice, were able to enjoy a memorable year and a half in the house before he passed away. The home is now in the care of Gordon Jr., who met his wife at the house of the very friend who introduced his dad to the area. Gordon Walker Sr. may be gone, but thanks to his family, his dream lives on. Read the full story here.

 

 

Photo: Allen Mowery

 

“You can’t go back home to your family, back home to your childhood …” wrote famed novelist Thomas Wolfe, “… back home to places in the country … back home to the escapes of Time and Memory.” Pulling a largemouth bass out of the same pond they fished as kids and roaming the 50-acre property that surrounds it, Tom and Scott have a different take on returning to your roots. Both brothers remember spending lazy days on their grandparents' rural property, located just 15 miles from where they grew up. It was their family’s go-to spot for summers and long weekends. It was also a place where trees touched the never-ending sky, pond water seemed clear and inviting and foxes, raccoons, deer — and most of all — young boys, roamed freely. Now, with the addition of one log and one timber home, the only difference is that instead of the family land serving mainly as a summer escape for book-weary boys and family reunions, it’s a perpetual haven, allowing the brothers and their families to continue their close-to-the-land traditions all year round. Read the full story here.