Log Home Plans and Log Cabin Plans

What comes to mind when you imagine a log home plan? A small, snow-covered cabin with smoke coming out its chimney? How about a grand, lodge-like rustic retreat that overlooks a peaceful lake? Whatever you're envisioning, we're sure to have a log cabin house plan that's perfect for you. Modern log home plans are designed in a variety of styles using wood logs as the primary building component. Gable roofs and rectilinear designs are characteristic, since odd angles and complicated outlines are expensive and difficult to achieve. Outdoor living, whether simple or extravagant, is also frequently seen in log home floor plans. The development of America's early log cabin plans was influenced by the Homestead Act of 1862, which gave homesteaders rights to open land, but required that they cultivate it and build homes at least ten by twelve feet in size, with at least one glass window. Today's log house plans cover a wide range of designs, from homes with true log walls, to designs where logs are used only as special effects.