Story

Jen, Timber (the Great Pyrenees Dog) & Sean Surat

Jen and Sean met in 1995 while attending Lyndon State College in Lyndonville, Vermont.

In 1999, we both received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. Three years later we were married and pursuing a long time dream of building a log home…ourselves! Well, not entirely by ourselves, our family and friends turned out to be our biggest asset from day one.

Jen’s parents had built a log home in the 1970’s and so Jen’s Dad, John took on the title of Construction Manager, and Jen’s Mom took on the head Chef title! (Cooking on the woodstove can lead to some interesting meals!) John’s brothers’ Lindsey and Michael and their families generously contributed lots of hours as well. Other helpers included: Jen’s sister – Jody Simanskas, Matt Bradford, Sean’s Mom and Step Dad-Darleen Surat and Mike Stebelus, Ann Salerno (wall paper specialist), Matt & Lora Villeneuve, Dave and Brynn Evans, Mike and Denise Stuart, Suzie and Dan Hedding, Ryan Larocque, Sean’s Dad -Chuck Surat, Joanne Gamble (local dowser), Shane and Richard Stevenson, Dana Young, Ken Christman, Chris Colby, Callan Boardman, and Brendan Boardman. We thank each and every one of them for their help!

We both loved the look of a rustic hand peeled log home and we decided to go with a log home company in Massachusetts called Country Log Homes. Since we all held regular 8:00 AM-5:00 PM day jobs, it took a good two years of working nights, weekends and all of our vacation time before we felt comfortable using the word “completed”. (Even now, it feels strange to use that word.) For the most part, we all had so much fun and truly enjoyed the overall experience. Occasionally, we would all arrive to work on the cabin and make a unanimous decision to send everyone home and take a day off to readjust our attitudes and try to remember how blessed we truly were!

Working on the cabin for two years became more then something that just needed to be done to have a roof over our heads and when we started to run out of work, the long winters brought us to rustic furniture making! With the heart and soul we put into our log cabin, we started building rustic hand peeled log furnishings. Not only did it help us furnish our cabin but it also helped to fill a void for our need to build and it hopefully gave some joy to the new owners of our keepsakes!

Sean actually hand peels every log with an old fashion hand peeler and assembles each piece by taking the logs size, shape and unique natural qualities into consideration. Once completed, Jen uses a wood burning pen to decorate the backs of chairs and benches. Jen’s love for wood burning started in her parent’s sugarhouse when she was six years old. She did numerous charcoal drawings waiting for the maple sap to boil to the right consistency.

Working together, our goal is to create a memorable and usable keepsake that will give someone as much enjoyment as we receive in its creation.

Most of our orders are custom designs and ideas of our customers. If you have an idea, please let us know!