The Scheuler Home

When Jim and Nancy Schueler of Hamilton, Montana, set out to build their fourth log home, they wanted a design that would take full advantage of the 250-acre property’s breathtaking views of the magnificent Bitterroot Mountain Range. The result was a sprawling home situated on a knob in the Bitterroot Valley, with expansive windows in every room to offer panoramic views of the surrounding mountains. “We wanted to design a house with a view from every room, and we accomplished that,” says Jim. About 75 percent of the house is full Swedish-cope log with chinking—all Douglas fir logs ranging from 9 inches to 18 inches in diameter—and saddle-notched corners. The rest of the home is conventionally framed and covered with Rocky Mountain’s dovetail siding and historical board and batt siding to enhance the home’s turn-of-the-century frontier appeal. Committed to green practices, the company harvests its logs from naturally seasoned, dry-standing timber, Jim says. That allows the company to save live, green trees while producing logs that will experience less settling. “Douglas fir is very strong, durable, and beautiful,” Jim says. “And because it’s dry wood, the shrink is already out of it. It’s really stable.” The open floorplan, with the kitchen, dining room, and great room flowing together, features a vaulted whitewashed ceiling and an exposed heavy timber roof system with fir trusses and round purlins.