Most avid readers know that to get the most out of a book, it’s important to know as much as possible about its author. When it comes to other matters of interest, that premise can be as helpful as it can be informative.
Just ask Lynne and Chris Burt, owners of a beautiful home in a meadowed and wooded notch of northern Bern Township. That house has a story, and the Burts are the authors.
The couple knew they wanted to build the home of their dreams on the 9.5-acre property Chris had purchased in the mid-1990s. Both were leaning toward wood construction. Lynne favored a farmhouse style. Chris was set on something a bit more modern, with an emphasis on energy efficiency and sustainability.
In their first years together, the couple lived in a traditional Cape Cod-style house in Huntingdon Valley, Montgomery County. Prior to that, Chris resided in the little house on his property.
“We liked the house, but we loved what we collected, and we couldn’t fit everything,” Lynne says. “So, we started thinking about building.”
They sold the Huntingdon Valley residence, put most everything in storage, and lived in the little cottage. During that time, they “staked out the house in the field,” Lynne says.
Wood they?
In doing their research, the couple went to a log home show. The first person they spoke with represented Katahdin Cedar Log Homes and Arborwall Solid Cedar Homes, sister firms based in Oakfield, ME.
The couple learned that the companies can lead homeowners on the path from land acquisition to finished product. In the Burts’ case, the first step was already done.
They were so impressed by the meeting that they decided to visit the corporate headquarters, making the stop part of a full-fledged New England vacation.
The Burts learned that all the northern white cedar trees milled are grown in northern Maine and southern Canada. At one time, the wood had been used for railroad ties and telephone poles. Now, it is geared toward residential construction.
“These are fast-growing trees,” says Chris. “There is no clear cutting on the land and re-foresting is managed responsibly.”
The couple, in addition to seeing the trees and the mills, also got to spend time with the company CEO.
“It was so important to have someone at the head of this so thoughtful and so into the conservation aspect,” says Lynne.
“When we were driving away, I said: ‘I’d love to do that’,” recalls Chris, adding “I could get really excited about the design and making it work.”
Growing a House
The couple, who would go on to be professionally affiliated with both the Katahdin and Arborwall companies, got started on their own house about six years ago.
The 1.5-story home with its distinctive gull-wing roof line was positioned near the “little cottage” as the couple now calls the original house. It sits back on a graveled lane where patches of grass poke through the center and splashes of black-eyed Susans and Queen Anne’s Lace greet those entering off the main township road on sunny late summer days.
In honoring nature, Chris says the house was aligned for the best views of sunrise and sunset.
The construction of the 2,700-square-foot, three-bedroom house was done by Highline Construction of Christiana, Lancaster County, and was entirely accomplished with solid 6-by-6-inch milled interconnecting stacked timbers. The exterior finish can best be described as clapboard. Arborwall construction involves interlocking corners and tongue-and-groove joinery. Utilizing all that specific craftsmanship results in what the company describes as “a continuous wall of solid cedar timbers around the entire perimeter of the home.”
The couple designed the unique house, an intriguing combination of Lynne’s farmhouse and Chris’s modern tastes.
While the natural cedar is light in color – and often stained to maintain that look – the Burts were leaning toward something more dramatic. Originally experimenting with a scrap wood sample, they favored a steel blue hue. But the more they debated, they drifted more than half way around the color wheel to a barn red and went with that as the exterior color.
“It’s a fun process if you can work together,” says Chris.
Attaching the Great Outdoors
Outdoor living space was important to the couple. To that end, huge porches, posts and floors painted in grays that pay tribute to their love of beach life, were constructed all around the house. The side porches are 10-feet wide and the front and back porches are 8-feet wide. Two porches are screened in to keep gnats and other too-friendly country critters out. One screened porch soars 25 feet to the roofline.
A variety of outdoor furnishings adorn the porches, ranging from Adirondack chairs to wicker to nicely cushioned chairs to a café table. Each vignette provides just the right niche for reading, conversing, dining al fresco or simply contemplating the bucolic surrounds.
“These add lots of outdoor living space,” Lynne says, noting with special delight that the master bedroom opens on to one of the expansive porches.
Much of the interior wall space is either a light cedar or slightly white-washed finish, again echoing an airy, beachy feel.
“Women have told me this is like Joanna Gaines’ house,” says Lynne. Not familiar with the famous Waco, TX, HGTV home remodeler and her husband, Chip, Lynne had to do some quick research. The result was pride in the compliment.
The main floor, with kitchen, dining and living room areas is an open concept. The eclecticism of the Burts’ tastes is evident in the juxtapositioning of dark wooden cabinets and stainless-steel appliances in the kitchen and fairly traditional furnishings in the living and dining areas.
Business at Home
Work space was also critical in considering the design. The couple has adjoining offices in the upper loft level of the home. A cluster of windows done in rectangular, triangular and trapezoid shapes lure in the sunlight. A white-washed tint was the choice for Lynne, a sales professional, while Chris, a computer programmer, elected to accent the natural wood and chose a clear-coat stain.
While home office space was always important, it took on new importance as COVID-19 changed the traditional way of on-site work to remote. The pandemic and its limitations also changed the nature of the Burts’ Arborwall and Katahdin business.
Just as they had followed the construction process years earlier, the Burts decided they had the combined skills to create their own business, Naturally Home Consulting, based at their home.
“This is very much of a partnership,” says Chris. “Lynne has the people skills, while I’m more into the technical side of things. Lynne has helped design and decorate for our customers. We’ve had a lot of fun.”
Indeed, Chris’ expertise allows clients to virtually tour a house plan while it is being designed and to make changes they choose.
Pre-COVID, the Burts would attend events such as the Kempton and Oley fairs, home shows, even the LBI (Long Beach Island) Chowderfest, armed with materials showcasing the highlights and diverse designs of Arborwall and Katahdin homes.
Potential customers ready to start the building process got a special treat: an open house at the Burt’s Bern Township residence.
Now, the purchase of indoor and outdoor drones is in the cards so the couple can create a virtual tour of the property and the exterior and interior of the house. This tour will complement the photos on their company website, naturallyhomeconsulting.com.
The Beach and Berks and Beyond
The Burts, as of late summer, were in the process of designing several homes, including an 1,800-square-foot house in Brick Township, NJ, north of Long Beach Island where Chris grew up and his family still resides.
When it comes to Arborwall, there are no geographic limitations, but their Katahdin Cedar Log Homes franchise region covers just southern New Jersey, and Berks and Schuylkill counties.
In Berks County, the Burts guided the construction of a more traditional log home in the Landis Store area.
This, they noted, is an example of how long the sales cycle can be. In this case, someone they’d met three years earlier contacted them about building a home on his grandfather’s property.
“This was an emotional buy for them, not an investment property as it is for many,” says Lynne, who noted the rustic nature of the home, complete with taxidermy trophies displayed on the walls. “The owners want to live in it, pass it along, and incorporate it into their family history.”
The Burts believe the future is a bright one for their franchise. They have been featured in Log Home Living magazine. The company does significant national advertising, from print to social media platforms, and its CEO continues to be a presence in Washington, DC, advocating for the conservation and sustainability in the industry. The couple remains in fairly constant contact with his son, now a vice president of the company.
Back home, Lynne and Chris continue to take pride in their one-of-a-kind country house. The little cottage, now largely used by Chris for work and hobby, bears this sign above the repurposed black barn doors that serve as an entry: “Love Grows Best in a Little House.” For this couple, it certainly started there.
They plan to get back on the road, promoting their business, as soon as COVID-19 restrictions hit the pike.
And this time, they’ll be taking their home on the highways and byways in the form of a new RV which will provide the storage they need for traveling to shows and fairs.
“We really bought it for the business,” says Lynne.
They are building a pole barn on their land to protect it. And they look forward, accompanied by their faithful yellow Labrador Bob, to seeing more of the USA and, in turn, to showing folks far and wide the process and ultimate joy of living in a cedar home that honors the environment through beauty and sustainability.
“We were the customers before,” says Chris, “and this allows us to take a different approach.”
