A Hybrid Getaway Built with Love and Support

A resilient Arizona couple braves a family crisis while crafting a distinctive hybrid home getaway — and finds unexpected support along the way.

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Choosing a front door that could match the energy of the massive cedar posts and Douglas fir trusses was a challenge that took the homeowners to an artisan door maker. “A company out of Tijuana, Mexico, right on Revolution Boulevard made that door — 9 feet tall, 3 1/2 feet wide and 2 1/2 inches thick,” says Gary. (They also contributed each of the knotty-alder interior doors to the project.)

Written by Suzanna Logan

Photography courtesy of Summit Log & Timber Homes

Seasoned firefighter Gary Smith is always up for a challenge. He proved his affinity for high-stakes situations throughout his career as a captain with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, and his can-do, problem-solving chops while working in his off-duty hours as a framer. His construction expertise led him to build several homes over the years that he’s shared with his wife, Laura. “We had built five homes,” he says, “but we had never done log.”

Setting their sights on a cool mountain getaway to escape the heat of their Arizona home, Gary was ready to try his hand at a new kind of project. But a simple, straightforward design wouldn’t do. “I’m not scared to do something different, and it was exciting and fun to work through that process,” he says. The couple’s desire for a one-of-a-kind look led Gary to dream up a post-and-beam log hybrid with an easy-flowing layout and a host of stand-out features.

For starters, he was determined to create a big impact before visitors ever stepped through the front door of the Big Bear, California retreat. “We wanted people from the outside to say, ‘Hey, that looks like a pretty cool home.’” To create a lasting first impression, the Smiths chose four cedar posts to stand sentinel at the covered entry. “You don’t realize just how massive these logs are until you get near them,” he says. It may be the home’s first element of surprise, but it’s far from the last.

“I wanted there to be a ‘wow’ factor as soon as you open the door,” he explains. Rather than relying on soaring ceilings with timber trusses to create the effect, Gary took a different approach with the round Douglas fir logs that comprise the frame. “We wanted you to be able to walk in and be up close and personal with the logs,” he says.

That first step into the single-story home takes you into a world of intricate woodwork at every turn. “Your eyes immediately go to the ceiling, and the trusses spanning across the family room draw you to the tree in the middle, and you just go, ‘Whoa!’” The “tree” Gary is referring to is actually a cedar post supporting the back of the home. “It’s a 42-inch-diameter, flared cedar, like the ones at the entrance, but we brought in a local carver to add the roots and branches with her chainsaw,” he says.

With a skip-peel finish, the tree looks as if it sprang up from the ground, with the house forming around its undulating, intertwined branches. “I wanted it to look like all of those surrounding trusses were growing up out of it,” says Gary. Its visual and tactile appeal is undeniable. “Everybody that comes in immediately touches it,” he says.

Pulling off the unusual log work throughout the house required the right team, and early on, the Smiths partnered with Summit Log & Timber Homes. The company’s extra-mile approach is what initially sold Gary on the company. “I drew up my plans and sent them over, and I was wondering ‘How do you make these connections for these trusses,’ and they emailed me engineered schematics before I even hired them,” he says.

Summit owner Robert Lockerby sheds more light on the creation of the complex log canopy: “Gary wanted it to look like the logs had melted together. We had to scribe each area of contact to fit the adjacent log perfectly and conceal steel knife plates inside those connections.”

This was just the beginning of Summit’s above-and-beyond approach. The Smiths had begun building during the pandemic, and supply chain issues and labor delays were par for the course. But even that wasn’t the greatest challenge the couple would have to overcome. Their daughter, Lindsey, had been diagnosed with a brain tumor and was scheduled for surgery the week after their logs were to arrive. The couple figured they would have just enough time to put up the frame. Then, Robert called with news that threatened to derail their tight construction timeline. “He said the logs were going to be delayed,” recalls Gary, “but I explained our family situation, and within an hour he called me back and promised the logs would be there on time.”

“When we found out what was going on with his daughter, that was a rallying point for the project,” adds Robert. “There was this young woman struggling with brain surgery, and to see her courage made any kind of challenges we faced through the project pale in comparison.”

Even in the rush to get the home shipped out, the crew took the time to add another special layer to the build. They gathered in front of the Smiths home for a picture while it was still assembled in the Summit log yard before being loaded onto the trucks. “That Christmas, we got a card in the mail, and they had used that photo as their company Christmas card,” shares Gary. “The crew was wearing their hard hats, and they all had a silver bow on the side, representing awareness for brain cancer.”

As promised, the logs arrived on schedule and even the truck driver inquired about Lindsey, Gary recalls. He gathered his construction crew — consisting of himself, Laura, four cousins and a crane — and set to work. They erected the frame in four days, narrowly missing a storm that blanketed the area with 4 feet of snow. The good news continued with their daughter’s successful surgery, and soon after, the couple returned to complete the house. They subbed out the roofing, drywall and stucco but rolled up their sleeves for the rest. “We do everything on our houses — the concrete, tractor work, electrical, plumbing, tile, painting — you name it,” says Gary.

Fourteen-hour days continued for months. “It’s fun at first, but after a while you start thinking, ‘There is something better I could be doing,’ but we know the look we want, and there is no easy way to get it,” Gary says.

Now, with the work behind them, he often reflects on the construction process from the interiors of their cozy, comfortable log home. He relates the journey to a woman giving birth: “It’s long and painful, but as soon as it’s done, you forget about the pain and are left with something beautiful.”