Tennessee Couple Builds Forever Home for Family

Why wait to have the log home of your dreams? That’s a question Connie and Alex Diamond asked themselves as their family began to grow, and the answer was very clear — go for it now!

“We really wanted our log home to be a retreat for us,” says Connie. “We are a close-knit family and value doing things together. We also place a lot of value on the simple things in life.”

The couple poured over floor plans from a variety of sources, including Honest Abe Log Homes, all of which inspired Alex to design a custom home manufactured by Honest Abe that encapsulated their desires for the home where they are raising their children and plan to grow old together.

“We both love being in nature and felt a log cabin would capture our dream of a home that is rustic, warm, unique and would incorporate elements of the outdoors,” says Alex, who is a pediatric sports medicine physician at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital and a team physician for Vanderbilt University, the Nashville Predators and Nashville Sounds.

While exterior walls are D-log, the 3,165-square-foot home’s interior employs both log and timber frame design elements. There are multiple heavy-timber beams in the great room. A large breakfast nook is nestled into a half-hexagon timber frame alcove. All the bookshelves and trim work were custom made as were the live-edge mantels that were hand-hewn by an Amish craftsman from a fallen tree from the Diamonds’ first home together.

“I didn’t want a typical log home style,” says Connie, who designed the home’s interiors. “I wanted a hybrid design of rustic log home and farmhouse with unique flairs that combined many styles.”

The couple wanted the house to feel comfortable, open and peaceful.

“I love color combos of blues and grays with pops of yellows and greens,” Connie says of her design choices. “I wanted our home to be an extension of the outside with different colored woods and colors and feel of nature. I love the combo of natural stone and wood. This is a place where our family will be making memories, so it needed to be personal and approachable.”

Alex says that the decision not to wait until retirement to build was an easy one.

“We wanted the kids to grow up in our forever home and have those memories that they can share with their kids one day,” he says. “We chose as a family to live in a slower and simpler environment close to nature.”

The Diamonds designed their exterior spaces for immersion in nature. The 956-square-foot wrap-around porch terminates into a screened-in outdoor living space complete with a real stone fireplace, a television and room for sitting or casual dining. The adjacent patio is crafted from huge rocks harvested from the land, which is a mixture of forest and pasture and a creek, secluded but close to the historic town of Lebanon, Tenn.

“We prayed for a piece of land that connected us to nature,” Connie says. “We desired a refuge for our family, our friends and anyone who came to visit. That’s why we named our spot ‘Haven on the Hill.’ We love our sunrises, sunsets and the 360-degree view of the surrounding hills during the day and the city lights off in the distance at night…breathtaking views from our great room windows.”

Story by Claudia Johnson
Photography by Brandon Malone
Used by permission of Log and Timber Home Magazine