What if I told you that you’re looking down the path to your freedom?

Deep down everybody wants freedom, right?

Freedom from the traffic, the mortgage, the rent, the 9-to-5 monotony… so why is everyone still living a life restricted to the confines of society? Understandably taking few holidays a year takes the edge off, but your life could be just one big holiday!

There are many ways to create your own freedom, but imagine getting away from it all and living the dream life. It sounds like a lot of hard work, it sounds like the sacrifices are just too great, but as a wise person once said;

You can’t start a new chapter in your life without ending the old one.

Here are 8 reasons that ending that old chapter and starting a new one might just be the best idea you’ve ever had to go and live in log cabin home.

1. Economic Freedom

Many people I have spoken to over the years say they want to escape the rat race – be free from debt.

Today’s society is slowly but surely turning away from the conventional mind-set that to live a good life you must follow the set ‘rules of life’.

Get a good education, get a well-paid job, settle down, get married, buy a house… get into hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of debt, so you can carry on working your butt-off to pay for the fancy house, the fancy car…There must be another way?

Countless people have escaped the pressures of city life, and retreated to the woods to live a more peaceful, less stressful life in their cabin homes.

A smaller log home, quite simply, equates to more freedom and less stress.

2. Go Green

Natural resources are being depleted by careless human consumption; this is leading to environmental problems and disturbing the natural ecological balance.

I don’t know about you but I feel guilty when I throw away something that can’t be recycled, I feel that I’ve done the world an injustice.

Now obviously there are many different ways to make a log cabin, but up-cycling seems to be the cheapest and best way for the environment.

Even if you were to buy timber from a sustainability certified source, you have still reduced your carbon footprint by a huge amount compared to using traditional building materials; e.g. mortar, cement, plaster.

Building a log home sustainably is something that is, rightly so, of upmost importance to a lot of people and so is the right ethos.

Timber is one of the most sustainable materials there is, if you buy from a sustainable source, more trees must be planted for each one that is harvested. Logs are completely renewable, once it is no longer viable to restore a log home; the wood has many more uses such as wood chips or being used as fuel.

The construction process of building a log home typically uses much less energy than that of a conventional home; they can also be constructed in a shorter time-span than the conventional home too thus reducing your carbon footprint exponentially.

3. Cost Savings

With the demand of log cabins on the rise, building your own is now a profitable investment. Cabins can be built as inexpensively or as expensively as you wish; you are in control of the final spend.

Log cabins are energy-efficient and you can therefore expect a decrease in your utility bills. Logs are natural insulators and hence have the benefit of staying warm in the winter and keeping cool in the summer, depending on the type and the thickness of the logs used – there is a very good reason why log cabins are still being built in extremely cold climates like Canada!

Builder Mike Gingras, owner of a log homes company in Vermont, says:

We can build a log and timber home to be 15 to 20 percent more energy efficient than a conventional home.

Yes, the cost of logs is expensive in relation to bricks and mortar, but the benefit is that once the logs are in place, you’re done – they form the interior and the exterior! Compare this to the laborious way of constructing the walls of a house – the bricks and mortar, insulation and plastering etc…

If you are paying someone to construct your log cabin, you will also save on labour costs as logs go up very quickly in comparison to bricks!

4. Closer to nature

Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience – Ralph Waldo Emmerson

Many people’s choice to live in a log cabin can be more of a lifestyle choice than just a change in address; many of us long to be closer to nature and to leave less of a carbon footprint.

Imagine waking up every morning to the sound of birds humming in their trees, the stunning views of rolling mountains as the sun rises and greets them gloriously, the still of the evenings and the dark night skies, lit up by hundreds of beautiful stars.

With so many natural resources being used to build your log cabin, from the wooden walls to the stone fireplace, you can be surrounded by nature both inside your home and out, with the exterior naturally integrating into the landscape.

Living so close to nature is an amazing way to disconnect from the worries and stresses of everyday life, and reconnect with yourself and your loved ones.

5. Sense of accomplishment

What an incredible sense of achievement to live in a place built with your own hands.

Every nook and cranny you turn to will remind you of the journey you have been on, from having your initial idea to building a log cabin, to standing in your dream home.

When family and friends come to visit your new abode, what stories you will have to share about turning your dreams into reality!

This is a sense of achievement that will last a life time.

Your log cabin could be the start of some incredible family history and inspire your younger generation of family to carry on living the dream you created.

Building a log cabin has got to be one of the most productive ways of using your time. You’re keeping fit, learning new skills, building something that will provide you with your own getaway and making a great financial investment.

6. Health and Wellbeing

There is something about a log cabin which instantly makes you feel at home. Is there anything cosier than lounging next to a roaring fire inside a beautiful smelling wooden cabin?

Natural aesthetic beauty is soothing, it gives you an amazing feeling.

Studies conducted in Japan and Norway have proven that cosy living areas, having a peaceful color palette and using wood as the building material, can have a positive impact on us and help raise our spirits by increasing pleasure and tranquillity.

Logs have the ability to balance moisture changes inside the air. When the air humidity is between 30-55% the growth of bacteria such as mould is minimised, which makes it an ideal place for someone one who suffers with environmental health issues such as asthma and allergies.

7. Learn new skills

Never be afraid to do something new. Remember, amateurs built the Ark, professionals built the Titanic.

It is likely that you may have some DIY skills if you are embarking on an adventure to build your own home, however many of you will be starting out completely from scratch.

This may be quite daunting to start off with, but, with the right knowledge and support – how fulfilled will you feel when you have learnt a whole host of new skills and stand back to admire your new home?!

Learning to build a log cabin is a skill that will stay with you for life – you can use your skills to invest in more log cabins or even teach family and friends to do the same.

If you have a young family, or are planning on raising a family once your home is complete, what a skill to be able to pass on to them!

Not only are you teaching your children woodwork and basic survival skills, but you are also equipping them with a mind-set to work hard.

8. Have it your way

When you design your log cabin, it is your vision, your dream; it can be anything you want it to be.

You can design your home to run in exactly the way you want it to, you know the way you like your life to run, and you can ensure your home runs in an efficient way that works for YOU.

Designing your own cabin gives you the chance to be completely creative, from shape to size to design there are endless opportunities to make choices and create a truly beautiful home.

Why would you want to live in a standard home which looks exactly the same as the other 30 houses on that road? You have the opportunity to build a one of a kind, unique home that is completely adapted to your needs!

Choosing to live in a log cabin is more than just choosing your next house; it’s a life style choice.

So perhaps instead, the question should be ‘Why wouldn’t you want to live in a log cabin’?

The most important two reasons to us for log cabin living are:

Being closer to nature Being free from the constraints of the daily 9-5 grind

Why not share your own reasons for wanting to live in a log cabin? We look forward to hearing them!