May 24, 2017

On Memorial Day, the flag of the United States is raised briskly to the top of the staff and then solemnly lowered to the half-staff position, where it remains only until noon. It is then raised to full-staff for the remainder of the day.

The half-staff position remembers the more than one million men and women who gave their lives in service of their country. At noon, their memory is raised by the living, who resolve not to let their sacrifice be in vain, but to rise up in their stead and continue the fight for liberty and justice for all.

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May 17, 2017

The owners of this impressive log home had already spent years making memories along this picturesque lakeshore in northern Wisconsin. They enjoyed spending time together in a quaint cabin on the property and wanted to make even more memories in a new, larger log home.

That’s why they didn’t wait to upgrade until after they retired and their kids had flown the coop. They wanted a home they could enjoy all of the seasons of their lives. Working closely with Town + Country Cedar Homes and our local dealers, the family designed and built a log home that could accommodate their family now and for generations and generations.

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May 10, 2017

It all started with a fence post

Town + Country’s founder, Bernie Kondrat, was raised in Northern Michigan alongside the area’s many lakes and forests. By the age of eight, Bernie was a regular in the woods with his grandfather, getting paid to make fences using Pine, Spruce, Tamarack, Balsam, and White Cedar trees.

Through the years, Bernie noticed that the Pine, Spruce and Balsam posts they used severely deteriorated over time but the White Cedar log posts remained healthy and strong. When he returned from fighting in WWII, Bernie remembered that observation from his youth. With a $200 G.I. loan, Bernie and his friend Ben Organek, decided to start a fence building company.

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May 3, 2017

Wilber and Sarah Bontrager built more than a house on their 85-acres of land in northern Indiana, just minutes from the Michigan border. Their 5,000-square-foot Northern White Cedar log home is an experience that tickles all of the senses.

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April 26, 2017

Work-at-home spaces

Wasn’t it Tim McGraw who sang something about “Six lanes, tail lights. Red ants marching into the night. Disappear to the left and right again…” That’s a snapshot of many weekend warriors’ Sunday nights, this, after retreating to the weekend home to “relax”, “unwind” and “decompress”. Contrary to what many believe to be sacrilege, this re-stressing after de-stressing is exactly why many of our clients have us design work spaces into their workweek getaways. Sundays become Fundays. Mondays become “workations” – Work in your pajamas. Have breakfast and coffee…at a table…with sunrise over the lake, rather than from a bag and a cup holder. Send reports to your wifi printer from a chase lounge, while sipping a Margarita (our idea of a “sweatshop”).

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