A 'warm and cozy' supersized log cabin

A 'warm and cozy' supersized log cabin

Dr. Burt and Joan Prater built their 8,100-square-foot cabin in the North Georgia mountains from logs imported from Montana.

Text by CHRIS REINOLDS: For eight years, Dr. Burt and Joan Prater have lived on a North Georgia mountain in Big Canoe. "We keep a fire going all the time," said Burt, a physician who does environmental medicine consulting.

The 8,100-square-foot log cabin has 3,000 square feet of decks. The home is listed for $2.795 million, which includes most of the furnishings. Braxton Rhodes of Big Canoe Realty is handling the sale.

Chuck Offitt designed the front doors, giving the Praters a view of their front-yard waterfall. Burt Prater built the waterfall as a replica of a creek in Big Canoe. It is now home to "very loud frogs," he said with a chuckle.

Joan Prater did the interior design as well as guiding the floor plans. She created the sunken living room for coziness. "We use this room a lot," Prater said. The chandelier in great room was designed by a Jasper artist.

Prater sometimes moves her furnishings and accents around to give her home a different look. When designing the house, she knew the needlepoint rug would dictate the size of the living room.

Rocky Collins made the dining room buffet, which slips under the pass-through opening between the dining room and kitchen. The chandelier is from Vail, Colo.

The Praters use their large pantry to dry herbs grown in their garden and pots. They attribute the bounty to the fresh mountain air.

"I wanted a kitchen I could cook in easily without bumping into each other," said Prater, who designed the house with her brother. The kitchen includes professional-grade appliances and custom pine cabinets. "I chose pine because I wanted it to blend in with the logs. A little rustic, but not too rustic," she said. "We wanted it to be more refined. We didn't want it to be cowboy," Burt Prater added.

The hearth room off the kitchen includes a fireplace and a custom-made breakfast table. "We tried to build in spaces to give it character and make it extra functional. We wanted a home that was really liveable," Joan Prater said. Reclaimed heart pine floors from South Georgia are found throughout the home. "They get this really beautiful patina," she said of the floors, which are about 150 years old.

"We took eight years designing this and thinking about it," Burt Prater said of the house. The couple moved from a 9-acre spread in Dunwoody to get away from the traffic. They toured log homes in Colorado and fell in love with the style. Their home was built in Montana, then broken down and shipped to Georgia.

The Aspen-wood master bed was made in Colorado. Joan Prater added an antique chest and antique shutters on the wall. "I really love touches like that. That's what gives it character," she said. The room also has a private deck where the couple watches sunrises. They designed a clerestory that added high windows and gives the room more light.

The warm, woodsy master bath includes a steam shower and garden tub with a magnificent view.

The fun grandkids' room includes plenty of sleeping pods with twin beds. They included drawers under the beds and windows inside the pods -- a bona fide kid pleaser.

"It is so warm and cozy and you don't usually hear that of an 8,100-square-foot home," Joan Prater said. "We really live in our home and entertain in our home." Part of that entertaining is Burt Prater's collection of single malt scotch and chess sets.

Burt Prater picked up this nickel-and-copper chess set in South Africa.

One of the guest bedrooms is done is blue-and-white tones. The bed is two Danish twin beds pushed together. Joan Prater included a sink in the room, as is customary in Europe.

Model shipbuilding is Burt Prater's hobby, so his upstairs office is filled with nautical things. He included varnished mahogany panels as accents in the room. The antique oak rolltop desk came from a physician's home in Philadelphia.

The 2,600-bottle wine cellar contains Burt Prater's passion, collecting wine for 35 years. The room is temperature and humidity controlled.

A detail of old wine labels in the wine cellar.

Joan Prater covered the outside wall of a guest room with old barn wood. It was originally black, but she had it painted to make it appear weathered. The Praters used drywall along with the logs in their home to give it a bright and cheery look.

The Lodgepole pine home has six bedrooms and four-and-a-half baths. Burt Prater said the log home company collects dead, standing timber from a national forest and hauls it to a clearing using mule trains. A helicopter then airlifts the logs. The bark is stripped by hand, then lies in the yard for two to three years to dry. Clay Johnston built the home in Big Canoe. "We sent him to Montana, and they sent a guy here for two weeks," Prater said.

The Praters will retire after their home sells but will miss their magnificent views, such as one of Amicalola Falls Lodge. "One of the highest views in Big Canoe," Burt Prater said. The area has snow every winter and is usually 10 to 15 degrees cooler than Atlanta in the summer. "We leave the doors open because there are no bugs or mosquitos," Joan Prater said, noting the home has 81 windows. "And we're constantly seeing wildlife ... deer, black bear, fox, coyotes and wild turkey."

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Text by CHRIS REINOLDS: For eight years, Dr. Burt and Joan Prater have lived on a North Georgia mountain in Big Canoe. "We keep a fire going all the time," said Burt, a physician who does environmental medicine consulting.

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