AMERICAN LOG HOMES by Arthur Thiede...

AMERICAN LOG HOMES by Arthur Thiede & Cindy Teipner (Gibbs-Smith: $19.95). Although most people think of log homes as crude frontier cabins, this handsome book shows that the material needn’t dictate the architectural style (or lack of it). The authors traveled throughout the western United States, photographing examples of log houses, many of them palatial. The organic elegance of the wood enables the buildings to blend into the rugged scenery as if they were natural features of the landscape, rather than artificial constructions. However, almost all the interiors have a fussy, upscale folksy look, characterized by an overabundance of rustic bric-a-brac.