Extending your home's natural environment can enhance your home's appeal and increase the size of your living area. An outdoor pavilion or pergola can connect you to your yard and create a welcoming escape. A pergola is wonderful for enjoying those gentle breezes, rich earth and a garden like atmosphere so irresistible during the warm summer months. Some enjoy a year round relationship with the outdoors and a pavilion with its entirely enclosed roof may be preferable in some settings. Decide what kind of addition is right for you by identifying the activities that are consistent with how you and your family live. Do you enjoy cooking outdoors? Are you a gardener or sunbather? Do you like a place for playing with the kids or a quiet place to start your day with a warm cup of coffee? Will it be an extra bedroom, pool house, walk out or [...]

As soon as I saw you I knew an adventure was about to happen. - Winnie the Pooh Oh, what joy! Check out the White's wedding celebration, the first at Standing Boy Creek Farms. What a privilege to cover such a beautiful celebration!

Nails, screws and glue will hold wood fast, but they allow little movement; which can eventually crack the wood around the metal fastener and glue deterioration over time loosen a wood glue wood joint. Hinges, latches, gears, furniture, and cabinets can all be made without the use of glue or metal fasteners through the mortise and tenon joint system or other similar techniques. Although there are various types of mortise and tenon joint systems, all are designed somewhat like our bone joints wherein a convex shaped part fits within the concave part of another. Projects made entirely of wood with a mortise tenon joint system can last for centuries.Most carpenters in the furniture industry however, who use the mortise and tenon joints today rely on adhesives to secure the joint. The mortise and tenon in furniture construction is normally cut with a shorter, thinner stubbed tongue. Furniture joinery is [...]

At Western Timber Frame™, work is play for the Design Managers who get a real adrenaline kick out of taking a person's dream and turning it into a visual reality for a more beautiful, user-friendly landscape. The Design Managers are responsive to each person's personal taste and preferences. Like an impassioned artist inspired by a brand new canvas, design manager Brian says, "Every project is exciting! Each design is technically custom and you get to design a something brand new. It's great to see it when it is all finished." Estimates are also free at Western Timber Frame™. Whether you were planning for a DIY backyard transformation or would like to have someone else to help you tackle the whole project from beginning to end our Design Managers can bring your vision alive on paper in a tangible conceptualization.Sometimes people have a more difficult time visualizing exactly what they [...]

Taking a dip in the cool water of a pool in the warm afternoon can be refreshing and invigorating. The combination of a pool, pergola and poolside landscape can give you a real stay-cation that may make you never want to leave home. The friendly shade of a timber frame pergola or pavilion gives powerful protection from the sun enabling you to enjoy a pool even more. Timber is one of the best most effective materials providing more human friendly comfortable shade than cement, steel, vinyl or aluminum can and it will not reflect heat or burn poolside plants. It is important to choose strong plants that can withstand a poolside climate, is easy to maintain and still look great. Be careful in selecting plants, making sure the plants will not drop leaves, needles, seeds, bark or flowers into the pool. Filters can easily be clogged and cleaning a [...]

Pros and Cons of Common Material Choices Offered in Gazebo Construction Why A Timber Frame Gazebo is the Best Architecturally Responsible Choice for Cost, Comfort, Strength, and Quality. Gazebos are not new to American landscaping. Traditionally a gazebo was a freestanding eight-sided outdoor structure, with a pitched roof and in colonial time was referred to as a garden or summerhouse. President George Washington had a small eight-sided summerhouse structure at Mount Vernon. President Thomas Jefferson designed three summerhouses and built his own garden, summerhouse (gazebo). Back then a summerhouse or gazebo were only differentiated by its intended use; whether it was for enhancing or enjoying a garden or a place constructed on a particular spot to take in a surrounding view. A gazebo can make a big impact on a yard, not only adding elegant and charm as a decorative outdoor piece, it also has adds the functionality of [...]

Outdoor structures such as a pergola, pavilion, gazebo or cabana is designed for the purpose of offering protection from the elements, mainly the heat so the outdoors can be enjoyed in comfort. When selecting the right material for an outdoor pergola, there are three main materials commercially offered to choose from; vinyl, aluminum or timber frame. Let's take a quick look at these three available options. Vinyl Vinyl's initial low cost for a pergola can be attractive to some. For others, vinyl has a cheap aesthetic look spoiling the appearance of the home and procures a cost beyond its value. Vinyl is often advertised as "maintenance free". Vinyl is a plastic product, polyvinyl chloride and commonly abbreviated as PVC. All plastics degrade and depreciate in all environmental settings. The U.S. Department of Energy affirms that vinyl can crack at very low temperatures and can warp at high temperatures and [...]

Historically Strong Wood is aesthetically pleasing and structurally strong and has benefited mankind through the ages.  There are historical artifacts and antiquated structures that testify to the value of strength of timber displayed in ancient Medieval Timber Castles and timber buildings throughout the world in places like Japan, Lithuania, Scandinavia, Siberia, Sweden and more. Pictured above is a historical wine press in Alsace, France; another example of timber and its versatile use in structures such as roads, machinery, fishing wharves, waterworks, and travel. Wood was more than just practical in times past; it has also been used ornamentally. The featured image is of an ancient Chinese relief carving of a flower. In the center of London is a beautifully preserved Roman habitation from 40 A.D. to the 15th century. A lost river disappeared under the city by being diverted into culverts for constructing new places. There are wooden walls, wooden foundations [...]

Summer is here, school is out, and we at Western Timber Frame™ are busier than ever! This week we will be bringing you more updates on new projects that we have completed. We hope these projects will give you more ideas for the kind of structure that YOU want to have! Today we present to you the NSorenson Stone Arbor Swing. At the end of the stone pathway, you find this beautiful swing placed in the center of a stone patio. This quiet sanctuary is the perfect place to retreat to for some relaxation. Lush green trees, chirping birds, and a calm river creates the perfect scene of tranquility. Swinging in the breeze, you can't help but admire the stone columns and the 12 x 8 roof above with beautiful beam work and lattice details, finished in Canyon Gray stain and featuring the Roosevelt Step profile. One picture alone does [...]