Photography by Jana Bannan
There are those who see reality for what it is. And then there are those who see it for what it could be. When Todd and Audrey Bear came across a 56-acre property in eastern Pennsylvania with a 1980s-era ranch house, they instantly saw the possibilities. The setting — a creek and plenty of privacy — won them over, but the structure was far from their dream home. “It was well-built, but it couldn’t have been more boring — just a basic, all-brick rectangle,” says Audrey.
For 15 years, the couple lived in the house, dreaming of the forever home they could one day build on the property. They longed for soaring cathedral ceilings, a dreamy entertaining space and loads of natural materials. Fittingly, it was Christmas Day when their plans began to unfold. “Our first ‘napkin drawing,’ as we call it, was on the back of a Christmas present,” explains Audrey.
That first drawing was the gift that kept on giving.
“We did some basic CAD designs and began buying magazines and picking out things we wanted in the home,” she shares.
Their next step was to gather the right team. “We found our builder by complete accident,” explains Todd. “I was driving down a back road one night and saw a house that looked similar to what we wanted, so I stopped.” The home’s builder, Dustin Haas, and Todd hit it off right away. “It was not a road we normally drive, and for some reason he went a different way that day,” adds Audrey. “It was meant to be.”
Dustin soon connected the couple with Mid-Atlantic Timberframes. “We had always been drawn to the look of a timber frame,” says Audrey. “We like the comforting, homey feel with all the wood.” A structural timber frame stretching from the front entry through the great room to the covered porch serves as the core of the home. (Conventional framing is used elsewhere.) A hammerbeam truss punctuates the entrance and sets the tone for the interiors, which nod to a ski-lodge style and embrace a full range of rustic wood and stone finishes, including 12-by-12-inch solid-sawn Douglas fir trusses with exposed tie rods and chevron-patterned tongue-and-groove accent paneling. In total, 273 pieces of timber are used throughout the home, but they aren’t the only wood elements that wow.
“Very early in our plans, Todd said, ‘I want real trees in the great room,’” shares Audrey. Dustin sourced three western red cedars from Pioneer Log Homes in British Columbia, and the trio of character logs now acts as a structural support to the home’s loft and an eye-popping conversation piece. A whimsical scene of bears animates the top of the logs and pays homage to the couple’s last name. “Those were carved in place with a chainsaw and then burnt with torches by a local craftsman,” she adds.
Like the wood elements, the stone finishes throughout the house are one of a kind. “Getting the hearthstone and fireplace surround stones was one of the biggest challenges in this project,” says Dustin. “The hearthstone itself weighed about 2,000 pounds and the header above the fireplace about 800 pounds.” Cinder block columns underneath the stones give added support to the structure. “It was a feat getting it in there, but it’s the perfect place to have a cocktail or a cup of coffee,” says Audrey.
Of course, when you have a collection of trees in the great room and a massive, stone fireplace reaching to 36-foot cathedral ceilings, the scale of the house needs to match. The home’s square footage hovers just under 7,000 square feet. “We said for years, we weren’t going to build a big house. But each room got a little bit bigger, and here we are,” laughs Audrey. “This was a 20-year dream, and we figured, we are only doing it once,” adds Todd.
The home’s designers, Chad and Meredith Groff of Meridad Designs, shed further light on the “go big or go home” approach. “Throughout the process, the project really took on a life of its own,” says Chad. Dustin echoes the thought: “When we began, I don’t think any of us realized what it would become.”
The spaces outside the home seemed to direct their own fate as well. A pool with a hot tub, a swim-up bar and a pool house with an outdoor kitchen and shower bring resort vibes to the outdoors but weren’t on the couple’s radar through the building process. “None of it was planned; one thing led to another,” says Todd. “We knew we wanted a pool, but then came the pool house and then the outdoor kitchen.”
The outcome of the grand spaces — indoors and out — has had one unexpected consequence. “We are homebodies now,” says Audrey, with a laugh. “We have everything we need to entertain ourselves and our company. We don’t need to drag our camper to the other side of the state to have a bonfire and a creek and a swimming pool,” she says. “We have all that here.” And it’s not just their long-weekend plans that have shifted. Says Todd: “Audrey will call me and ask, ‘Do you want to go happy hour?’ Nope, I’m coming home.”
Home Details
Square footage: 6,800
Bedrooms: 4
Baths: 3 Full, 2 half
Builder: Dustin Haas, Haas Creative Carpentry
Timber Frame: Mid-Atlantic Timberframes
Designer: Chad and Meredith Groff, Meridad Designs
Interior Design: Marlene Stauffer
Character Logs: Pioneer Log Homes of British Columbia
