Sisters vacation home honored by national magazine

The Cabin has garnered national attention. photo by Kathryn Godsiff Tucked away in a quiet corner of Tollgate is a delightful vacation rental log home, The Cabin, which has found its way to national recognition via the magazine Country Comfort.

Owners Bob and Vicki Webber said that serendipity made the magazine feature possible; one of their guests is a real estate agent who deals in the luxury home market. One day an editor from Country Comfort called to see if she had any leads on interesting homes for the magazine, which features collectibles, decorating, do-it-yourself, and easy, affordable decorating tips.

The guest put the magazine in touch with the Webbers, and the result is a six-page spread in a magazine with a circulation of over two million.

The Cabin is a good fit for a do-it-yourself type of magazine as many of the loving touches in the house were, indeed, done by the Webbers themselves. And all of the ideas came from their creative minds.

For instance, the shower curtain in the downstairs bath is held back by a mohair saddle cinch from the Spotted Mule in Bend.

A solar tube was installed where the chimney pipe of a wood stove had gone. On moonlit nights it gives an otherworldly glow to the river rocks surrounding the fireplace which replaced the woodstove.

Another original touch is the use of Vicki's handmade quilts as roman blinds on the windows.

When the Webbers purchased the house six years ago, it was unfinished inside. It had been designed and built in the 1980s by Greg Steckler who is well known as a talented log home builder. He and the original owner searched for each log throughout the Central Oregon forests. The Webbers took one look at it, made an offer and became the new owners.

The home is Norwegian hand-scribed, with the logs shaped to fit into the next one, with no chinking.

Over the next several years, the Webbers became weekend commuters to Sisters from their home in Seattle, where they were caretaking a large estate. Finally able to make the move to their new home, they continued the makeover.

"With Vicki's ideas and my hard labor, it turned out so magnificently that people would come to look and fell in love with it," said Bob.

They decided to make it into a rental for both practical and emotional reasons. The rental pays the mortgage, plus they get to share a piece of themselves with their guests.

"All of our guests have been wonderful," said Vicki. They come from California, the Willamette Valley, Seattle, several eastern states and occasionally overseas.

The home is decorated with family heirlooms, from an ax which Bob's great-grandfather forged in Germany and which helped shape logs for his grandfather's cabin in Canada, to Vicki's grandmother's collection of teacups.

The Webbers act as caretakers of their own home, living in an apartment above their garage. The guests like having someone close by to answer questions -- not that many of them make it much further than the spacious decks. The Webbers said that many come with the idea that they will fish and hike and ski, then get so settled into the homemade comfort of The Cabin that they rarely see them.

The house pantry is kept full. And to complete the welcome, each guest arrives to a home-baked pie, fresh from Vicki's oven, waiting on the kitchen counter.

For information visit www.sisters-logcabin.com.