Kevin first started playing around with floor plan ideas during the summer of 1998. Around that same time, Belinda met Kim Krummert, a REAL LOG HOMES® sales representative in Atlanta. The couple didn’t want to commit to anything until they had a site, but talking with Kim changed their minds. They found she shared their values and beliefs, and after years of hearing building horror stories they wanted someone they could trust. Kim introduced them to her brother, Joe Burch, a builder, and his wife, Lavonne, a designer.

Lavonne listened to Kevin and Belinda’s ideas and jotted down her own. Foremost, the Reaves wanted an open floor plan to accommodate their growing family, with all bedrooms on one level and a spacious great room where they could view a fireplace from the kitchen and dinning area.

“I had an initial idea, but they helped me picture what they wanted,” Lavonne says. “It’s a family-oriented house. I wanted to give the kids plenty of space to play and grow.” Within a few weeks, she’d worked out a design.

“We got the plans and just went, “Wow!” She had everything we wanted,” Kevin says. “We just had to find the land.” A few months later, they did.

Next: SITE SEEING