Logging On to New Building Trend With Wood, Not Computers

This Thanksgiving Day, more and more people across the country will be sitting down to dinner in log cabins. Often these are cabins they have constructed themselves.

“The movement is building, building, building,” said artist-writer Dan Mack, who has been creating rustic furniture for 10 years and tracking the log cabin trend. It’s the basis of his new book, “Log Cabin Living” (Gibbs-Smith, $39.95).

Like Thanksgiving itself, a log home, with its “Little House on the Prairie” aura, feeds a sense of nostalgia, he said. “It helps you travel to the past and retrieve something nurturing that’s missing in this speeded-up, technological life.” His own home, in upper New York state, is Victorian, said Mack, 52, who specializes in natural-form furniture and teaches workshops at crafts centers around the country.

“I don’t live in a log home, but I admire those people who find it to be their artistic and aesthetic outlet,” he said. “I think it’s the next manifestation of the protests of the 1960s and [the] sensitivity to ecological issues.”

“Log Cabin Living” is as nurturing as a walk in the forest. Blending photographs, sketches, poetry and narrative, Mack traces the history of log cabinism from Native Americans and pioneers through the great camp era in national parks to contemporary log homes.

It’s not a “how-to-build” book, Mack emphasized. For log cabin builders and dwellers, there are technical books and Internet sites. Instead, he said, it’s a rumination about the log cabin as a metaphor for a safe, quiet place where we regain a connection with nature. “I think being in touch with natural forms is one of the unheralded food groups,” he said.

New Showroom: Interior designer Kerry Joyce, who has added staff and doubled his showroom space at 115 N. La Brea Ave. in Los Angeles, celebrated Friday night with an open house. “It’s exciting,” he said. “I am doing more architecture and interior design combinations.”

Joyce, who occupies a niche in one of the most interesting Art Deco buildings on La Brea, now has two showroom windows, each featuring his signature clean-shaped, elegant chairs. “This is my modern look,” he said. “Most of my work for clients is traditional, believe it or not.” Friday, he added jewel tones to the showroom palette by serving martinis-- clear, red, green and a sparkling blue. “I tasted all of them myself,” he said. “The blue was a little dubious, but I loved the color.”

New Emphasis: They’ve added a full line of home furnishing to the traditional designer fashions, and the new name is T.J. Maxx ‘n More. The 15th such superstore for the 630-store chain opened Sunday at Harbor Center in Costa Mesa in a flurry of giveaways and supersprees. “We’re responding to the nesting trend,” said spokeswoman Laura Cervone.

Connie Koenenn can be reached at connie.koenenn@latimes.com.