Canadian Timbers Frame Posh Cabin

When Jane Garrison and Ron Bumpass decided to build a new log home in Fayetteville, they traveled to California to a log-home show and talked to representatives from 30 companies. After touring some homes in Arizona, they decided on Pioneer Log Homes of British Columbia.

Planning with architects began in the fall of 2000 and took almost six months. Pioneer built a two-story, 6,000-SF home from western red cedar logs for the couple, then shipped it from Canada to Fayetteville on three trucks.

Once the house was in Fayetteville, workers assembled it in three days with the help of a 300-foot-tall crane that could be seen from Springdale, Bumpass said. Monte Alter served as the local craftsman engineer.

“They’re not milled logs,” Garrison said. “They’re all hand done, so they’re all different.”

Another Tree House

Bumpass said the couple previously lived in Garrison’s house on Mount Sequoyah. They called that structure a tree house because, when sitting on the balcony, they were literally in the trees.

The couple’s log home, which was completed in October 2001, has a similar feeling. It’s surrounded by trees on two acres along Arkansas Highway 265 in east Fayetteville. The balcony on the front of the house opens up to tree branches. Underneath, a man-made creek gurgles water into a duck pond that’s home to three of Bumpass’ decoys.

“I had to promise her I would build her a tree house,” Bumpass said. “So I owned up to it.”

But Garrison said she didn’t want to be too far out in the woods. The busy intersection of 265 and Arkansas Highway 45 is just a quarter-mile down the road.

The couple’s house has one room and a garage on the first floor. The second floor contains the living room, kitchen, master bedroom and balcony. A loft above that floor provides space for another room and Garrison’s work area.

Bumpass said the house cost about $200 per SF to build, which amounts to about $1.2 million. He said it’s actually owned by the Bumpass Garrison Trust.

The log home has a Western motif, with stuffed animal heads and critter skins adorning several walls. Deer antlers serve a variety of functions throughout the house, from drawer handles in the kitchen to a toilet paper holder in the bathroom.

248 cherubs

Most of the interior was designed by Garrison, a well-known artist who has painted more than 200 murals in different parts of the United States. In addition to murals and smaller paintings throughout the house, Garrison also designed a 30-SF dining table with a falling-leaves mosaic. The 10 metal dining room chairs have leaf designs on the back.

Garrison grew up in Arizona and California. She said she has wanted to be an artist since the age of five. Garrison’s murals can be seen in three Fayetteville restaurants — Common Grounds, Chloe and Hog City Diner (which is about to become the Old Post Office Restaurant again). One of her murals is on display inside the Northwest Arkansas Times headquarters in Fayetteville. She also has paintings on display at McDonald’s and Denny’s in Fayetteville.

Garrison has sold about 3,000 prints of her paintings, many of which depict downtown Fayetteville scenes. If you think you recognize someone in one of her paintings, you are probably right. Garrison uses local residents as models. She has included Bumpass and his parents in a painting of the Farmers Market on the downtown square. J.B. and Johnelle Hunt, founders of the Lowell trucking company, can be seen in the 4,000-SF mural in Hog City Diner. Sherman Morgan, a longtime Fayetteville restaurant owner, is also in that one.

Garrison has done several murals for Trinity Broadcasting Network in California. Most of those have a Biblical motif. She also has painted murals with scenes of vineyards and Italy.

One mural Garrison painted in California covered an 8,000-SF ceiling and included 248 cherubs.

“You run out of making up faces,” she said. “So the workmen brought pictures of their children. So most of the angels have faces of Hispanic children.”

Bumpass grew up in Lubbock, Texas. He moved to Fayetteville when his father, Donald “Gene” Bumpass, was hired to teach graduate education at the University of Arkansas. So Bumpass graduated from Fayetteville High School and later received a bachelor’s and a law degree from the UA. His mother, Edna Bumpass, owns the Old Post Office building in the center of the downtown square.