Timber framing is indeed a wonderful craft...the essence of integrated form and function. Our commitment
is to make this a rewarding and enriching experience and to make your dreams come true.

Our expertise in timber frame creation allows us to customize every project - making your dream a reality. Harmony’s skilled design team collaborates with you, your home designer or your architect to create
aesthetically pleasing and structurally sound systems. The result of this process is a structure of enduring elegance and inspiration.

Once the project is underway, our team will produce 3-dimensional concept drawings, timber frame shop drawings and finalized plans. In addition, we will develop material specifications and engineer-sealed documents that will ensure the efficient manufacturing and installation of your system for your specific geographic locale.

From design to installation, our project management process provides these important benefits:

• Streamlined coordination and communication.
• Specific timelines via Gantt Charts.
• On-time delivery with reduced lead-times.
• Seamless integration and adaptability of timber framing to your building system.

In addition to the timber frame structure, Harmony Exchange can also provide related timber frame products such as structural insulated panels, decking, interior finishes, exterior siding and Pella windows and doors.

Harmony Exchange is proud to have provided timber frame systems for these and other fine residential and commercial projects:

• HGTV Dream Home 2006, Grey Rock, Lake Lure, NC
• Southern Accents Home of the Year, The Preserve at Little Pines, Marshall, NC
• Guest Lodge, Sunalei Preserve, Boone, NC
• Jamestown Settlement Exhibition Hall, Jamestown, VA
• Ritz Carlton Hotel Pool Enclosure, Greensboro, GA
• Wesley United Methodist Church, St. Simons Island, GA
• St. John’s Lutheran Church, Conover, NC
• Canterbury School Gymnasium, Greensboro, NC

We work with homeowners everyday. Our sales representatives are available to discuss your dreams.

We have a selection of timber frame and log construction publications for sale in our bookstore.

Let us suggest you start with our Getting Started section. In this section we will guide you through the planning, design and building process.

If you have a set of plans and want the highest quality value engineered materials we provide only the highest grade building materials for timber frame and wood construction. From logs and timbers to antique pine flooring and fasteners we have everything you need.

Have a sales representative contact you by filling out this form. We will contact you soon to discuss the details of your dream timber frame home.

Headlines

Why Build A Harmony Exchange Home?

March 14, 2004

Why Build A Harmony Exchange Home?
A Philosophical Answer

The Homeowner of the Future

My teenage son David is quintessentially post-modern, in that he values what is genuine above what is impressive. Case in point: the other day I drove him to a friend's home. It didn't take us long after we exited the four-lane interstate to stop at the impressive gate of his friend's neighborhood, give our names as a password of sorts, and make our way to an enormous house (excuse me; mini-mansion) rising up from a fairly small patch of excruciatingly manicured bermuda. I refrained from commenting, but I could not help but call up visions of our much-less-impressive home and wondered if my son felt the same vague sense of insignificance I felt in the presence of such suburban greatness. I glanced at him just in time to see him roll his eyes and utter these surprising words: "Oh good grief! Not another one of these." It won't be long before this young man drives up the driveway of his very own home and I can't help but wonder what sort of home it will be. He is the homeowner of the future.

David's comments recall a conversation we had after a recent visit to a college campus. The campus was quite impressive with buildings ranging from gothic to Georgian architecture, all on a grand scale. On the way home, it struck me as strange that we so quickly discussed the university's physical plant, not the soccer team, the distractingly gorgeous co-eds, or even the academics. No, we talked about the buildings. He might be living in this locale next year after all. And the building that most impressed my son was a cabin tucked far away from the cobbled quadrangles and broad lawns. He loved the sturdiness of its timbers, the natural materials, the sense that this was something real, and the evidence of human craftsmanship that endures. Again, a post-modern insistence on the genuine. In six years I wonder what kind of houses he and his peers will build?

The Cultural Creatives

Little did I know my sons' sentiments are on the very cusp of a veritable movement. Paul H. Ray, Ph.D., co-authored a book entitled, "The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People are Changing the World" (Harmony Books, 2000). In a 1997 American Demographics magazine article, he identifies a large segment of the population (over 24%) that has become disenchanted with the current emphasis on materialism. He calls these people "Cultural Creatives" and suggests that many of them "do decorating and remodeling rather than buy a new house because builders don't really give them what they want in a new home."

Perhaps it is this group of thoughtful homeowners who prompted Linda Temple to observe in USA TODAY that "McMansion Passion is Diminishing." Temple quotes a consultant with New York-based trend analysts Consumer Eyes, Inc.: "There's a growing cultural backlash in the U.S. against ostentation and over-consumption. Huge vehicles and resource-hogging have been scoffed at for a while now, but that attitude seems to be shifting toward housing, too."

These opinions sound noble, but I find them begging the question: is this just sour grapes? Are we simply throwing stones at those big ole mini-mansions because we really wish we had one? I don't think so. In her insightful book, " The Not So Big House," Sarah Susanka points out; "The qualities we long for have everything to do with taking time, building for the long term, crafting and paying attention to who we are, what we care about, and how we affect our world." She advocates building a home which "celebrates the beauty of daily life; makes the act of living an art; restores the soul to the structure." When I think of the place in which my family and I share our meals, our laughter, our ideals, and our sorrows; when I consider my home a launching pad from which my children begin meaningful lives; when I imagine the color, shape and light of my daily life, I have to agree. I long for a home that "restores the soul to the structure." A Harmony Exchange home has the potential to do just that.

"Celebrates the beauty of daily life"

Integrating timber frames into the design of a home instantly combines the beauty of natural, massive wood beams with the splendor of open spaces. Harmony Exchange offers an in-house design service that focuses on the unique needs of each client. Gail and Steve Swank commented, "They listened to our desires and took great interest in our project." It is significant that the Swanks refer to their home as "our project."

"Makes the act of living an art"

The Harmony Exchange Vision Statement says it all: "It is our vision to honor you, the spaces in which you live, and celebrate the beauty and warmth of wood. Our goal is to conscientiously utilize the environment�s resources to create beautiful spaces for you. We are gratified when we achieve a harmonious exchange with you."

"Restores the soul to the structure"

Harmony Exchange offers something else that is incredibly valuable and underscores a value their customers hold as well: time. They have had twenty years of experience designing and building beautiful structures. And they are committed to taking the time needed to fit the homes they build to the their own exacting standards and the specific needs of their customers. These commitments resonate with the comments of Sarah Susanka: "Design and craft take time. They take time to learn, time to execute, and time to appreciate. But it is time that we seem to have lost in our fast-paced, information-drenched society� The qualities we long for have everything to do with taking time, building for the long term, crafting and paying attention to who we are, what we care about, and how we affect our world." Harmony Exchange is ready now for the homeowner of the future.

Kitti Murray
Atlanta, Georgia, 2004

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