I think we might go cedar or cypress, due to the wood density and/or natural insect repelling oils. More expensive, yes, but much more durable than pine. We also want to go with standing deadwood, if possible, because of the low moisture content - it reduces settling and checking in the logs. (I also prefer hand-peeled over milled, if it's in the financial cards.) And as much as I wanted 10" Swedish cope logs for the outer walls, we're going with 8" or 10" D-log, for your stated housekeeping reasons. I tried for a while to see if I could hybridize Swedish in the outer shell and and rectangular for the interior walls, but it's just prohibitively expensive to do so, whether you use either saddlenotch or butt-and-pass wall corners. And we're adamant that there be no prow angles in the great room - the wife doesn't/can't do windows, and I have enough on my plate to keep me busy 25 hours a day. One last caveat: NO DAMNED DRYWALL, ANYWHERE! Wazzup with that, anyway, people building a log home, then hanging sheet rock in every room? Move into an apartment, then! LOL
Yes, this is more than a passing fancy to me.
Sounds like you’ve more than done your homework, lol. A lot of people fall in love with the idea, but have no idea, if that makes any sense.
Log homes tend to be different on the east coast, particularly in the south. There’s an implicit historical reference that’s there, most people are drawn to them for this reason, and so the more creative styles are not typically available through log home manufacturers in the region, via an affordable stock plan.
One thing I’ve seen is logs milled to resemble lap siding on the exterior. I can see doing that to get past restrictive covenants if that’s a problem, but why hide it otherwise? That makes no sense to me.