CALIFORNIA, Ky. -- Cliff and Norm should check out Sam and Dianne's "Cheers Lodge" in California, Ky. There's plenty of room for the two TV sitcom buddies to belly up to the lower-level bar and talk about that bushy Canadian buffalo head perched among the pine timbers over the main floor's fireplace mantel.
"Do you know why Sam and Dianne named him Longfellow?" Cliff might ask Norm.
"Because he was a big stud like me, Cliffy, that's why," Norm might reply.
Norm would be right, explained retired excavator Sam Arnsperger, who along with his wife, retired school teacher Dianne, has lived in their custom-built pine lodge named for two main characters in the 1982-93 sitcom "Cheers" -- bar owner and tender Sam Malone and waitress Diane Chambers.
When Sam Arnsperger drew up plans for their new place 10 years ago, his wife saw her dream of having a small cabin like the ones in another long-running TV series, "Little House on the Prairie," vanish. Replacing it was a potential big-party house that looks nothing like the Boston bar "Cheers" is based on, but the name-game connection between the two was irresistible. The Arnspergers' new home would forever be called Cheers Lodge.
Well, maybe not.
Perpetuating the name will be up to the next owners. The cabin, its adjacent shelter house, pond, industrial-sized garage and surrounding 38 ridgetop acres are on the market for $999,900.
"Sam really doesn't want to sell it, but I want to go back to Ohio and be with my granddaughter, because that's where she is," Dianne said. "It's 45 minutes out there (Clermont County), and I hate driving."
So even though Dianne said Sam is a "100 percent take-charge guy," she is getting her way. Whether they buy or build a new home, the couple agree it will be a single-floor ranch. And, Sam said, he'll need a big piece of property because the thing he has loved most about his California home is its open space.
The Arnspergers lived 12 years in a home Sam built in Anderson Township before they bought the Cheers Lodge property. At first, it was a place for him to go and shoot guns. He built a 2,500-square-foot barn-like garage with a 14-foot-high door for their mobile home and set up a shooting range nearby. Then came Dianne's idea of building a "Little House on the Prairie" log cabin on the property.
But Sam, a licensed plumber whom Dianne describes as being all about "gracious and spacious," took over. He hired a Tennessee log cabin company to accommodate his plan and build the house's shell and exposed timber walls. Then he oversaw the rest of the 10-month job. His plumber-brother and an Amish woodworker he nicknamed "Jesus" played huge roles in completing the project, Sam said.
"We called him 'Jesus' because Jesus was a carpenter," Sam explained. "This guy was a master craftsman. He was real particular. If he found a mistake, he'd take apart what he'd done and redo it."
The house was built on 10-inch-thick concrete foundation walls, the same width as its timbers. It features two vaulted rooms -- the great and the nook -- an open center-home stairwell to a large loft, three wood-burning fireplaces, and covered decks in the back and front. The couple had "Jesus" make them a large set of rustic pine furniture that they hope stays with the house -- along with Longfellow.
Sam said he had considered having a German family crest made for over the fireplace, but went with the buffalo trophy at the suggestion of a friend. A taxidermist in North Dakota teamed with a company in one of the coldest parts of Canada to get the bushy, goateed look appropriate for the space. It took two years and $2,500 to bring Longfellow into their lives.
What might not stay with the house is the 1930s towboat spotlight that shines down from the loft into the buffalo's eyes. It was a "piece of junk" when Sam got it from a friend for $200 and paid searchlight specialists Carlisle & Finch Co. of Spring Grove Village $1,000 to return it to its brassy glory.
Take the tour
Winding roads lead up to the Arnspergers' 2,000-foot-long gravel driveway from the AA Highway. Guests will see the garage barn first and then a surprise: a 9-foot-tall wooden giraffe and a smaller one perched on the lawn in front of the lodge.
It took Sam five minutes to tell the story of the giraffe, but suffice it to say he got it for Dianne -- she loved taking her students to see the giraffes at Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens -- and the animal became somewhat of a theme in the decor of their lodge.
The house is fronted by a circular driveway and a wide covered porch that's perfect for a family of Adirondack rocking chairs a la Cracker Barrel restaurants. Through the front door is a small entry hall that's currently decorated with a vintage Hoosier cabinet. To the left is the kitchen, which features an 8-by-3-foot granite-topped island and oak cabinetry.
The kitchen opens to the great room in the back of the house and to a nook to its left. The eating nook features a rustic pine table with seating for 10, a cabin-topped ceiling fan-and-light combination, windows on three sides through which to watch westerly storms and sunsets.
The great room soars to a high peak and features exposed beams and protruding log ends. A stone fireplace and raised hearth dominate the back wall as they do in the same position in the recreation room below them. A 5-inch-thick plank of pine serves as a mantel, and a similar piece underscores Longfellow, who is mounted in the center of the A-framed, timbered wall.
Because she wanted her own "warm and cozy" space on the main floor, Dianne convinced Sam to alter the wing that is to the right of the foyer. Instead of having a giant master bedroom there divided by a hall that leads to a powder room and laundry room, Dianne had Sam push the hall wall toward the middle of the house to create a TV/computer/reading room for Dianne. They upped the warm factor by putting a fireplace in the new wall and carpeting the floors.
At the end of the master side of the house is the couple's attached two-car garage, which features an upstairs bonus room that is plumbed for a bathroom. The lower level of the house has a walkout to a patio with a hot tub, a second large bedroom suite, a bonus room that has served as a third bedroom, and the billiards and bar rooms.
The only lodge-y features in the lower level are the bar's two poles and siding.
The great garage
Insulated, heated and equipped with a full bathroom, utility sink and a motorized lift that can raise a vehicle 6 feet 9 inches up, Sam's steel Morton Buildings garage has stored their motor home, bush hog and other equipment for 10 years. It might not be for everyone, he said, but vintage car collectors and families who want a place for their kids to play basketball and soccer in the winter would love it.
Sam and Dianne actually slept in the garage, she said, once on the night before they held a ground-breaking party and then again when furniture from their house in Anderson was being moved into Cheers Lodge.
The acreage of grass on the property that Sam and hired hands cleared of rocks over the years might be a stumbling block for potential buyers, but, Sam said, they don't have to spend the 19 hours it takes him to mow the parts he likes to keep groomed.
"I had a guy come out and he cut 45 bales of hay, the round ones. You could just cut the front yard and the side there," he said, gesturing toward an open shelter house and the pond beyond it.
The Arnspergers, who will celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary this year, have used the shelter for many a picnic and party. It also serves the pond by capturing rainwater that keeps it full year-round.
Sam said he hopes people appreciate that he and his closest neighbor are the only residents in the area who paid to have county water and natural gas run out to their houses. And, he said, the layout and wide door and hall design make it possible for a couple to live on one floor for years to come.
The Arnspergers could do that, too, but being close to their granddaughter is more important.
"I will miss playing around in the barn. That's my big thing," said Sam, who has been retired for nine years. "But I won't miss the house at all. We never had the parties we expected out here. The grill isn't used, and we don't use the hot tub anymore."
After all these years, Dianne said, she has decided "this isn't what I wanted. I wanted a 'Little House on the Prairie' house. … I wanted a precious little log cabin."
A cheery place that's perhaps too small for a buffalo trophy, but big enough for Cliff and Norm.
