Timber Frame Dream

Lately I've been looking at pics of timber frame houses, researching pros and cons, and basically just drooling over the info that I find! Here's why... ... seriously, isn't this beautiful?!? The more Jon and I talk about it, the more this seems to be a dream for both of us... to build a timber frame house someday. We'll see. It never hurts to dream, right?!
This is what the basic interior of a timber frame looks like -
Somes of the things I'm learning... timber frame homes are superior in strength due to the size of the timbers vs. traditional stick built homes. Timber frame homes cater to open concept floor plans due to the posts bearing the load vs. interior walls being load bearing. Timber frame homes are quite energy efficient... traditional homes have insulation between the studs leaving the studs themselves to have a low R value but with timber framing the wall and roof system are built around the structure thus allowing uninterrupted insulation. Pretty interesting isn't it?! There are drawbacks... such as it costs about 10-15% more to build & not many people build them. But did I mention a neighbor of ours builds timber frame houses? That's pretty convenient huh?! ;)