CABIN SPIRIT

By ELIZABETH EDWARDS

Photos courtesy of OLD MISSION WINDOWS & KOLBE WINDOWS AND DOORS

When a well - traveled couple with michigan and Midwestern roots purchased a piece of property in the Grand Traverse area on a lake encircled by woods, fed by clear spring water and teeming with panfish, the last thing they wanted to do was desecrate its pristine shoreline. Even if that meant not disturbing so much as a single tree. To that mission’s end, the plan became to take down six small summer cabins—some that dated to the 1950s— and place the new home on the long-ago cleared site. A seventh cabin would be saved and turned into a bunkhouse.

Though the majority of cabins would be removed, the couple was determined to preserve their hand-hewn, midcentury spirit. The layout of the home itself is a tribute to the old cabins. “We took inspiration from the history of the property,” says architect Matt Rossetti, explaining that the home is laid out as four separate buildings (cabins, if you will), connected by breezeways. Breaking up the structure’s mass allows it to be better camouflaged in the shoreline landscape.

The decision to look to the past informed every detail of this meticulously designed home from its walls of natural stone that echo the old cabins’ stone

“The owners wanted the home to be super comfortable and approachable,” interior designer Amy Meier says. The great room’s ceiling cladding of rough-sawn, lesser-grade pine adds to the relaxed cabin ambiance. The floor is reclaimed white oak as is the mantel—sourced from Surfaces in Petoskey. The dining room table is also fabricated reclaimed wood and purposely made not to look perfect—note the splintered leg in the forefront. The pendant over the table is one of the few new lights in the home. The rest are old, but have been refurbished and rewired.