Project Spotlight: Balsam Lake, WI
If you are following us on instagram, you have been seeing snippets of this project—a number of you have told us you have fallen in love—and we are with you!
For the past year we have been developing this new build in layers, from the shell (windows, doors, flooring, wall treatments, architectural details) to the finishes (plumbing, tile, cabinetry) to custom details (built in bunks and shelves) to furnishing and textiles.
The big goal with this new build was for it not to feel new! We wanted to imbue every aspect of the structure with character and a strong sense of soul. From the beginning, we decided to minimize sheetrock and use classic cabin materials but in a fresh remix. Floors are wide plank oak, walls are a mix of painted vertical nickel groove and stained rough sawn board and batten, ceilings are pine v-groove, and bathroom walls are a mix of tile and wallpaper.
To keep things a little old fashioned, we skipped any recessed fixtures and went for a mix of small flushmounts and exposed-bulb sconces. Materials, too, are a bit vintage and hand-crater, prom porcelain doorknobs to hammered iron on the range hood and stair rail balusters. Special details abound.
When it comes to furniture, cabins are often a mix of inherited pieces and hand-me-downs, but the clients didn’t have pieces to bring in to the mix. We started collecting right away and have been slowly building a collection of pieces over the past year. I had this story in my mind that she inherited some piece from a grandmother in a classic Minneapolis four square and he inherited some pieces from a wacky aunt in a midcentury house that hadn’t been touched since the 70s. This structure of imagining two distinctive homes and cherry picking from the two allowed us to build an interesting mix without feeling like the whole thing went off the rails!
We are in the final throes of design but because of challenging lead times the project won’t be completely installed until the end of the summer. We are grateful for clients who are willing to wait for the right things—they will be so glad in the long run, and for now, it will be a summer to remember, of partially camping out inside their beautiful new second home.
