The Summer House

A Summer Compound on Lake Michigan

The Summer House began with a question of scale. The homeowners return to Glen Arbor each summer with extended family and friends. They wanted a place that could hold twenty people without ever feeling crowded. Working with a Cincinnati architect, we joined the project for finishes and furnishings: a new-construction modern Cape Cod set close to the water, designed to function as a multigenerational summer compound. Our work happened largely from a distance. Lighting, hardware, flooring, carpet, wallpaper, tile, and furniture were specified, sourced, and orchestrated from Cincinnati, then delivered north for installation.

The Design Approach

Hardwood runs through every room, grounding the house in a single quiet plane. Against it, the palette stays restrained: natural fibers, washed linens, painted millwork, and lake-weathered tones that read the way the shoreline reads on an overcast morning. Rooms open to porches. Porches open to the yard. The yard opens to the water. Indoor-outdoor entertaining is not a feature here. It is the whole logic of the floor plan. At the top of the house, a captain's watch sits above the roofline, framing an uninterrupted view of the lake.

The Long View

A house built to sleep more than twenty asks for a particular kind of restraint. Every room had to hold its own without competing. Bedrooms were furnished as quiet rooms, not statement rooms. Shared spaces were specified for wear: hardwearing rugs, washable upholstery, fixtures that would survive a wet summer afternoon. The captain's watch became the project's quiet reward — the room everyone climbs to at golden hour, where the lake holds the sky and the house, briefly, gets quiet.