Decorating & Design
The Lakehouse: Let The Decorating Begin!
Updated on November 28, 2023
This is my story of designing our renovation of a century-old lakehouse in Ontario. Each month, I’ll offer a new chapter on the challenges and solutions, and a peek at our progress. You’ll be able to see the actual house come together on new episodes of our video series The Lakehouse.
It’s mid-March as I write this. A year ago almost to the day, we started the renovation of our lakehouse. We had luck on our side. Our building permit arrived within days of the cut off for residential construction, we found a great contractor willing to take on our project, and the journey began.
Just today, I said goodbye to our construction crew, watched as the tile installers packed up, counted the number of missing light fixtures that are on “permanent back order,” and stared at the long list of screwups, mostly mine!
For example, I ordered all of our closet rods and brackets myself. Fortunately, I was on-site as the first one was being installed. “Are they all this flimsy and silly-looking?” I asked our carpenter. “Not if you order closet rods. These are shower curtain rods.”
We’ve given up trying to get one basket-style drain that fits the sink in our bar area. The smallest one available is too big for the sink it’s designed to work with. After four tries, we gave up and just ground out the sink hole. Hopefully it won’t leak….
For the powder room, I ordered a beautiful solid marble console-style sink, plus the faucet shown with it. When it arrived, our contractor held the faucet spout in place. It looked bizarre. The spout is so short, there would be no room to actually put your hands under the running water. And since the faucet didn’t clear the sink edge, the water would splash everywhere.
I guess it wasn’t meant to be used. Beware of Photoshop! It’s just fake news for designers! And then there’s the saga of the lightbulbs and dimmers — everywhere. If you’re renovating, then you already know that some fixtures are dimmable and some are not, and that some bulbs are dimmable and some are not. And some dimmers won’t work with every fixture. It’s an endless game of trial and error. These are small things, though. The actual house is magnificent.
Finally, we’re at the magical stage when the shell is finished. The wood walls and floors are glowing, and it’s time for the decorating to begin!
I always thought I’d be so happy when this day finally arrived. Decorating is my thing, but not when I can’t see and touch. It’s been more than a year since I could sit in a showroom and run my hands over the finish on a table or admire the sheen on a vintage velvet–covered sofa. Most of all, the showroom teams can’t send you samples of what you don’t ask for. Some of the best fabrics I’ve come across have been spontaneous discoveries found during a few hours rummaging through back corners in a fabric house.
In the meantime, I’ve been sending some beloved antiques earmarked to try at the lakehouse. My French country armoire has already moved in to the new kitchen and is never leaving. It’s been with me in four houses. For years, it’s held sweaters and blankets. In this house, it will hold all my dishes.
In the dining room, I’ve placed a Georgian Welsh wake table. It’s a drop-leaf oval that, when closed, would have held the coffin of a family member in the 1700s. Eventually, I’ll find a new long and narrow table for our dining room and the wake table will fold up and become a serving table. In the living room, I’ve placed a fabulous Bubinga wood table that Michel made me on a long wall under a TV monitor to hold books and magazines.
In this house, I’ve opted for no built-ins, except the kitchen and mudroom cabinets. I didn’t want to disturb the lines of the original rooms so, instead, we’re using furniture for all other storage needs.
Our house has been wired for AV. When told that I needed a cabinet that was tall and skinny, had ventilation and could have the back cut out to connect a huge bundle of wires, I started the hunt. It took forever, but I found one. The honey-colored bentwood frame and blond caning look perfect in the living room. If the flashing lights from the components start to bother us at night, I’ll line the inside with cream-colored linen.
For the windows, I opted for Hunter Douglas Provenance woven wood shades in Beijing Pecan. They’re almost blackout for sleeping, and some windows will also have drapes in William Morris fabrics, recolored in a fresh new palette.
Now for the most important single decorating decision. What to do about a sofa? I believe that, more than any other single piece of furniture, your sofa style sets the tone for your decorating style. Here are the contenders:
The London sofa by Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams in a dark indigo or charcoal velvet. Over the years, I’ve had this style of sofa made so many times for so many clients, I can’t count them all. This is the classic, modelled after the iconic George Smith sofas, and it screams English country house. I usually opt for a tight back. It would look perfect in this house. For now, I’ve sent a small love seat and chair in this style from my storage that’s also lived in at least four of my houses over the years. It’s tired, but it’s a temporary solution, and it’s shown me how the style looks with the room. It’s perfect, but expected. I need to try something new.
The Monahan sofa from Crate and Barrel. This one is tempting. It’s the most modern of the lot, and I saw a similar one used so successfully in one of our trend rooms by designer Amber Lewis (below). The look was Contemporary Cali (Jan/Feb 2021 issue, page 62) and it would instantly bring a more relaxed vibe to the room. But would it work with my antiques? I’m not sure.
Finally, there’s the Charlotte sofa by Montauk Sofa. This one really surprised me. Finally, I was able to enter the Toronto showroom and touch and feel and sit in this beautifully curved and graceful sofa. I fell for it instantly. I would customize the seat height to 20 inches. I’m just tired of too-low sofas that are hard to get out of!
For armchairs, I could go one of two ways: either a pair of matching Charlotte chairs with ottoman, or the pair of mid-century modern original Platners I already own.
My hope all along has been to bring some mid-century modern pieces into this house, mixed with European period antiques and English-style seating. It’s not an easy mix. I have to worry about scale, seat heights, and what my eye tells me will look amazing versus… weird.
That’s where ordering styles you haven’t used before from websites is too risky for any of us. But we’re back in — touching and feeling again! It’s a good thing because the fabric on that Charlotte sofa was amazing to touch; it’s mohair velvet and it comes in 36 gorgeous colors.
I’m leaning toward The Charlotte sofa in a dark jewel tone… TBD! I do love decorating.
House & Home May 2021