We dove into our 2023 archives to bring back these house designs that are as stunningly creative as our unimaginably beautiful Northern Michigan landscapes.
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1. Camp Intention in Gaylord
This perfectly thought-out, stylish black-steel-clad house has everything you’d ever need to live comfortably in a smallish home. “We called the home Camp Intention from the get-go because everything in this house is intentional, from the furnishings to the floor to the cabinets,” the homeowner says.
Our favorite part: A breezeway/atrium that connects the twin shed-roof-topped wings offering a wide-open view of the charming lake that the home is situated on. The couple loved the view and the lake breezes so much they made the space into their dining room.
View the full feature + building resources for Camp Intention here.
Photo by Jacqueline Southby
2. Caretaker’s Cabin in Atlanta
Designer Erica Harrison, principal at the New York City/Detroit-based design firm Hudson & Sterling, unleashed her talent honed as a former assistant to Ralph Lauren on a dilapidated circa 1910 bungalow tucked into an estate in the Northern-mid mitt. The result is nothing less than a vintage dream.
Our Favorite Part: Like the entire bungalow, the kitchen is a blend of old and new. Sanded and repainted, the original hutch is now ready for another century. Harrison had the original sink restored but left a circle of rust near the drain for authenticity. The brass drain plug and faucet, however, are new. The floor, laid with hand-made Moroccan tiles, has the weathered but ornate look Harrison was looking for. “There’s a smokiness to them,” she says.
Take a look inside the Caretaker’s Cabin + home building resources here.
Photo by Nick Johnson
Photo by Christine Magee
3. Brigadoon on Mackinac Island
Description: At four stories and 20 rooms, all loaded with ornately carved oak woodwork, the Queen Anne–style Brigadoon is a veritable monument to the wealth of the man who had it built: George Arnold, founder of the Arnold Line ferry (now owned by Mackinac Island Ferry Company). After a fire devastated it in the spring of 2021, the homeowners went to great pains to have it authentically restored.
Our Favorite Part: The home’s signature dome, rebuilt by wooden-boat builders from Mertaugh Boat Works in Les Cheneaux, was brought over the Straits to the island by helicopter and then carefully set on Brigadoon like the crown it is.
4. Cabin Spirit in Grand Traverse County
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 foundations, to the rough-sawn barnwood cladding the great room’s ceiling, to old-fashioned screen doors that bang shut. Reclaimed wood was used wherever possible. Barnwood from Wisconsin and North Carolina was integrated into the great room and bedrooms, and old clapboard from some of the old cabins was cleaned and now graces the ceilings of several bedrooms. When a salvaged curly maple floor from a sewing warehouse in the South was delivered to the site, thousands of pins and needles rolled out.
Our Favorite Part: “We spent a lot of effort to get the glass to wrap around the corner,” says interior designer Amy Meier of a lakeside nook in the great room. The nook is outfitted with chairs by mid-century Italian designer Paolo Buffa, a Shaker-style chaise made by Mulligan’s in Los Angeles and two English mid-century tables. “They’re highly lacquered,” says Meier of the tables, “so they look like they are from a boat. I love that parallel of being on the lake and having pieces that feel nautical.”
Take a look inside this rustic-style cabin and explore the home building resources here.
Photo by Old Mission Windows & Kolbe Windows and Doors
5. Bear Mountain Estate on Leelanau Peninsula
Description: Reclaimed barnwood, stone and views that stretch to the horizon define this rustic masterpiece on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan.
Our Favorite Part: A reclaimed wood business out of Pennsylvania sourced beams from six Pennsylvania barns, two barns in New York and one barn in Maryland for the home. The flooring came from some 25 18th- and 19th-century log homes in Pennsylvania. Needless to say, none of that wealth of reclaimed wood came in standard modern dimensions, so it was up to the team from Easling Construction to cut it into jigsaw-piece precision to fit the blueprint.
Explore the home building resources and take a look inside Bear Mountain here.
Photo by Jacqueline Southby