A secluded Vermont home embraces contemporary style.
By Lannan O’Brien
Photos by Erica Allen
Situated in northern Vermont, this lakefront home was designed by Brian Mac, Principal Architect with Birdseye, a Vermont-based architectural design and building company, to blend seamlessly with the surrounding rural landscape. Inspired by the region’s farms and iconic structures, including barns and chicken coops, the one-story gabled house is clad in black-stained vertical cedar siding. The sleek design and neutral tone complement the location, a bucolic 12-acre property.
Mac’s wife, interior designer Brooke Michelsen of Brooke Michelsen Design, collaborated with the homeowners to craft a contemporary interior look that also fits the local vernacular. “They liked the clean lines and minimalist design approach that is very Scandinavian,” she says.
The living room’s floors and ceiling are white oak, balancing a hot-rolled steel fireplace. Cozy seating and throw blankets in that space and the TV room contribute to a hygge aesthetic of contentment. This mood is complemented by on-trend elements such as the open-concept living room, dining room, and kitchen.
In this central area of the home, four-foot double-hung, two-over-two windows from Marvin offer ample natural light. Michelsen opted not to use window treatments here because, as she points out, there was no overwhelming direct light. “In fact, the light filters in and wraps around the house, and so at different times of day, you get this really nice light coming in from the east and the west,” she says. The beauty of the windows themselves provides visual interest.
The structure has distinct wings connected by a central corridor. The home’s three bedrooms and a family bunk room face the lake, while the other sections include a garage, home gym, and mudroom.
A few select pieces of wood furniture in the home—including the dining table and coffee tables in the living room and TV room—were custom-made by local craftsman Matthew Hastings through his workshop, Riven. “The client’s son was good friends with Matthew, who we happen to work with all the time, so we ended up commissioning several pieces from him,” Michelsen explains. “It was a nice local collaboration.”
