Manhattan Studio meets 10,000 Lakes

Lake homes. Would you ever purchase one that was four states away? Crazy, right? Well not to this couple.

Karen and her husband Stan live in a 600 square foot apartment in the heart of Manhattan New York. Karen has a passion for interior design and throughout her and Stan's time together, they have renovated nearly 7 homes. With the sale of their most recent lake home behind them in Bemus Point, New York they were in search of their next renovation challenge. Scoring a beautiful lot on a popular point with not one but two homes on it. They settled on Lake Mille Lacs.

Mille Lacs Fun Facts:

Its the second largest lake in Minnesota (Red Lake is the largest)

The lake spans over 132,000 acres

It's about 14 miles wide and 18 miles long

The French meaning of Mille Lacs is "Thousand Lakes"

Of the two homes, one was a guest house. About 75 years ago, the area used to be a large and popular resort for travelers and tourists to rent while they enjoyed there stay at "The Big Pond". Karen and Stan's guest house is one of the last rental cottages the resort had. The guest house is roughly a 400 square foot one bedroom, one bathroom with a studio style kitchenette and living room combo.

The tongue and groove is original but the flooring needed an upgrade. The kitchen and bath cabinets feature a Thermofoil style door and drawer front with thin Corian tops and integrated sinks. The finger pull hardware was inset into the tops of the doors and drawer fronts.

"I stepped away from white to do the cabin - modeled after a Swedish cabin I saw in Nordic Reach Magazine." - Karen

We started renovating the cottage first so Karen and Stan could have a place to stay while we renovated the main house. The main house is roughly 1,400 square feet featuring 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

First thing on the docket was new paint for both the ceiling and walls. Next, eat your heart out Chip and Johanna Gaines cause we brought it shiplap.

Karen's ideas for the main home were simple. Whitecabinets, white walls, white counter tops and a beautiful eye-popping shiplap wall.

We played with stains until we reached the perfect grey tone. With the vaulted ceilings, this shiplap wall turned out stunning.

Behind the cook top, we had the back splash created so it appeared to be one with the counter tops and flow up the wall. Karen had a vision for the kitchen island, and we brought it to life. A unique shape that included half butcher block and half Corian counter tops.

Karen's idea's brought a little of Manhattan to the land of 10,000 lakes and it turned out amazing, creating a one-of-a-kind kitchen.

For more information of the materials used for this renovation, send us a message!