Tranquility: My Dream Home on a Lake

I've dreamed of this lake house for years. The image materialized in my mind with ease and seemingly out of the blue: a quaint house on a lake, surrounded by greenery and vibrant flowers. I don't know where it is, but I know what it looks like and I know how it feels to be there. Warm, comfortable, peaceful. Let me show you around.

As you come up the stone path driveway, you're greeted by a variety of brightly coloured flowers along either side of the wide, wrap-around wooden porch. Come up the steps to big windows and an oversized, charcoal-painted door that welcomes you inside along with the sunlight. To your left, there's a mini library nook with built-in floor to ceiling bookshelves and a cozy chair. To your right, a bench and a place to leave your shoes. Just around that entryway corner, you'll see the main floor washroom and the door to my office and art studio.

Stretching along part of the front of the house, my art studio has a couch and coffee table on one end, a big workspace table in the middle, and built-in shelving, cabinets and a desk along the far wall. Plenty of space to store markers, pens, pencils, decorative tape, papers, paints, and more. Underneath the windows, you'll find low-profile shelving lined with books and magazines on art and design. The shelves are decorated with colourful crystals and other treasures like designer toys and sculptures. The walls may be white, but this space is filled with bright colours and so much personality.

Walking out of the art studio and straight ahead toward the main living area, you'll pass by a movie and game room to your left (on the other side of the bookshelves), and the staircase up to the second floor. Shall we go upstairs for a moment?

The second floor is a loft-style space. When you get to the top of the stairs, you can head left into a guest bedroom and out a set of french doors to a balcony overlooking the front of the property, or turn right to a quiet seating area. Keep following the loft railing around to the other end of this floor and you'll see the master suite in the back right corner of the house, complete with a walk-in closet and an ensuite bathroom featuring a spacious steam shower and giant soaker tub. Beyond the master suite are a couple more bedrooms with a bathroom in between.

Head back downstairs, and there's a sunken living room to your left with an extra deep sectional sofa and a couple of mid-century chairs. This is such a cozy space. Framed by more built-in shelving and warmed by a wood-burning brick fireplace, you might just cuddle up and stay here for the rest of the day. If you do, feel free to light a wood-wick candle and pull a blanket out of one of the ottomans that double as storage space. This part of the home is essentially a great room—all open space with a big kitchen and breakfast nook opposite the living room.

There's a giant island in the kitchen with a waterfall-edge quartz countertop. You can grab a seat here on one of the barstools that line one side of the island, or slide into the banquette seating in the breakfast nook and soak up the sun beaming in from the window overlooking the open backyard. Shaker-style cabinets wrap around the kitchen walls in a U-shape with a pantry on one end (beside the breakfast nook) and a coffee bar on the other. The kitchen features sleek, streamlined hardware and an industrial faucet at the apron-front sink. There's a window above the sink too, so plenty of light floods into this bright and airy kitchen.

At the back left end of the house, there is a long dining table with a bench on one side and chairs on the other. Behind that are big french doors leading out to a screened-in section of the wrap-around porch. This is a safe space for my cat to enjoy the fresh air, and it's a great way to keep the doors open in the spring and summer while keeping bugs out. Another set of doors there allows you to step down and onto the grass in the open backyard where you'll look out to the expansive lake, framed by tall trees. There's a fire pit out here, where you can roast marshmallows while enjoying the sunset and the evening breeze.

I love this space, and while I know that I'll live in at least a few different homes along my journey, I'm looking forward to getting to this one. There are still some unknowns. Is there a basement for more guest space and storage? Where will the laundry machines go? Will I add a dock, or will I leave the view of the water unobstructed? Is there a bit of a beach, or is the water quite deep right up to the shoreline? And perhaps most importantly, where is my dream home? I'm excited to watch the answers unfold. And once I have them, I'll be happy to have you over for tea or a little weekend getaway by the lake. Until then, I'll keep daydreaming, and I hope you'll do the same.

-

Like my style? Find my interior and exterior design dreams here on Pinterest.