COTTAGESGARDENS.COM | JUNE 2016

SUMMER
COOL
connecticut cottages & gardens June 2016
COTTAGESGARDENS.COM | JUNE 2016
cottagesgardens.com
Welcome
Party
FROM THE ARCHITECTURAL WORK
TO THE NEW PAVILION AND
REDECORATED INTERIOR, THIS LAKE
HOUSE IS ALL ABOUT ENJOYING
TIME WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS
BY EVA HAGBERG FISHER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICK HALES
Pavilion Panache A
magnificent custom
two-tiered iron
lighting fixture by Jon
Sarriugarte sets the
tone for an outdoor
dining/party space,
where Palecek chairs
surround a teak RH
table. See Resources.
56
ctc&g cottagesgardens.com june 2016
Uninterrupted
Bliss The shoreline
of Lake Waramaug
(right) is just steps
away from the
home’s expansive
back patio. Exterior
trim (this photo) was
painted to blend
in with the house.
“When you’re on
a boat out on the
lake, the house
doesn’t jump out
at you,” Routh
explains. “It melts
into the woods.”
O
F THE SIMPLE
wood-beamed pavilion at
this rambling lake house
perched on the shores of
Lake Waramaug, architect
Robert Dean says, “It can
function truly as an outdoor party room.” Dean,
working with interior designer Bettina Routh,
transformed this house from a stuffy suburban
style into an informally sophisticated house
for an incredibly tight-knit family, who also
happen to have an incredibly tight-knit circle of
friends—the kind of people who’d welcome an
outdoor party room.
The owners bought the house for the view,
and Dean and Routh were tasked with fitting
the house to the family without losing the
gorgeous bones of the existing structure. Initially,
the clients had gone straight to Routh, hoping
for a little help updating the traditional interior
into something more fitting their aesthetic—
clean and modern—and their lifestyle—warm
and casual. One of her ideas was to build the
outdoor pavilion, and then, she says, “we realized
that we wanted to rework the whole flow of the
house.” That’s when she told them they’d need
an architect.
Dean and Routh worked closely together on
everything while exploring what exactly a lake
house can—and should—be. They also explored
how to build a house for an active, energetic
family who wanted the house to fit multiple
scales of occupancy—from just the parents and
children, to more than 20 visitors.
june 2016 cottagesgardens.com ctct&g
59
“It’s almost like two houses,” Dean explains.
One house—the great room, kitchen, sunroom
and outdoor pavilion—is where the family comes
together, and each room is designed to feel comfortable when occupied with a couple or a crowd.
And the other house is the private area, which includes separate bunkrooms and playrooms for the
children and their guests, a master bedroom and
four “grown-up guest rooms,” as Dean describes
them. The kitchen is the heart of everything, and
granite countertops at the perimeter contrast
with a gray concrete countertop on one island. A
second island functions as a place for hanging out.
The kitchen, Dean says, is “intended as a place
where, on a Saturday, if two people are getting
coffee, or if 15 people are making pancakes, it will
work well either way.”
Carefully considered windows—a transom line
that goes from room to room, giving a “continuous
kind of horizontal datum,” says Dean; massive
gridded windows that create a clerestory right
above that line in the living room—draw the eye
outward, toward the lake and trees and beyond
the muted interior. Those windows tie in “with a
contemporary feel and a transitional feel with the
Clear View (opposite page and above)
In the great room, slipper chairs in a
Robert Kime fabric flank a drop-leaf
table from the La Lune Collection. The
copper fish is from Hiden Galleries;
table lamp is from Circa Lighting. The
sectional is covered in a Romo fabric;
the Scalamandré bobbin chair wears
Osborne & Little. See Resources.
Crowd Pleaser (below) A Tucker Robbins
lighting fixture establishes a laidback
vibe in the sunroom, where comfortable
seating includes a Verellen sofa and a
variety of rattan Palecek chairs. The
striped rug is from Elizabeth Eakins.
Cecil Touchon’s Post Dogmatist #719
behind the sofa is through C. Parker
Gallery. See Resources.
Never Too Many Chefs (left) In the spacious kitchen, one island has two Rohl
Shaws fireclay sinks with Rohl Modern Lux pull-down faucets. Cabinet hardware is
from Ashley Norton. A Pappelina floor runner adds a touch of practical chic. Casual
Dining (above) A Bamboo Cloud chandelier from Roost floats over a Lillian August
table in the breakfast room. Palecek dining chairs sport a Rogers & Goffigon fabric.
Color Pops (below) A vintage dustpan collection from Hiden Galleries brightens the
kitchen hallway, where a newspaper dog from Roost has found a cozy spot beside a
bench from Trovare Home. See Resources.
62
ctc&g cottagesgardens.com june 2016
Double The Fun One guest
room is furnished with twin
beds from Noir Furniture.
Lexington Clothing Company
throws complement a Redford
House ottoman in an Osborne
& Little fabric. A Crate &
Barrel lamp tops a bedside
table from Chelsea Textiles.
See Resources.
Lateral Movement
(top) Stripes command
the bunkroom through
window treatments
made of Perennials
fabric and bedding from
the Company Store.
Bathing Beauty (middle)
The bunk bathroom
has a trough sink from
Concrete Encounter
and sconces from RH.
Master Sanctuary
(bottom) An Arteriors
Zippe table, Grasshopper
lamp from Design Within
Reach and a custom
chair and ottoman in a
Pierre Frey fabric create
a place to lounge in the
master bedroom. Woven
X benches are from
Baker Furniture. See
Resources.
house,” Dean says. Particularly in the main living
space, the windows operate as “a gesture toward
a more traditional massing, but a more contemporary feel overall.” And that’s because not all the
windows are gridded; below those panes is a plane
of clear glass windows, which brings in a different
type of clarity and modernism (and an uninterrupted view). The great room was “the main feature we kept from the existing house,” Dean says,
though they transformed it from what was a dark,
mahogany room into its current bright informality.
“The intent is to get a lot of continuity and
overall simplicity to everything,” Dean says. Routh
brought much of that to life in her furniture and
detail selection, and also added tiny pops of color
here and there, like in a row of ancient and colorful
dustpans that line a hallway; or a hooked rug that
covers almost the entire great room floor. “It’s like
the biggest rug I’ve ever made,” Routh says. And
that’s the trick. The house was built to feel “tailored
and not so fussy and to have some humor,” Routh
says. Now all they need to do is throw a party. ✹
june 2016 cottagesgardens.com ctct&g
65