Love it! I'm in northwest Missouri. Where did you get the lamp that's on the counter in the second photo?

The prints with the Dock of the Bay lyrics -- combining everything I love about Otis Redding and Ed Ruscha. Love it

We used to go to the Ozarks all the time when I was young! (I'm from STL) That's just the sort of cozy place that reminds me of our autumns and summers there! Where did you get those gorgeous bar stools?!?

All other comments about this house call have been deleted by me.

On a positive note: I am inspired to appreciate my own vibrant, eclectic, needs-more-purging little house much more after seeing these pics. Thanks.

I personally find this drab. Some of the pieces of furniture are nice, but this could use a little more color and styling!

I think it looks like a really inviting and cozy spot. I love the living room. I missed the negative comments, but I don't get it. It's a weekend getaway, people, not a museum! And it's supposed to be fun, not work. How nice is it to even have such a place?

I love it, the muted neutral colors are so soothing and beautiful. Those barstools are great!

Does anyone know where the art in the dining room is from?

A+ space in my book! Great job!

Beautiful! Spacious and cozy at the same time.

And I love love love the two posters with snippets of Otis Redding's song. Now it will be stuck in my head all day, which is a great soundtrack to have going during my workday

O, and might I add, I would SO mess the place up with dishes and books. But since it's a weekend getaway, all would be easily tidied up.

Promise

I love the bar stools!

Also - I usually don't like fireplaces with old school rock-looking stone but you guys really woke it up with the lighting. It really draws attention to the framed images and the modern clean mantel. I think it's a great example of how you can spruce up a permanent element in your house that would cost waaaay too much money to redo otherwise.

I had an aunt and uncle with a vacation house nearby, and considering that the entire basement was decorated in Harley Davidson, this is a welcome refreshment. That tv room is so inviting! And I love the Dock of the Bay prints -- I'm inspired to do something similar for a spot where I need big art on a tiny budget!

Hello all,

Shane the Husband here. Thanks for all the compliments. Holly can't post from work, but since she designed the home, I'll let her answer most of the questions when she gets home.

The Otis Redding artwork is a Holly original. She closed herself off in the workroom and unveiled them the next day. Easily my most favorite piece of artwork in the house (with the exception of having that song in my head every time I eat breakfast).

I wish we could have done before/afters. There's too much for just five pictures. Each room is unique and cool, but took a LOT of hard work over the winter. I work in IT so my design input consisted of "where did you want that?" "OK, yes dear."

Dishes, books, and magazines have to fight for real estate when we're down there. It's a great place to detach from the rush of the week and relax. The only thing I curse down there is the clock on Sunday evening when we have to pack up the dogs and head home.

Thanks again for looking...

Hello Everyone!

Thanks for all of the kind words. Shane and I really enjoyed getting to share the space. It did take some dedicated weekends to take it from traditional country cottage to what it is now but I loved the whole process.

Shane is right about us cluttering it up when we are staying there and when guests are there every surface is covered with food, games, books, dog toys, etc. I wish I could say my spaces were that neat all the time but the STL home is chaos most of the time.

Midwestern Mom - the lamp is from Marshall's and I think I may have seen it at Homegoods as well.

Plink - As my husband said in his post I did the paintings in the dining room. I just can't get enough typography and the lyrics always bring me back to my childhood summers at the lake.

BigTab - The barstools are vintage from a store in St. Louis, Big Bend Antiques. This is one of my favorite sources. Quite a few of our second hand items are from there.

cmeadows - I'm glad someone posted about the fireplace. It was actually one of the major selling points of the home. Those rocks are the real deal. Full stones and mini boulders that the original builders pulled up from the lake, carted up the hill, and put in place. So much work went into them and the kicker is we have two in the house!

Thanks again for all the lovely comments and to Apartment Therapy for showing our space. We still have more to do and we hopefully will get a website up someday soon with photos of all the work that went into making the lakehouse possible. We feel so fortunate to have a cozy home away from home.