A CABIN R EBORN

from Traverse Northern Michigan, June 2023

by MyNorth

love of the land get there

BATHROOM RENO INSPO

HARBOR SPRINGS

SUBLIME

MODERN

COASTAL

GLEN ARBOR

ENCHANTED

A-FRAME RENO

INTERLOCHEN

ART FOR

SUMMER SPACES

GORGEOUS GREAT ROOM HOW-TO

Michael Wnek

Cara McDonald

Elizabeth Edwards

Emily Tyra

Carly Simpson

Allison Jarrell

Rachel Soulliere

Elizabeth Aseritis

Caroline Dahlquist

Tim Hussey

Theresa Burau-Baehr

Rachel Watson

Julie Parker

Erin VanFossen

Mike Alfaro

Ann Gatrell

Julie James

Meg Lau

Kirk Small

Erin Lutke

Ashlyn Korienek

Nichole Earle

Beth Putz

My home, a 1968 brady bunch-esque two-story, is filled with family pieces: my parents’ antiques collected from across the country, and furniture my grandfather made—one ancient walnut tree downed in Yonkers, New York, in the 1940s spawned a collection of chairs, tables and stools so vast I have yet to count them all. My walls are covered in my dad’s own paintings—many are Northern Michigan landscapes, but the watercolor of a jazz saxophonist playing in a Cleveland bar that he painted when he was just 16 still astounds me. In between the paintings, photos of my loved ones grace every other available inch of space.

As a woman of a certain age, I look forward to freshening my home, a task that includes improving my curating and Marie Kondo skills, though it is doubtful that I will ever clear everything out and start again. But what if I turned back the clock 30 years? What style house would I live in? How would I decorate it? I would definitely look to two of the women whose work is featured in this summer issue of Northern Home & Cottage for inspo.

In our story “A is for Amazing,” ace renovator Carrie Drier shows us how to live large in a tiny A-frame. I share Drier’s love of these mid last century cottages that feel as elemental as felled trees tied together in a teepee shape. If I were her age I’d find one, too, and then look to her for direction in curating the space and furnishings. As in: No, Lissa, you don’t need every piece of furniture your family ever sat in or dined on. How about saving just that Gothic chair with its ornate, A-shaped headrest as a whimsical play on the classic shape? (I’d sneak in those old walnut stools later.)

And the art. I truly believe my artist dad would have supported me purchasing a large Katherine Corden canvas of a beach scene to feature on that back wall of the A-frame—the one that doesn’t have a sliding door to the outside. I think he would have respected her drafting skill, especially with figures, and that she has revisited the age-old theme of leisure (Renoir’s “Luncheon of the Boating Party” being the most beloved example) in a contemporary way. That painting hanging in my new/old A-frame would do precisely what Corden wants it to, as she says: “… communicate to visitors that family and friends and leisure are important [here].”

And then I’d invite all my friends and family over in their flip-flops and shorts and swimwear to grill out on the deck—exactly the lifestyle I’ve lived Up North for well over 30 years, but with a stylish, modern twist.