The shingle style home occupies a commanding location on the shores of 
Columbia Lake, Columbia, Connecticut. Originally, an unassuming split-level home, the 1940’s structure was converted into a luxurious waterfront property.
The property is .46 acres with 130 feet of lake frontage boarding the southern shores. The project required town variances and conservation department approvals due to its proposed expansion. Along with complete landscaping, including stone retaining walls, stone patios and planting of the property, a new sanitation system was required. The challenging site grading was elegantly tamed by a new glass structure stretching from the garage to the main entrance containing a descending custom wood staircase. Public entry to the renovated home cascades approximately 9′-0″down from the street level via. a pergola covered landscaped stone stair system.
The lower level of the structure serves as the public space and consists of a new great room, kitchen, dining room, bathroom, office and screen porch. All interior spaces have a commanding view of the lake. The mid level serves as the main entry point to the home as well as connects the new exercise room. The exercise area, originally a utilitarian storage area below the garage structural slab, was excavated to provide sufficient head room and finished to increase the useable floor area of the home without creating additional coverage on the environmentally sensitive lakefront. The private upper level is accessed by a custom built wood stair system with stainless steel cables. The open wood tread design allows the sun light to penetrate the interiors. Three bedrooms occupy the upper level. The master suite is located above the great room and is the only addition, other than the glass connector, to be built to the original home.
The warmth of clear finished vertical grain douglas fir is utilized for trim through-out the entire home including the wood paneling cladding the stair shafts.
A high efficiency ground source geo-thermal mechanical system heats and cools the home. Exterior walls consist of natural cedar siding installed over a rain-screen providing secure weather protection while spray foam insulation provides superb thermal resistance to the bitter lake winds.
