Yes, it is the first day of autumn! At least while it is still September I wanted to do a post about this cool house that we stayed at on Deep Creek Lake over the summer... I really wanted to keep some pictures of this home, because it was such a cool house and we will never be able to stay there again -- it has been sold, and is no longer available as a vacation property!
Lakefront property on Turkey Neck area of Deep Creek Lake -- view of the house from the lake. Inset picture is view of the lake and dock from the house.
I always try to find interesting homes to stay at on our vacations -- usually original/rustic or contemporary/modern. We thought of going for a historic property this year -- circa 1800's with a lot of land for the dog (and us) to run around in -- but the idea was out-voted for a vacation on the water, which narrowed down to a vacation on a lake -- Deep Creek Lake, which from past great vacation memories made us want to go back, but maybe to a different, less rustic house... This one was a mid-century modern house. Having grown up in a mid-century modern home in upstate New York, I have always loved this type of house, and was so looking forward to visiting after seeing pictures online. It was designed and built in 1963 by Earl Zepp,a local builder -- see footnote at bottom for more information. I am so disappointed the house has sold as we would have loved to have stayed there in future years -- we all enjoyed it so much. Here are some pictures I have taken of the house, mostly from when we arrived and were first setting up:
This property is all about the outdoors -- with over an acre of lovely shaded property and the
lake, the windows and deck were oriented to take advantage of the views
View of the lake from the master bedroom window
View of the deck from the master bedroom sitting area
View of the lake from the deck
The house itself featured many built-ins and closets galore! All over wood paneling sometimes gave the feel of being aboard a yacht... fitting considering the house is down the road from the yacht club and the builder, Earl Zepp, was once a member.
Love the built-in bookshelves in the foyer -- you can never have enough bookshelves!
View down the bedroom hallway towards the foyer and living area -- skylights and closets all the way down the hall!
I found the area behind the accordion doors intriguing. It was
apparently an artist's studio, however currently serving as computer
room, with some art displayed on an easel. It also acted as a pass
through to the foyer and contained more closets for storage!
Living room view to the foyer
Living room
Loved the big windows and how you could see through beyond the deck as the house angles toward the bedroom area
Above a close-up of the soffits with concealed uplift lighting
fireplace
Detail of the window and door latches -- I loved the windows and doors! They were all wood framed and slid along a curved grooved track on the frame.
Dining area with kitchen to the right behind the fireplace, and office, laundry room and guest suite beyond the far door
The floors were parquet and in mostly in good shape except for some water damage near the corner of the kitchen and fireplace. The small kitchen had been updated and did not go with the rest of the house (sort of French Country). Having redone our kitchen a couple of years ago, I would love to be able to redo this kitchen! Somehow I did not get a picture of the kitchen, except this one (try to ignore the beer can and toilet paper -- remember, we were just unloading the car!):
Country kitchen out of place-- would love to redo this kitchen
The kitchen could be closed off entirely by the wood accordion door
This is the office -- a nice, bright room with built-in everything off of the dining area and kitchen. It connected to the laundry room (which also had a whole wall of built-in storage) and then via a glass door and long hallway to the guest suite of the house. I always felt like "Get Smart", complete with theme music, walking down to the guest suite!
In case you are not from the 60's and don't know the opening sequence from "Get Smart", here it is:
Here is the thing about ranch houses... whenever you want something it is always at the other end of the house...especially at night. In that respect it is similar to living in a two-story house where you are always going up and down the stairs.
The original house had been added on to ... the architects did a great job. What used to be the bedroom end of the house is now a workout room. The Master suite and new baster bath were added on:
Original master bedroom, now workout room
You have to go through the workout room to get to the new master bedroom and bath:
Was good sleeping weather -- at least 10 degrees cooler than DC area, where we fortuitously left our home as the air conditioner broke with temperatures staying at over 100 degrees-- you just can't plan that!
master bedroom
master bedroom sitting area
I have only one photo of the guest suite, which is at the end of that long hallway past the office and laundry room, (cue "Get Smart" opening sequence). The incredible length of the hallway was not put to waste, however, due to the gallery-like atmosphere of having pictures and sculptures displayed throughout. The guest room was one incredibly large room -- a whole apartment with another smaller kitchen, living room, a table and chairs, more closets, a queen-sized bed and these built-in pull down galley style bunk beds:
Pull down bunk beds built into the wall
Finally, a few photos to share of the setting, which perfectly completes the house:
Rhododendron blossoms -- the house was absolutely surround by mature rhododendrons
a campfire night
Deep Creek Yacht Club from our boat (a pontoon boat -- not a sailboat, but better for fishing and lots of room for our party, including our dog, Olivia!)
The dam at Deep Creek Lake, Stocksslager area of lake -- it is very deep here
Andrew taking a supervised turn behind the wheel -- he is very responsible
Olivia relaxing on the boat
My handsome guys posing on a bale of hay. Lots of beautiful, rolling farmland surrounds the lake.
As if on cue, a full moon reflecting off the water
Footnote on Earl Zepp:
This passage, from a 2000 history, "The Deep Creek Yacht Club at
Turkey Neck", is what I could find on Earl Zepp, as well as one similar
style house that had been for sale in Oakland, MD
It would be so nice to have a small planter in my kitchen for keeping herbs and other small plants, rather than keeping them on the island as I do now. Besides being good to use for cooking, they are pretty to look at, and smell good too! They need a place of their own though... not taking up counter space at the bar area! And even with three windows, some sort of plant grow light would probably be a good idea.
I like the look of this Jill Bar Cart from Ballard Designs for this purpose, and and it seems like a good size to fit my space:
from Ballard Designs, the Jill Bar Cart
These shelves on wheels would work too if they were a bit smaller:
