Tour a Legacy Home on New Hampshire’s Lake Winnipesaukee

The homeowners of this Lake Winnipesaukee retreat requested a clean, northern European vibe, so designers Paula and Clayton Daher covered the great room’s coffered ceiling and fireplace wall in white oak. The artwork, by Gotiez, is part of the owners’ collection.

The Dahers also clad the foyer’s catwalk in white oak, while the floor transitions from antique French pavers to custom-stained fir.

Located behind the kitchen, the screened porch has the vibe of a tree house, and a new HVAC system makes it usable year-round. A large Ralph Lauren pendant complements the dramatic roofline.

In the kitchen, also part of the great room, Hector Finch pendants illuminate dual islands and reflect off the glossy zellige-tile backsplash. New Hampshire’s JH Klein Wassink crafted the cabinetry.

In the dining room, a breakfront painted Benjamin Moore Chestnut supports dinner parties and conceals a pantry with a wet bar and flower-arranging counter.

The primary suite, located on the main level, is accessed through this hallway, wrapped in a watery hued banana-tree-bark wallcovering crafted in Belgium by Omexco.

To add layers and coziness to the large primary suite, the Dahers designed a walnut headboard that spans almost the entire length of the wall.

A wall of shelves in the garden-level lounge masks the door into the billiards room.

The youngest daughter’s study features built-in storage for her hobbies, while a new dormer hugs her workspace.

The Dahers decorated the eldest daughter’s room in shades of lavender and purple; the painting was a gift from her parents.

Breakfast on the kitchen deck comes with views of the boathouse, covered dock, and, of course, the lake. The chairs are from Kingsley Bate.

Meridian Construction replaced the existing dock’s pressure-treated boards with ipe decking and trim. Just out of frame is a new sandy “perch beach.”

A New Hampshire Lake House for Multi-Generational Living

One hundred years. That’s how long one homeowner’s family has vacationed on the shores of New Hampshire’s Lake Winnipesaukee. And, if it’s up to him, his wife, and their crackerjack design team, his heirs will be there for another one hundred.

In 2015, the couple, whose primary residence is in Florida, purchased a lakeside home built in the early 2000s that boasted the glossy-white Tuscan columns to prove it—a total of six on the main floor, to be exact. After living in the home for five years, they embarked on a multiyear, three-phase renovation aimed at embracing the water views, expanding outdoor access, incorporating Scandinavian design, building out a lower-level gathering space, and yes, doing away with all those columns. The idea was to create a home that would accommodate visiting friends and family for generations to come.

The homeowners enlisted the help of Boston- and Maine-based mother-and-son team Paula and Clayton Daher of Daher Interior Design as well as a slew of New Hampshire-based professionals like Tim Long and John Bruss of Meridian Construction and Eric Buck of Terrain Planning & Design. For the most part, they gave the designers free rein, but there was one major caveat: the family didn’t want to miss a single summer on the lake. Work had to take place in the offseason.

“Nine times out of ten, in situations like this, we have to tear down the existing home and build something entirely new to accommodate things like ceiling heights and number of rooms,” says Long. “But in this instance, the house had good bones, and we knew we could get everything we wanted by renovating.”

Nonetheless, it was a monumental task, says Paula. A structural engineer had to be brought in to remove the load-bearing columns, fenestration on the water-facing side of the home was reimagined to capitalize on the views, a deck had to be expanded so it could be accessed from the living room, the dining room and kitchen swapped locations, earth needed to be excavated to make way for windows in the garden-level lounge, a boathouse was constructed…the list goes on.

“Every Friday morning, from 8 until 10, for two years, the design team met,” says Paula. “And the homeowners were equally involved. They gave us all the leeway to do our best work, and they were so excited by how well we all collaborated. In fact, they tell us they miss those Friday meetings.”

European-Inspired Interiors Bring Warmth and Simplicity

To fulfill the wife’s request for a clean, northern European (she’s originally from Belgium), sophisticated feeling inside, the designers stripped the fir flooring of its orange-tinted color and replaced it with a warm brown stain with gray undertones. Walls went from pale yellow to soft white.

The team removed a painted-wood mantel from the great room’s floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace, carefully matching new stone to existing, and wrapped ceilings, beams, and even some walls in the great room and heated screened porch in white oak.

Customization Creates Multifunctional Spaces

Built-ins and secret nooks abound, like in the youngest daughter’s suite where her study boasts cubbies and shelves for art supplies and books. A hidden door in a wall of shelves in the lounge opens to reveal a billiards room. In a guest suite, millwork conceals a desk, chests of drawers, and shelving.

“None of the rooms took a back seat,” says Clayton. Not even the primary suite hallway, with its 100-year-old antique rug from Afghanistan
and banana-tree-bark wallcovering.

“And they really considered how the house would transform for them over the years,” adds Paula. “They thought of everything very thoroughly. It’s truly a multifunctional legacy house.”

Project Team
Interior architecture and design: Daher Interior Design
Builder: Meridian Construction
Landscape design: Terrain Planning & Design