once more to the lake

A RETIRED CHICAGO COUPLE TRANSFORMED THEIR DATED MICHIGAN LAKE HOUSE INTO A MODERN HAVEN FOR A VIBRANT SECOND ACT.

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When Beth Cassiday and Terry Riddel planned their retirement, they weren't thinking about slowing down. They were thinking about living better. Married 32 years, they arranged to step back at the same time in January 2019—Beth from the beauty world, Terry from the pharmaceuticals industry. They had a vision: Winters would be spent chasing warm weather around the globe, while the rest of the year would be split between their city apartment in Chicago and their weekend house in southwest Michigan. “We weren’t going to plant ourselves in one place and sit in front of a television!” Beth says.

They kicked off with a grand reimagining of their 1982 farmhouse-style beach home, perched atop grassy sand dunes overlooking Lake Michigan.

Beth and Terry had owned the property for over two decades, using it primarily for summer weekends. But now that they could spend weeks at a time there, its limitations had become more apparent. The kitchen was cramped, the interiors were dark and the layout felt choppy. “We started wanting to renovate the kitchen,” Beth recalls. “About two days later, we realized we needed to do the whole house.”