Lake Life

An airy, modern vacation home that emphasizes family time 

- Adam Rhew

A plate of chocolate chip cookies sits on the marble countertop in the kitchen of interior designer Erin Anderson’s one-story lake house. April sunlight pours into the room, bouncing off the globes of glass pendant lights that dangle above the counter. It’s spring break, and Anderson’s three daughters—11-year-old Anna Grace and 7-year-old twins Lily and Claire—play and laugh in another room.

Anderson offers me a treat; it’s mid-morning, but never too early for chocolate. “I’m sorta known for these cookies in these parts,” she says with a laugh. “It’s a little extra salt. That’s the trick.”

That she could even make a batch of cookies in this kitchen is something of a triumph.

When she and her husband, Steven, bought the Sherrills Ford home in 2010, it was a foreclosure with a badly outdated kitchen. The cramped space was tough to move around in; dark teal cabinets made it feel even more claustrophobic. And the oven was barely functional.

“The appliances came over on the ark, I think,” she says. “The oven wouldn’t fit a full-sized cookie sheet.” The family lives in Wilkesboro, but wanted a relaxing place to spend summer weekends. The lake house had potential, but it needed work. “Every time we’d come down here,” Anderson says, “I’d dream about how I was going to redo it.”

After battling the kitchen for a few years, Anderson, who was a high school history teacher for eight years, set out on an ambitious remodel to bring the house into this century. Her bright, Southern-inspired touch led to a vacation home that actually feels like a vacation.