Daniel Smith always wanted to return to Maine. He dreamed of living on the very same piece of forested land where he spent his childhood. “We had a house here, but it wasn’t near the lake,” he explains. “When I was young, I always gravitated toward the lake. Whenever I wanted peace, quiet, and solitude, that’s where I went.” It took decades of work, but in 2020 Daniel and his wife, Lucy,* were finally able to purchase the plot that had been settled by his grandfather so many years ago. “My goal was to have a house with lots of windows so we could look out over the lake and get that peace and calm whenever we wanted,” he says. “We’re in our fifties and wanted our next chapter to happen here.” 

For this local couple—they met attending the University of Maine—the path forward was clear. They would make a forever home at the edge of the lake, tucked into the pine trees, with space enough for children and grandchildren. They wanted their house to be open and gracious, with big windows and solid timbers. “We wanted to work with one firm throughout the whole design-build process,” Daniel says. “It was important, too, that the house fit into the environment and not feel out of place.” Houses and Barns by John Libby, the pair explains, was a natural fit. 

“At the outset, Daniel and Lucy shared some images,” recalls lead architect Peter Anderson. “They weren’t all of the same style—there were some very traditional-looking homes, and some more transitional—but there was a common thread of materials and color palette.” Anderson noticed they were drawn to black paint, light shingles, exposed hardwood, and weathered stone. However, Anderson also realized the couple wasn’t looking to build something overly trendy. Heirloom was the name of the game. “I explained that we could achieve the same effect without using black trim,” he says. Instead of designing an of-the-moment modern farmhouse, Anderson urged them to consider pulling the colors from the surrounding trees, hence the “dark umber” trim surrounding the black windows. “The inspiration for it was the wet bark of the trees on the site.” Similarly, Anderson tried to match the pale tone of the finished shingles (treated with a custom tint) to the duff of the forest floor. “You know, those dried-out leaves have a warm, grayish tone,” he observes. 

These small details are indicative of the care that went into the project. For two years, Anderson worked with the owners and his fellow Houses and Barns team members—including architectural designer Jerry Wasmer, vice president of operations Lee Proscia, lead timber framer Jamie Nadeau, and site lead Christian Madore—along with landscape designer Ted Carter of Ted Carter Inspired Landscapes, to create a 4,500-square-foot lodge by the lake complete with a double-sided indoor–outdoor fireplace, two porches, four bedrooms, three and half baths, and a timber-framed great room that serves as the “hub” of the house. Explains Anderson, “The primary thing is that the main space, or the great room, is oriented in such a way that it maximizes views to the water, which is toward the west. To facilitate the connections, we talked about transparency in the building. We wound up putting essentially a wall of glass on the west side of the great room and wrapping the corners to dissolve them.” This decision not only gave a sense of interconnectedness between the interior and the exterior, but it also allowed the timber frame to “float free” from the structure, highlighting its geometric elegance. 

Nadeau was primarily responsible for the frame, which he explains is made up of four Douglas fir scissor trusses. “This is not a style of frame that we have done a lot, and it’s always fun to get a unique framing opportunity,” Nadeau says. “The scissor truss allowed for the wide-open concept, while keeping the framing members high and drawing your eye to the steep angles.” Anderson chose the scissor trusses to help solve a design problem: they didn’t want to build too tall, but they also didn’t want to cut off the sight lines in the great room with heavy horizontal beams. “The scissor trusses became valuable to the design, not just for creating the appropriate scale but also because they are dynamic and beautiful,” Anderson adds. 

Against the backdrop of eastern white pine paneling, the pinkish tone of the West Coast fir shines. “We joined the timbers together using a scarf joint,” adds Nadeau, “which we wedged with mahogany, creating the nice contrasting detail you see in the core of the home.” Character-grade white oak flooring reflects the tones of the white pine on the ceiling while providing a far harder surface for foot traffic, both human and canine. “Often in homes of this caliber, people select a higher-grade oak with fewer knots and character elements in it. But it isn’t about formality, it’s about connections,” says Anderson. “This is not a Georgian-style house with symmetry and perfection-grade floors. It is a house in a dialogue with its surroundings where nature celebrates variation.” 

While the homeowners were committed to building a sturdy, thoughtful, beautiful house, they were still working within a budget. To help lower costs, the masons used stone veneer on the fireplace. Anderson specified that the stones used should be somewhat irregular—some smoother than others, some grayer than others, some coarser, some lighter. The stonework wraps around the house and features a full-sized hearthstone that gives the structure visual heft. This grounded, earthy fireplace contrasts with the lightness of the glass as well as the openness of the stairwell. 

“We didn’t want to interrupt the great room with a staircase,” Anderson explains. “So we put it parallel to the long side. I didn’t want people to be distracted by guests going up and down the stairs while enjoying the view or the fire, so I designed a screen out of vertical Douglas fir boards. It’s not opaque, so you get to experience the stair being there, but it’s all about the angle at which you see through it.” This smart feature has a “sibling relationship” to the detailing on the closet doors in the entry hall: “It’s about the vocabulary of the space. The stair screen isn’t a one-off. It’s something that reads through.” 

According to Madore, site lead on the lake house, these elements “required a high degree of focus, but the payoff was well worth it.” He credits the success of the project to the fact that everyone shared a “common vision” from the beginning. “Daniel really wanted their house to fit the woodland environment, so that was the guiding idea that I tried to keep in mind as we moved along,” he says. “Getting the framing just right so that the finish goes smoothly is a detail often overlooked. Sloppy framing will chase a builder all the way to the finish line. On this build (as on all our others), I made sure that we nailed it on the framing so that we wouldn’t have any gremlins to contend with as we moved into the finishing phase.” While the house may appear simple and rustic at first glance, there’s a modernist, minimalist edge to the project that Madore found refreshing. “I’ve often focused on traditional New England farmhouse-style homes,” he says. “This was new but rewarding for me.” 

Everyone on the build credits Lucy with taking the lead when it came to interior design, and the homeowner did her research to ensure that the lighting, furniture, and finishes all felt in keeping with the overall aesthetic. “I don’t want to sound like an ad for Restoration Hardware,” she jokes, “but we do enjoy their work.” She also visited the Atlantic Design Center for cabinetry and tilework. “My goal was to add a little diversity and visual interest in each space,” she says. 

“We almost felt like the people we worked with loved our house as much as we did,” adds Daniel. “That was a special part of the whole project. We felt like everyone was energized as much as we were.” Now, a year after completion, the couple has decided to move to the lakefront full-time. They sold their more traditional farmhouse in Gorham and set off for the country, where they spend hours watching the light change over the water. “It’s always changing,” Daniel says. “The word I use is ‘transfixed.’ When we’re sitting there, we’re just so enamored with what we see in front of us; we can spend hours there and not move.” For him, this is the very best kind of homecoming. He’s in the same place he once loved, but closer to the water and surrounded by graceful, comfortable details—not to mention acres of trails that the couple blazed with machetes and chainsaws. “I have a full-circle philosophy,” Daniel says. “I wanted to preserve this legacy for future generations. This land is special.”