Houzz Tour: Modern 'Pods' Offer a Log Cabin Compromise
Two generations enjoy togetherness and privacy too, in this cleverly designed lakefront vacation home in Idaho
A millennium-old conundrum for families — and extended families — is that while of course everyone loves one another and wants to spend time together, sometimes people just need their space. That was the case when a Spokane, Washington, couple and their two grown kids — one’s married with three kids, the other is a single chef — decided to pool resources and build a family vacation cabin on Lake Coeur d’Alene in nearby northern Idaho.
But how do four individuals from two generations with varying needs and styles create a dream home together? Architect Matthew Collins of Uptic Studios responded with what he calls pods — separate areas in the house that afford privacy, with a great room as the main socializing area.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: This is a vacation home for a couple in their 60s and their kids and grandkids.
Location: Coeur d’Alene, Idaho (about 30 minutes east of Spokane, Washington)
Size: 3,200 square feet (4 pods, 750 square feet each, plus a 200-square-foot bridge); 5 bedrooms, 4 1/2 bathrooms
Budget: About $250 per square foot, not including extensive site work to divert an underground spring
But how do four individuals from two generations with varying needs and styles create a dream home together? Architect Matthew Collins of Uptic Studios responded with what he calls pods — separate areas in the house that afford privacy, with a great room as the main socializing area.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: This is a vacation home for a couple in their 60s and their kids and grandkids.
Location: Coeur d’Alene, Idaho (about 30 minutes east of Spokane, Washington)
Size: 3,200 square feet (4 pods, 750 square feet each, plus a 200-square-foot bridge); 5 bedrooms, 4 1/2 bathrooms
Budget: About $250 per square foot, not including extensive site work to divert an underground spring
The family loves to cook and entertain, so they wanted the kitchen and dining space to be designed more for social gathering than formal dining.
A miniature storefront door acts as a window that fully opens to connect the kitchen to an outside deck.
A miniature storefront door acts as a window that fully opens to connect the kitchen to an outside deck.
The window also acts as a serving station and bar area, allowing guests on the large ipe wood deck to engage with those in the kitchen.
The concrete’s texture on the towering fireplace comes from an old-school board-form process from 200 years ago, Collins says. Various sizes of plywood are stacked up, creating a form that’s then filled with concrete. Once it has hardened, the boards are ripped away, exposing the grain of the wood detail and board lines on the concrete.
Rain screen–style fir wood panels make up the interior walls. Here they're placed over drywall that's been painted black.
Rain screen–style fir wood panels make up the interior walls. Here they're placed over drywall that's been painted black.
The elder couple are big readers and wanted a quiet library space in their pod. Collins worked to integrate the built-in casework, painting it white to create negative space that highlights the warm wood.
The mix of wood with concrete, and taxidermy with a modern sofa, strikes the balance of traditional and modern that Collins was aiming for.
The mix of wood with concrete, and taxidermy with a modern sofa, strikes the balance of traditional and modern that Collins was aiming for.
The older couple's bedroom feels expertly connected to the lake, with large windows that pull light in and a private deck that offers a 270-degree view of the serene water.
Two frosted-glass doors lead to the library, letting light through but also allowing privacy.
Two frosted-glass doors lead to the library, letting light through but also allowing privacy.
A sliding door lets the elder couple close off their pod from the rest of the house.
Barn door hardware: Krownlab
Barn door hardware: Krownlab
The daughter and her husband and three kids occupy the bottom floor of one of the pods. It has a kitchenette, washer-dryer, dining nook, bedroom and bunk room.
Staircase: Burly Products
Staircase: Burly Products
The younger couple's bedroom has double doors that completely open up to a small patio and staggering views of the lake.
The kids' bunk room can sleep six.
A lot of the design in the region is a response the extreme seasons: above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer, below zero in the winter. This results in an aesthetic that bears some "beefiness," as Collins puts it.
A large cantilevered roof protects the house and its cantilevered deck spaces from sun, rain and snow, with a design philosophy that keeps the structure exposed.
The underside of the roof is pine; it carries into the interior of the house to become the ceiling.
A large cantilevered roof protects the house and its cantilevered deck spaces from sun, rain and snow, with a design philosophy that keeps the structure exposed.
The underside of the roof is pine; it carries into the interior of the house to become the ceiling.
Four pods — two wings with two pods each, one on top of the other — are connected by an interior bridge, creating a dog-bone shape, Collins says. One of the pods is the combined living, dining and kitchen spaces; it opens to an expansive deck. The other pods are the private bedroom areas.
The property posed many challenges. Not only is it sloped and narrow, but a natural spring runs beneath the hillside. "You could poke the dirt anywhere and water would come out," Collins says. This resulted in the two-part design. "I'd love to say it was my own genius," he says. "But it was just responding to these variables."
An extensive drainage system was installed to divert water around the foundation.
The property posed many challenges. Not only is it sloped and narrow, but a natural spring runs beneath the hillside. "You could poke the dirt anywhere and water would come out," Collins says. This resulted in the two-part design. "I'd love to say it was my own genius," he says. "But it was just responding to these variables."
An extensive drainage system was installed to divert water around the foundation.
Wanting to maximize outdoor space, Collins avoided using columns on the deck. Instead he designed this steel beam system to support the cantilevered roof and allow windows to extend all the way to the ceiling.
And while everyone has separate private pod areas, they all interact in the open living, dining and kitchen spaces.
Inverted steel posts and tension bars pull on the ceiling beam, pushing it upward to help support the pine-covered cantilever roof. Without this clever system, Collins says, a much larger beam would have been needed.