The First Tour: A Walk Through Merrimore House by the Lake

You may have heard the big news already: we bought a place by a lake! We’re calling it Merrimore House, and we are just so incredibly blown away by all the love and support you’ve already shown us as we jump into this new chapter. Your excitement is our excitement!

The house came fully furnished, which is allowing us to enjoy it immediately. There is truly no feeling like leaving a charger and toothbrush behind. The girls were leaping off the dock and Chris started stocking the pantry within hours of arrival.

Over time, we’ll redecorate and do some renovations to help make it more like us so we feel even MORE at home. A few ideas are swirling in my head about some finishes and colors and wallpaper and trim and TILE. It has a lot of great character already. Here’s a very first tour in its exact state we bought it and turned the key:

Since we won’t be living at Merrimore House full-time, we’re taking our time with the renovations. While we’ll be adding a few small things (appliances, bedding, etc.) in the near-term, I’m going to try to design everything I want to change all at once before we even get the contractors in the house. I’ve never done a project this way before, but I think it will be a fun way to push my design skills. It also means we get to spend more time enjoying the lake house while we’re there, instead of worrying about ongoing renovations. That just seems like the right thing to do in this phase of life where I’m trying to slow down a bit.

I don’t foresee this as a big demo project—the bones of the house are so good, I just look forward to putting my moody, modern, traditional spin on things. There will be trim! There may even be NEW walls! I’m also excited to give each room a distinct style and its own name! There’s just so much to think about, and I can’t wait to share the design and renovation journey with you.

After you take the video tour of Merrimore House, you can check out a few of the rooms in photos below!

Merrimore House Tour in Photos

Exterior

We immediately fell in love with this beautiful exterior…

Entrance/Hallway

Living Area

Everything in the lake house is massive in scale. All the furniture is so tall, which is hard to capture without being there. Even one of the candles! It is 2 feet tall in a glass jar. I’ve never seen anything like that.

Kitchen

The kitchen is the one area I can’t stop daydreaming about. I love that it’s smaller, and I can’t wait to make a few small, but impactful changes.

Dining Room

I love an eclectic dining room seating situation.

Powder Room

This grasscloth wallpaper is absolutely staying.

Guest bedroom on main floor

Already referring to this room as our parents’ room. On the first floor. En suite.

An upstairs jack and Jill bathroom

How beautiful to have a double sink overlooking the outside view and move the mirrors to the sides instead.

Upstairs Deck.

This outdoor seating area feels so restorative. I just love how you’re enveloped in green. The lanterns aren’t hardwired but hold candles and I can already picture game nights out here under the glow.

Primary bedroom

The tallest ceilings housing the tallest bed (it comes above my hip!) overlooking the lake.

Bedroom 2

Bedroom 3

I love a four-poster bed! How fun is this sweet room. Nearly every bedroom has its own bathroom too, which is so great for hosting.

Downstairs

Living Room/Game Room

The color of the billiard room table is brown? Say no more! It’s like this was planned somehow…it’s exactly what we wanted.

I think we’ll really minimize the bar area but still want to make sure it’s a great place to stock San Pellegrinos and serve some appetizers when we’re hosting.

Bunk Room

There’s something that immediately screams “vacation” when you have a bunk room. This house has two triple-bunk beds in one room, which feels like summer camp in the best way. The girls wanted to stay here every night the first weekend.

Patio

One thing that was a real bonus about this property was how much smooth grassy area there was before you get to the lake. I can just picture the lawn games and cookouts we’ll have around here.

Dock

If there’s anything better than watching my girls swing over the lake in the afternoon glow, I don’t know what it is. Time, please freeze this moment in my memories.

I don’t think I’ll ever get over this view…it’s storybook quality.

We’ve already started making memories here, and I can’t wait to make more. Stay tuned for more exciting updates!