We love working with families to create their “forever” homes. Recently it came to our attention that a significant number of our projects have been lake house residences. Lake community families would never dream of moving, so when their house no longer fits their needs, we come in to guide them toward their dream transformation.

For these families, the benefits go beyond “a nice view of the lake”. Lake communities offer their residents use of the lake, of course, but also typically a clubhouse, a beach, and all of the social activities, sports teams and clubs that come with “life by the lake”. For instance, softball teams that have multiple generations of families on the team – kids, parents, grandparents all playing. As time goes by, the kids grow up to buy homes in the same community.

Even if your house is within the community but not lake front, you still get to enjoy all the privileges, including boating, swimming, beaches, ice fishing and ice skating.

It’s easy to see why, with this abundance of social life and community activities, families and extended families live there for generations.

Especially in this area of NJ, almost all of the lake communities were vacation residences at one time. The families lived full time in busier city areas and they used this small house as their summer and weekend home – they came to the countryside to get away from the crowds.

Communities such as Cedar Lake were built in the early 1900’s. As small summer bungalows, most had fireplaces but there was no other source of heat, nor was there indoor plumbing (think outhouses).

During those early years, it was typical for mom and the kids to live there in the summer while the husband worked in the city and would join them on the weekends.

Around the 1950’s there was a shift to permanent residences as new homes were built, and the older homes were renovated, adding heat and plumbing. These modern living conveniences even came to the smaller modest bungalows.

Kids who grew up there wanted to stay there as adults. They knew they wanted their own kids to grow up in one of the lake communities, as they appreciated the strong emphasis on family and social connectedness. When they were ready, they often found another house in the same community.

As you might guess, if you live in a lake community, the view to the lake from your home is a highly desirable feature. Therefore, some clients ask for renovations that create a view that hadn’t even been considered in the original house plan.

For example, a lakefront porch had a great view of the lake but the house itself did not. Eventually the porch may have been enclosed for year-round use, but only that one room (not the entire house) enjoyed the view to the lake. So the renovation may be to open up the wall between the “porch” and the “bungalow” to create a spectacular view. In some homes, the porch is still an outdoor room, so then we open the back wall with large windows to create a view of the lake from the house itself.

Lake houses were originally quite small and modest, so when they became year-round residences, the families began renovations and additions. We’ve seen some homes with additions that were not well-planned; there had been rooms added here and there – not a cohesive design.

Admittedly, some of our clients describe the layouts of their homes as mazes, so renovations are triggered by the strange layouts and little kitchens surrounded by other little rooms. We are often called in to “optimize the layout”. Since the homeowners need an addition, they also request that we “fix the chaos”.

Because we – Faith and Hope – live in lake communities, and have been here for more than 25 years, we understand all the nuances of what lake living means. We raised our kids here. We know why it’s important to you to stay within the community.

Some of the New Jersey lake communities where we’ve worked are: Lake Arrowhead, Cedar Lake, Estling Lake, Fayson Lakes, Green Pond, Lake Hopatcong, Indian Lake, Lake Intervale, Lake Mohawk, Mountain Lakes, Lake Parsippany, Rainbow Lakes, Rock Ridge, Shongum Lake, Lake Valhalla and White Meadow Lake.

If you are a resident of a lake community and are ready to see your house transformed to meet your dreams, we’d love to chat with you.

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